At the risk of stating the obvious, we don’t have a constitutional right to become MDs.
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When you’re talking about people on the fringes…that’s not always the case. I’m acquainted with someone who has a fairly severe learning disability, who got her high school diploma only because a few teachers liked her and knew what was up, and who isn’t able to get a drivers license because of her inability to read, and the anxiety she faces in a testing situation.
Despite her challenges, however, and ignoring that I disagree with her political views, she’s got a better head on her shoulders, and a pretty reasonable understanding of the workings of federal and local governments. I’m pretty sure she uses her atypically-wired brain when she’s in the voting booth (if/when she can get a ride to her polling place), which is more than I can say about certain folks who go and check the party-line box because they’re doing what someone on TV, or in a pulpit, or… told them to.
I am a firm believer that if you’re going to vote, you have a duty to have a basic understanding of how government works, and the issues of the day and the pros/cons of the candidates you’re deciding among. For that reason, the idea of having a civics and a current-events quiz as a prerequisite to voting has some appeal to me, in principle at least.
For most people, such a quiz would be, at best, a minor inconvenience. However, that wouldn’t be the case for a few people, frequently overlooked or forgotten, at the margins. (And I haven’t even mentioned the risk, if not likelihood, that such a quiz would be twisted to nefarious purposes.)
People on the margins have a right to vote. And considering how close the US is to a 50/50 split across a widening gap in political attitudes…those votes from the margins are potentially significant ones…or at least they are in environments where gerrymandering or “winner take all” logic for determining electors for the Electoral College don’t make the marginal votes moot.
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Or obtaining a Driver’s License.
In Arkansas, high school starts on Monday. Last Friday, i.e., the last work day before the start of school, the state decided that they don’t like AP African American Studies, even though they were part of the pilot program last year. As a result, the state won’t pay for AP tests in African American Studies (the state pays for the rest, only state that does that), and AP African American Studies won’t count towards the social studies part of the high school graduation requirements. Good advanced planning here.
I am strongly opposed to adding an infringement on the right to vote by creating a hoop that voters must jump through. Voting is the people’s nonviolent check and balance against the power of government. Allowing government to create a limit on that power weakens the ability of the people to influence or limit government power.
If you want a better informed electorate work toward a better set of rules, a better set of social norms, that allow the individuals to choose to be better informed.
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Realistically, I have to agree with you. My first post said “theoretically”. There are always special cases on the margins where theory collides with messy reality.
Still, as a “wish we could do that” thought, I wish we could require that people show some effort in learning about gov’t before they vote.
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Well we can require it for high school graduation / GED… I think that has to be close enough. These days most people get one or the other before they vote very many times. (And probably a nontrivial share of voters without either are high school seniors who will soon be high school graduates.)
I think we have to live with the ones who slip through the cracks.
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Cross thread post potential here.
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tl;dr: The elected head of the organization overseeing state utilities, one who has aspirations to be elected to higher office, is going to block plans to develop energy storage infrastructure that improves the viability of solar or wind power, for reasons that could have been read off a Newsmax/OANN chyron.
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I stopped reading when she said:
“I will never let the climate socialists import their energy fantasies from California.”
But what can you expect from someone named Twinkle? Who would inflict such a name on their kid?
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It feels like she should be from Florida or Portland. I guess Alabama isn’t the last place I’d expect a Twinkle.
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Wait did she actually slam the #1 method of renewable power storage? What is her alternative? (Rhetorical question, I know the alternative is burning coal.)
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I think someone on here posted a graph (probably in Funny and SFW but I’m too lazy to check and that’s a LONG thread) that had “stupid names for children” on the Y-axis and Wealth on the X-axis. It was a U-shaped graph.
So based on that… someone either very rich or very poor.
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Can we assume that Jewish Space Laser believers are Republicans? I suppose some are likely Libertarian or sov cits.
“ However, it would take more energy to pump the water uphill than would be generated when the water flowed back down.”
Heaven forbid, a battery storage that’s not 100% efficient (No battery is 100% efficient).
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I’m sure there are crack pots of every political persuasion, but on this particular issue I’m guessing Democrats make a pretty small percentage.
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Laure Trump seems upset by Hillary laughing at Donnie’s indictments.
Oh sweet irony.
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I gotta say that I’ve seen great restraint amongst Democrats to not be walking around chanting “Lock him up!” I believe I’ve literally not heard it personally since the indictments starting falling.
But there is a whole line of “Look Him Up” merchandise. If you’re into that sort of thing.