One Residential Lot = One Vote. One Commercial Building = One Vote. One Apartment Dweller = Go Fuck Yourself...

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Dear Jeebus . . .  This is your Tea Party America -- cherish them.  Adore them.

Earlier this week Rep. Ted Yoho's (R-FL) 2012 comments surfaced. "I’ve had some radical ideas about voting and it’s probably not a good time to tell them, but you used to have to be a property owner to vote," he told a cheering audience.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-problem-with-yoho-s-property-owner-vote-idea


Ahh yes --- The glory days of The Republic --- When only "Caucasian males—who either owned property (i.e., at least 50 acres of land), or, had taxable incomes"—could vote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_in_the_United_States.

The first and most obvious question that comes to The Gadfly's mind is, what precisely is Tea Party Rep. Yahoo's ... er sorry, Yoho's accepted definition of the word "property?"

Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines the word "property" thusly:

prop·er·ty
 noun \ˈprä-pər-tē\

1: something that is owned by a person, business, etc.
2: a piece of land often with buildings on it that is owned by a person, business, etc.
3: a special quality or characteristic of something

Ok - so according to the first intension of the definition shown above, The Gadfly's cell phone or his Dirk sunglasses would be considered "property."  The well worn and scuffed motorcycle boots on his feet and the hippie tie-dye shirt on his back would satisfy the definition of the word "property."  The raggedy, dog-eared 25 year old copy of Thomas Paine's book 'Common Sense' that The Gadfly cherishes, would most certainly meet the standard for being classified as "property."  The Gadfly owns all of those things.

Hmmm -- so The Gadfly is confused now -- for it stands to reason that just about every living, voting-age adult in the country could sensibly be classified as a "property" owner then if we hew to that first intension of the word.  No?

Alright then - so obviously Tea Party Rep. Yahoo, er sorry . . . Yoho - could not have been contemplating that first intension of the word "property" when he made his statement that any American citizen wishing to participate in the electoral process of his nation should be a "property owner."

And he certainly could not have been contemplating the third intension of the word in that definition above where the word "property" refers to the inherent "characteristic of something" - for that would not make any sense at all.

So that then leaves us with the second intension of the definition of the word "property":

2: a piece of land often with buildings on it that is owned by a person, business, 

And there it is.

Land and/or buildings (structural real estate) = "property."

Now it all makes perfect sense.  The message that  Tea Party Rep. Yahoo, er sorry . . .  Yoho, was conveying to his slack-jawed followers was the idea that, just like back in the very early days of the Republic, only land owning males (and white - let there be no mistake about that) were allowed to vote and have a say in how the affairs of their government were managed.  Fair enough, but The Gadfly doesn't understand why Rep. Yahoo, er sorry . . .  Yoho, just didn't come right out and say that to begin with.  It sure would have saved The Gadfly all the trouble of having to dissect and analyze what his intent was.

Ok - so Rep. Yahoo, er sorry . . . Yoho, only wants land and structural real estate owners to be allowed to vote.  Fine - The Gadfly gets it.  And apparently Yahoo's, er sorry . . . Yoho's audience, was in full agreement - for according to the news report - they lustily cheered his pronouncement.

Which induced The Gadfly to ruminate a bit . . . . specifically as to the question - is every Florida citizen that showed up at the polling places and who cast a vote for Rep. Yahoo, er sorry . . . Yoho, a verifiable land or structural real estate owner?  No house renters among them?  No apartment renters?  No room renters?  No mobile home renters?  No on-campus students?  No homeless?

That would be quite the amazing feat, The Gadfly suspects, if indeed every single individual who cast a vote to send Rep. Yahoo, er sorry . . . Yoho, to Washington to represent their interests was a land or structural real estate owner - dontcha' think?

If you haven't figured it out by now dear readers, the salient point that The Gadfly is making here is that a sitting United States Congressman is advocating that the right to vote, and by proxy, the constitutionally guaranteed right to participate in this nation's electoral process, should be taken away from those American citizens who do not own tangible real estate - in the form of land or structures of significant monetary value.

How does someone with views like that get elected to Congress?  What kind of sane thinking citizen would suppose that a politician so ignorant of our Constitution and history of voting rights is someone worthy of representing their interests in the halls of Washington power?  It's un-fucking-believable.

And just to put a finer point on it -- can you imagine the howls of the right wing banshees if a liberal Democratic congressman were to publicly pronounce that in his view, only 4-year college graduates should be allowed to vote?  Holy fuck!  They would be foaming at the mouth rushing to pick up their pitchforks, torches, tar and feathers to march on that congressman's office.

But this is how batshit insane these Tea Party politicians like Ted Yahoo, er sorry . . . Yoho, and their drooling sycophant followers are dear readers.  Not only do they not even bat an eyelash when one of their own advocates for rescinding a constitutionally and lawfully guaranteed right for a wide swath of the American populace, including many in their own ideological movement, they fucking cheer for it!!

Sigh . . . . wake up folks.  Wake up, before it's too late, to the reality that a substantial portion of your fellow citizenry are riding the short bus to Whack-a-Doodle Town, and they desperately want to control the levers of your government, and by virtue of such, the fate of your democracy and the fate of your future.



----TFG



**Note:  go read the talkingpointsmemo.com article linked above and read Harvard history professor Alexander Keyssar's response to Congressman Yahoo's, er sorry . . . Yoho's voting proposal.  It's the equivalent of a pro wrestler grabbing his less worthy opponent by the scruff of the neck and violently bashing his head in to the turnbuckle over and over again until the opponent collapses in a dazed, bloody heap on the ring floor.  It's beautiful.