[EL] Voter turnout

[Ilya Shapiro]

Well, like most immigrants, I do a job Americans won't: defending the Constitution. ;-)

Ilya Shapiro
Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies
Cato Institute
1000 Mass. Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Tel. 202-218-4600
Cel. 202-577-1134
www.cato.org/people/shapiro.html<http://www.cato.org/people/shapiro.html>
twitter.com/ishapiro<http://twitter.com/ishapiro>

On Apr 10, 2014, at 11:54 AM, "John W. Farrell" <jfarrell at mccandlishlawyers.com<mailto:jfarrell at mccandlishlawyers.com>> wrote:

Actually, we do have many pure democracies.

As it is town meeting season, right now, I'd be happy to accompany you to a town meeting in any of the hundreds of towns throughout New England.

Or a homeowners association meeting.  I was recently told that 60% of Americans now live in subdivisions subject to HOAs which in an era of Proposition 8 have taken over many of the functions that used to be performed by local government.

Voting is "a fundamental right from which all other rights proceed."  Reynolds v. Sims.

It seems someone, certainly not me, could argue that we have in these e-mails sufficient evidence that your understanding of "American values" is not sufficiently complete to qualify you to vote.

And I and many of the rest of this list serve would fight that assertion "'til the last dog dies."

Best of luck in the interview.
---
John W. Farrell
Attorney at Law
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On Apr 10, 2014, at 12:37 PM, Ilya Shapiro wrote:

But we don't have a pure democracy (and few would want to), so making sure that each person (or citizen or resident, or whatever) has a say in every issue isn't the core value. Indeed, voting itself isn't the core value. Consensual, individual-liberty-maximizing government is -- the core value of the American republic, that is, which value I happen to share even though I can't yet vote (naturalization interview coming up in two weeks!).

Ilya Shapiro
Senior Fellow in Constitutional Studies
Cato Institute
1000 Mass. Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Tel. 202-218-4600
Cel. 202-577-1134
www.cato.org/people/shapiro.html<http://www.cato.org/people/shapiro.html>
twitter.com/ishapiro<http://twitter.com/ishapiro>

On Apr 10, 2014, at 11:33 AM, "John W. Farrell" <jfarrell at mccandlishlawyers.com<mailto:jfarrell at mccandlishlawyers.com>> wrote:

There are also deeper issues, like do we want to promote voting by more or "better" (higher-information) voters? Do we want that as a normative good even if it empirically leads to worse govt?

There's nothing "deep" about this "issue."

Or new either.

It has been the justification for disenfranchisement of those who are deemed "unworthy" to be among the "oligarkhes" since Athens, at least.

It was the justification for freehold qualification for the franchise in the Federalist period and the justification for Jim Crow era literacy tests.  The WASP's Progressives killed entire forests pursuing eugenic justifications to deprive naturalized citizens from Eastern and Southern Europe of their ballot.

Ultimately, the "deeper issue" is a blind canyon because someone (always those in power) has too decide who are the "better (high information) voter" that will be allowed to determine our common fate.

Higher turn-out rates are a good in itself because it affirmatively demonstrates the "consent of the governed" which, at best, can only be inferred when voters don't participate.

Given our country's extended history of impediments to the franchise, such an inference is inherently suspect when low turn can, just as readily, be attributed to those impediments.
---
John W. Farrell
Attorney at Law
[McCandlish & Lillard]<http://mccandlishlawyers.com/> 11350 Random Hills Road | Suite 500
Fairfax, Virginia 22030-7421
tel (703) 934-1182 | cell (703) 507-1182
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On Apr 10, 2014, at 11:40 AM, Ilya Shapiro wrote:



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