(February 14, 2014 at 5:57 pm)Minimalist Wrote: The mythology of the founding of America is almost as piss poor as the mythology behind jesus and mohammed. Reality has become obscure by distance.
http://www.iefd.org/articles/constitutio...he_few.php
Quote:In twelve of the thirteen states (Pennsylvania excepted), only property-owning White males could vote, probably not more than 10 percent of the total adult population. Excluded were all indigenous First Nation people ("Indians"), persons of African descent, women, indentured servants, and White males lacking sufficient property. Property qualifications for holding office were so steep as to exclude even most of the White males who could vote. A member of the New Jersey legislature had to be worth at least 1,000 pounds. South Carolina state senators had to possess estates worth at least 7,000 pounds clear of debt (equivalent to more than a million dollars today). In Maryland, a candidate for governor had to own at least 5,000 pounds of property. In addition, the absence of a secret ballot and of a real choice among candidates and programs led to widespread apathy.2
This is precisely what conservatives want when they talk of 'founding fathers' and turning back the clock so as to reflect their intentions: a nation in which voting rights are restricted only to extremely wealthy white males, and in which everybody else has rights only to the point that the plutocrats decide to permit.
