Rant #1
I came across a video on YouTube of a woman at a political rally demanding that the United States return to “the values of the founding fathers.”
Okay, here's what I learned in history classes.
At the time of the American revolution, only about one third of the colonists were in favour of independence, one third were against it, and one third were indifferent. So indifference was even back then a major value.
At the time of the first census in 1790:
18% of the population were slaves with no vote.
Of the remaining 82%, 49% were women, or 40% of the total.
Of the remaining 42% of the population, roughly half were “free white males under 16.” I think we can say that if the age were 21 rather than sixteen, those too young to vote would be half, or 21%.
Of the remaining 21%, only property owners could vote. Also excluded were indentured workers.
So one value of the founding fathers was government of the people, by a clique, for a clique.
Come to think of it, with the voting fraud and restrictions on voter registration, that's one value conservatives want to return to!
Okay, here's what I learned in history classes.
At the time of the American revolution, only about one third of the colonists were in favour of independence, one third were against it, and one third were indifferent. So indifference was even back then a major value.
At the time of the first census in 1790:
18% of the population were slaves with no vote.
Of the remaining 82%, 49% were women, or 40% of the total.
Of the remaining 42% of the population, roughly half were “free white males under 16.” I think we can say that if the age were 21 rather than sixteen, those too young to vote would be half, or 21%.
Of the remaining 21%, only property owners could vote. Also excluded were indentured workers.
So one value of the founding fathers was government of the people, by a clique, for a clique.
Come to think of it, with the voting fraud and restrictions on voter registration, that's one value conservatives want to return to!