What exactly does the 15th Amendment Of the Constitution of the United States of America state to the people in this country?
AMENDMENT XV
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.
Section 1: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2: The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The part that I want to focus on is in Section 1 which states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote.”
There are countries where “the people” do not have the right “to vote” for the leaders of their country. A few examples would be the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Cuba and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. “The people” do not have a say in how they live their lives. Instead, the leader that they didn’t vote into office makes decisions that apply to everyone in the country based on…his desires. Not fairness. Not democratic. Not all good.
In the United States of America, “the people” have the right “to vote” for the leaders of the country. So what is a vote?
Definition of vote: To express one’s preference for a candidate or for a proposed resolution of an issue; to express a choice or an opinion.
This “right” that the American people have that allows us “to vote” for our leaders was passed by Congress on February 26, 1869, and ratified on February 3, 1870. Do the math. Yep. We have been able to vote for our leaders for 143 years.
How serious are we about our choice in leadership? Do we learn about the issues? Do we make choices based on the issues? Do we take our “right to vote” for granted?
God bless America.
Great post Child. We will hold our breath today. I love you and if I could have a wish, it would be that
America would be a righteous nation. Where its citizens would be there for each other. As time has passed, I have seen much and most not good. Our government has become self-serving and that is sad to me. Have a good day
The world is definitely a different place than it used to be even only going back to my childhood. Not only people have changed, but technology has changed so much.
Thanks!
I vote for chocolate!
I ALWAYS vote for chocolate!!! Woohoo! Yummy!
“One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”-Plato
“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.
And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.
And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.
This is what I am and what I am about.
I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system.
And now the forces marshaled around the concept of the group have declared a war of extermination on that preciousness, the mind of man. By disparagement, by starvation, by repressions, forced direction, and the stunning blows of conditioning, the free, roving mind is being pursued, roped, blunted, drugged. It is a sad suicidal course our species seems to have taken.
I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts.
Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then — the glory — so that a cricket song sweetens the ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes.
Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished…
If the glory can be killed, we are lost.”
(John Stienbeck-East of Eden)
A few thoughts on our most precious of ideals on this most sacred of days
(((huggs, Sherry)))
Ric
Thanks Rick! I don’t think I’ve ever read that passage before by John Steinbeck. {{{hugssss back}}}
The popular vote does NOT elect a president-it is the Electoral College that does! The popular vote doesn’t count worth “crap” in a presidential election! No, I don’t vote! And anyone who says that I should can kiss my ass! (No offense intended!) When it is a LAW that says I have to vote, THAN & ONLY then will I vote! NOT before!
Well Bill, it is your right not to vote if that is what you choose. Just don’t forget that you have a choice because we are a free country. 😀
Nicely said, as always.
With all of the early closings, long lines, voting place difficulties – this is a welcome reminder of our rights and obligations to vote.
😀 Key word is “obligation”
Thanks for posting this! I don’t take it for granted. I exercised my right today.
😀
Yeah, I know! One of these days, I’m gonna surprise everyone and get off my duff and start blogging again! I just wanted to put my 2 cents in. I’m all for people voting, but only if they are doing it for the right reason. My hubby had never voted a day in his life until the “2nd term for Bush came up. I made the mistake of telling him I was going to go vote, and he told me he was also, just to cancel out my vote! He has done it every election since. I am a conservative and Republican, so hubby has decided that we need to “balance things out”, and he votes the opposite of me every time. I told him that was a “very mature reason for voting”, and he just laughs. Needless to say, election year is a very trying time for us for that reason.
My grandmother used to do the same thing to my grandfather. Definitely not a “very mature reason for voting” and is rather aggravating! LOL
I dont take voting for granted. I voted.
Yay! 😀
Damn! I had nearly finished a lengthy explanation of why I vote, & the app crashed! *sigh* …trying again…
Yes, of course I voted! I have only missed one presidential election: 1968. I was stationed in Ethiopia, & could have cast my vote the way soldiers always can. However, I was shamed from having had to explain to my Eritrean & Ethiopian friends how a wonderful country like the US (they still loved us then) could allow such great men as Martin Luther King & Robert F. Kennedy to be assassinated; I was disgusted at the violent repression at the Democratic National Convention, & at the Republican’s candidate, who even then was recognized by many to be a crook; I was aghast at the continuing escalation of the war in Southeast Asia, & the unending madness of the Cold War; so I didn’t vote. Sadly, I & a couple hundred thousand others like me allowed Nixon into the White House. I swore an oath – one of only a couple of personal oaths I’ve ever sworn – never again to miss the opportunity to vote, even if my candidate’s chances were slim, or if I were forced to choose the best of a bad set of choices.
In many countries, people take the responsibility to vote seriously. In some, like Australia (a free country, most would agree), voting is mandatory. There is no excuse for any citizen of this country not to vote.
I didn’t know that about Austrailia. That’s really interesting.
That’s very cool that you have made a commitment to yourself and always kept it.