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diff --git a/rich/27_elections b/rich/27_elections new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7c9151f --- /dev/null +++ b/rich/27_elections @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +- Elections, especially in democracy, control political + behavior/decisions + - The system can be manipulated + - The gov't doesn't represent everybody; it represents voters + - Young people don't vote, so they aren't pandered to + - Belief that the issues being discussed are distant + - So you need to participate + - Because your future is being decided now + +How Dr. Rich socializes his kids to their civic duty +- Mocked up ballot box, voter ID, "I voted" stickers +- Brings his kids to the polls, or involves them with mail-in ballots +- Election participation is a civic duty + - Has a profound impact + - Ex: suffrage rights + +"All men are created equal" was in no way correct. Liberalist idealism +- In some states, only 10% voted. +- Property qualifications, "economic stake=political stake" + +Suffrage is now, in the letter of the law, for every adult citizen who +hasn't "violated their civic responsibility" (like prisoners). +How did it develop over time? +- African Americans + - 1865-70 "Civil War Amendments" + - (Only) during Reconstruction--2 black people elected to Senate and + 14 to House + - After Reconstruction ends with Union soldiers leaving, they + get redisenfranchised. + - After 1901, next to serve was 1972 + - Southerners did much of the active prohibition of voting + - But federal gov't and many Northerners stood by + - Literacy tests and "Character tests" (very low pass rate) + - Employer permission to vote + - Restrictions on voter registration + - 1965 Voting Rights Act + - An active law; funding withheld from states + - Turnout was low in first few years, but they eventually + returned. +- Women + - Could, sometimes, inherit property from husbands or male + relatives. + - When only property determined voting rights, women could vote. + - But by 1910, only 4 states had given women the right to vote. + - Powerful interests opposed suffrage + - Southern whites didn't + - Manufacturers didn't + - because women would vote against child labor (very cheap) + - Catholic Church + - "Vote is contrary to the proper role of women" + - British women's suffrage movement + - Gave a playbook/methods for influencing change + - Cannot be a private act; must be public like marches, + protests + - Also have to make those in power (men) care about the issue + - Women boycott domestic work + - Well-timed, uses WWI. 19th Amendment 1920 |