Is voting a right or an obligation?

Is voting a right or an obligation?
by Steven Miller

Neither.

  • The Supreme Court said “the Constitution of the United States has not conferred the right of suffrage upon any one”. (Minor v. Happersett and in US v. Cruikshank). People like me are disenfranchised and not represented in Congress. We are not even allowed to vote unless we change our citizenship from State to federal US citizenship (supposedly to qualify me to vote for president, even though the Electoral College elects the president).
  • Those who register to vote have agreed to the outcome, no matter how abhorrent. For example: if an election contains a bond issue that passes, every registered voter becomes surety until it is paid off. Your forced labor is collateral for the debt for the entire term (30 years).

A native American, Mr. John Elk, who owed no allegiance to a state or federal government, wanted to register to vote and pay taxes. But the voter registration officer Wilkins would not let him register. Mr. Elk knew enough of our laws to take his case all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court in Elk v. Wilkins (112 U.S. 94) ruled in 1884 (16 years after the fourteenth amendment said that all persons born in the U.S. are citizens thereof, and 14 years after the fifteenth amendment said that the right of U.S. citizens to vote shall not be abridged on account of race.) that Native American Mr. Elk was not subject to federal laws. They would not let him pay taxes or vote.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the meaning of the first sentence of the 14th Amendment in Elk v. Wilkins in 1884 (112 U.S. 94):

“The persons declared to be citizens are `all persons born or naturalized in the united states, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.’ The evident meaning of these last words is, not merely subject in some respect or degree to the jurisdiction of the United States, but completely subject to their political jurisdiction, and owing them direct and immediate allegiance.”

Read that again: “because he has voluntarily submitted himself to such a form of government”.  HINT: your natural birth did not submit yourself to government.

You consented to be governed when you register to vote, or when you accept benefits, or when you swear oaths.

 

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