Poor and rich people should have equal free speech
Should, definitely. But the founding fathers were so terrified of poor people they created the Electoral College to ensure the “right” people and not populists (look how that fucking turned out, ala Trump) got in charge. So the US has never really been about equal speech. Not that it isn’t the goal, but it’s a hell of a hill to climb when the foundation is so corrupt. :(
But the founding fathers were so terrified of poor people they created the Electoral College to ensure the “right” people […] got in charge.
E-e-e-hhh… kinda. It also had to do with the fact that states like Virginia had comparatively few voters (they had lots of slaves, but fewer white men), so they were worried that they’d be voted down by the northern states. So the worry was that those states wouldn’t want to join the Union. The Electoral College, which gave slave states a boost in presidential elections, was a sop to get them to join.
A modern equivalent would be a state like California or Texas, with lots of non-citizen immigrants: they’re not citizens, so they can’t vote, but they do count for purposes of assigning House seats, and thus Electors.
Should, definitely. But the founding fathers were so terrified of poor people they created the Electoral College to ensure the “right” people and not populists (look how that fucking turned out, ala Trump) got in charge. So the US has never really been about equal speech. Not that it isn’t the goal, but it’s a hell of a hill to climb when the foundation is so corrupt. :(
E-e-e-hhh… kinda. It also had to do with the fact that states like Virginia had comparatively few voters (they had lots of slaves, but fewer white men), so they were worried that they’d be voted down by the northern states. So the worry was that those states wouldn’t want to join the Union. The Electoral College, which gave slave states a boost in presidential elections, was a sop to get them to join.
A modern equivalent would be a state like California or Texas, with lots of non-citizen immigrants: they’re not citizens, so they can’t vote, but they do count for purposes of assigning House seats, and thus Electors.