But I do think the right to vote should be restricted to those over 30.
YES YES! I have been thinking this for a long time. If this country is wise enough to require a president to be at least 35, then it recognizes a certain amount of wisdom comes with life experience, so why are we allowing very young people with no life experience to vote the president in? I'd make an exception for anyone who has served in the military.
I don't think anyone who doesn't pay taxes should be allowed to vote.
I agree with this also. It's another reason I favor a tax system that taxes everyone, even the very poor, even if the tax they pay is only one penny. EVERYONE should shoulder some responsibility and have some skin in the game as Anthony says, no matter how little.
I don't want to speak for Rush, but I think what SHE is referring to is the inherent volatility, and emotional state, and swings of SOME women.
Yes I am a she and yes I am serious. Women vote by a higher margin for things that are destructive to this country, such as left wing socialists (Obama), gun control (anti-second amendment), environmental regulations that destroy the economy and the energy industry in the U.S., they vote against military spending, etc. etc. in other words they vote liberal/progressive by a higher margin than do men, for whatever reason.
Anthony supposes I think they do because of "inherent volatility, and emotional state, and swings of
SOME women" but I don't know whether this is the case. These things (PMS swings) are stereotypical of women and like any stereotype they have more than a little truth at core, but whether they are a liability in making political decisions, I don't think they necessarily are. I myself certainly fit the stereotype, with mood swings all over the map in a single day. Yet I vote with a cool head after careful logical analysis of the facts. So I would disagree with a man saying I should not have the vote because I am more moody than a man.
What I think is more relevant is that women in general, throughout history, have not been the main breadwinners; men have. By biology or by culture, men's overriding concern has always been, can he support and protect his family? This leaves men much more knowledgeable and concerned about caring for a thriving economy, and with a greater innate understanding of the need to maintain access to physical resources and to project strength to potential enemies.
Women on the other hand have a better sense of empathy. I think it comes from the need to get inside the head of helpless infants, and it transfers to anyone. This isn't a bad thing at all. But it does leave them vulnerable to manipulation by those who would use social causes as a means to gain power. Because men tend to think more linearly, they seem better able to predict unintended consequences than women, who often are too focused on current suffering, and unable to look to the long run.
I'll bring up prohibition again as the perfect example. It was women who led the dry movement, because they saw real suffering caused by alcohol, but they completely miscalculated that the consequences of banning alcohol would be even worse. However, once those terrible consequences came to be, to their credit, it was again women who led the movement to repeal prohibition. Women had to see for themselves the suffering prohibition had caused before they "got it". It's just too bad the whole country had to be jerked back and forth in the process by these females, and we are still left with a bad template for dealing with substance abuse.
All of this of course is generalities. You can't draw a conclusion about any individual. No, I don't actually think women should be denied the vote just on their gender any more than I think blacks should be denied the vote based on their skin color. I said it was a mistake to give women the vote, I didn't say I would have disagreed with making that mistake. And it would be wrong to deny blacks the vote just because they too vote more liberal.
In an ideal world I would say in order to have the vote, you should be required to have had a job
yourself (not your husband) in a field involving basic physical resources, such as farming, energy production, construction, manufacturing, or the military. In other words, a job
contributing to the enrichment of the economy or the protection of the country. Paying taxes isn't enough because you can pay tax on your welfare check and it's not the same thing as understanding where that money comes from. Until you have contributed with your own hands what it takes to keep a society physically alive, you shouldn't qualify to vote, because survival of the nation is really the only thing that matters in the end. If the nation doesn't survive, there's nothing to vote for anyway.