view the rest of the comments
politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
I don't think that implicit assumption arises from my argument.
For example, I don't think it is undemocratic for the state to require candidates to circulate a petition and gather at least 5000 signatures from registered voters within the state before being allowed to appear on the ballot. The constitution doesn't provide for such a requirement, but the state is (arguably) free to enact such a requirement if they do choose. It is not unreasonable for them to limit access to candidates that people would actually vote for.
Put a different way: I can't reasonably demand ballot access solely on the basis that I am a 40-year-old person who was born in the US, has lived in the US my entire life, and has never committed insurrection. With that minimum criteria alone, millions of people could appear on a ballot. The complexity of such a ballot would violate the rights of the voters asked to cast a vote in that election.
The state is empowered to create the rules for its own elections; it is not empowered to use those rules to violate civil rights. But it is not a "right" to appear on a ballot.
I wasn't trying to say any restrictions on who can appear on the ballot are undemocratic - nor was I necessarily saying any state currently has undemocratic rules regarding ballot eligibility. It was more about hypotheticals, like what I said about Texas - in theory, does the constitution and body of federal laws allow for states to create undemocratic eligibility criteria that would withstand legal scrutiny?