Idiot To Be Taken From The Constitution
I think it’s hilarious that "idiots" can’t vote. Who gets to decide who’s an idiot? I bet there are a lot of people who believe the President is an idiot. Should he not be allowed to vote but still gets to be in charge?
New Jersey is to consider cutting the word ‘idiot’ from its constitution so that people with some mental disabilities won’t be barred from voting. State Senate President Richard Codey introduced a bill Monday that would remove language from the New Jersey constitution that was designed more than 150 years ago to prevent people suffering from mental illness or handicap from casting their vote in national, state or local elections.
Codey wants to eliminate a section that says "no idiot or insane person should enjoy the right of suffrage" and substitute with a reference to "a person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting."
Codey, a Democrat who was previously acting governor of New Jersey, said in a statement the term "idiot" is "outdated, vague, offensive to many and may be subject to misinterpretation."
He said individuals with cognitive or emotional disabilities may be capable of making decisions in a voting booth, and those people should not be discriminated against.
"This is another big step toward removing the stigma of mental illness," Codey said.
The proposed changes will be included in a constitutional amendment which voters will be asked to approve in a statewide ballot in November. It must first be cleared by the state legislature.
Source Tags: democrat, constitution, idiot
3 Comments
I’m sure there are some subtleties involved, but prohibiting people who cannot make decisions on their own from voting seems fair.
Who cares what they call em…. but one thing for certain…. the left has more to gain by letting idiot vote.
rant on
There is a definition for ‘idiot’ that has to do with IQ. It is surely reasonable to require a person have the ability to understand what the issues are in order to be allowed to have an opinion on them, isn’t it?
These days too many words that have perfectly valid meanings are regarded as too insensitive or hurtful to use. IMHO, someone who assigns moral values to inanimate things, like words, is a moron. (How a word is used may have moral significance but not a word, in and of itself.) Fortunately for those types, (but unfortunately for the rest of us) morons are not exempted from voting, just idiots.
What some should worry about is if ‘idiot’ is a level, below which a person can’t vote; or, if imbeciles, not specifically mentioned, can do so? That should be a major concern for legislators casting a vote in the NJ legislature, for example, especially for anyone there who thinks that issue should even be discussed.