I like to read the post in the politics section of the community area of Craigslist. I find this section fascinating. Some of the things you read there just boggle the mind. There you can see the thoughts of a wide variety of people. Some of the post are well thought out and presented in a civil and intelligent manner. Others are vile, disgusting, and flat out hate filled. Then there are what seems to be the vast majority that juvenile, incoherent, and just plan moronic. When you read posts from this later group its easy to understand why the founding fathers placed limits in the Constitution on who can vote.

I know some people automatically think I am talking about non white and women and, you would be wrong. I am talking about having to own property to vote. The requirement to own property in order to vote does exclude a lot of people I know. But, I understand the thinking behind it. The founders wanted to protect us all from the easily swayed and ill informed.  People that have a monetary stake in the community and country at large are more likely to make better decisions. At least that is what they hoped. The founders knew that then, just as today, there are a lot of people that believe any and everything they are told. These people can be told anything no matter how absurd and not only believe it, but also repeat it to others that will believe and repeat as well. Once the idea is firmly implanted this misinformation affects the way people vote. This is just the kind of thing that the founding fathers tried to protect the country from.

I know that like so many other things the founders set in place, the days of protection from the ill informed are over. P.T. Barnum said “There is a sucker born every minuet” and he was right. There are lots of people and groups out there that willingly mislead as many people as they can. They do get way with it because their audience never bother with investigating the information for themselves. After you hear something long enough, it becomes truth. It is up to the informed in this country to intervene on behalf of the country. We all hear people repeat untruths everyday. It is up to us to try to correct all that can be reached. There are people that will never listen. Some will curse you and hate you for even speaking to them. Those are the ones that are lost forever but, there are some that can be reached. People that are just truly misinformed can be given the truth and reasoned with. It is these people that must be reached before it is to late for them as well.