Originally Posted by Aladdin Sane

Yes, I'm for literacy tests. Not just yes, but HELL YES. I'm not advocating a civics test. Literacy means the ability to read and write at a minimum level.
It is bullshit trying to "get out the vote." What a load of rubbish. If you're not interested or responsible enough to get your own self "out to vote," then you have no business being enticed into it by some self-serving political party or politician who doesn't give a shit about you anyway.
The honest truth is, I want fewer people to vote, not more. I want to make voting more difficult. If literacy tests result in a smaller turnout--fine, lets put them in place. Making it easier for people to vote only encourages the less engaged and informed citizens to cast a ballot. If I have to beg halfwit Homer Jones and his alcoholic wife Claire to show up on election day, then he hasn't been paying attention, and frankly, his ignorance isn't gonna add one wit of positive value to the election results anyway.
When a citizen casts a ballot, he could be making a life-altering decision for thousands of people. With the right to vote comes the responsibility to be, at a bare minimum, literate. If you can't manage to learn to read and write in today's society, if you are so lacking in responsibility that you need to be enticed to vote-- please stay home. Please.
There is no other serious decision-making process in life where the most uninformed, illiterate, and irrational among us are so enthusiastically encouraged to participate.