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Should we restrict voting to only those people who do not take money from the government?

One of the complaints of democracy is that voters can "vote themselves money". So what if people who receive money from the government were just not allowed to vote? This would exclude e.g. people on welfare, most farmers, all military personnel, Social Security recipients, people on Medicare, government employees, postal employees, other government contractors, people who net a refundable tax-credit, etc., etc., etc. Corporate officers of companies that have government contracts should probably be excluded. But what about the employees? What if the company just sells things to the government? What if it's just a small percentage of the company's income? How about the owners of a bar or other business who's customers are mostly military or government employees? Should these people be excluded not just from voting but excluded from the entire political process? including making campaign contributions or contributions to PACs and 527 groups? What do you think? (((christy8075))): Good point! If a voter can't figure out how to fill in a W-4 then he probably shouldn't be voting!!!! (((Tim G))): Sorry, those don't count since you can't really spend a road or an education. Free lunch programs might count (but in any case those kids are probably too young to vote.) (((coach))): white protestant land owners can still "vote themselves money" so I don't see how that would take care of the problem. (((claudiacake))): Not a bad idea, but how will you restrict PACs and 527 groups ("issue groups")? (((JonChicago))): Pretty much EVERYONE pays taxes (if you count sales taxes, gas taxes, property taxes, phone bill taxes, etc., etc.) (((Java))): Again, pretty much everyone PAYS taxes.

Public Comments

1. No. There should be campaign finance reform and the abolition of lobbies though.
2. Interesting, Im not sure. However one should have to take an IQ test before pulling the lever.
3. You forgot tax refunds So all in all there would be no voters
4. We all take money from the government. If you drive on roads, use public transportation or go to school, college, or send your kids to public schools, you're taking money from the government.
5. heck why don't we just say that you need to be a white protestant land owner, oh wait a second we did that and we now have progressed. the only thing we need to do is to inform people and let them make their own decisions
6. I think instead of curtailing who can vote, we should curtail the amount of campaign funds. I think each and every presidential candidate should be allowed to spend only "X" amount of dollars on any campaign, and that dollar figure should be low enough so that any serious candidate could join the fray. And once that money was spent, they could spend no more and accept no other contributions. And they would have to turn in an accounting of their expenditures each month throughout the campaign and election. Then special interests and under the table contributors would have no incentive for getting involved. And maybe we would get some real people in office instead of puppets and actors.
7. It appears too many people here don't know the distinction between common government spending and entitlement spending. Tax refunds are NOT an entitlement, unless it is a result of the EITC. They are a return of money overpaid to the government throughout the year. Neither is school funding, roads, etc. entitlement spending. Those are legitimate functions of the government per Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, whereas entitlement spending is a power grab by the federal government. It would be tough to deny the right to vote to anyone based on this principle, but frankly some posters need to get their heads out of their anuses.
8. Interesting Idea. During the formation of our country there was serious discussion's on who should be allowed to vote. One idea that was put forth and sounds good today was that only individuals who pay taxes could vote.Alexander Hamilton pressed for that restriction on who could vote. Take your place in history along with Alexander Hamilton. I salute you.