The Franchise

Restricting the franchise to "qualified" voters has an unsavory history in the USA. (When assessing the damage from the Civil War, the damage from Jim Crow and Reconstruction should not be forgotten.) Nevertheless, in the abstract, I can accept the proposition that someone who turns to their fellow citizens, via the State, for support should forego some--not all--of their civil rights.

I've placed a related comment here:

The Founders were aware that voters and special interests might try to plunder the federal treasury. That is presumably one reason why the franchise was originally restricted to property-owning males.

The nation is on the brink of terminal stagnation or worse. It’s tempting to associate that condition with the extension of the franchise to irresponsible voters. IMO such linkage is plausible but, because correlation is not causation, not conclusive.

However, when there is a push to allow non-citizens to vote (via deliberate non-enforceability of registration requirements or via illegal-alien “amnesties”), something is very very wrong.

And the government and special interests deliberately refuse to enforce the borders. Combine that with goo-goo multiculturalism...