Unfortunately, few of us have the will to see our -- now totally perverted -- system of government(s) change in a substantive way to our personal disadvantage. Like the promise of free renewable energy, we've been brain-washed into believing we have the right to spend from the produce of others without working for it ourselves -- A UTOPIAN DELUSION -- and that, as it has always been "when push comes to shove", IS the problem.
Property owners for instance want smaller more efficient government but don't want their mortgage deduction eliminated. Public employees don't want their pay or benefits reduced so as to relieve the tax burden on their neighbors. Baby boomers don't want their social[ist] [in]security benefits tampered with but don't want higher taxes either; Private sector union workers aren't willing to back-pedal on previously gained but unsustainable pensions, health-care plans or productivity issues in order to save the golden goose. But they're willing to lose money by striking or through court actions to force employers into a pact of self destruction; and politicians, the ones we elect to represent and protect our lives, liberty and property seem unwilling to abjure the acquisition of personal power and influence once they've gotten the taste for it.
If I could boil the corruption of our "constitutional" system down to one element, I'd have to say it's the flaw in most everyone's thinking that there exists or ought to exist a blanket -- constitutionally protected -- right to vote. It is unfortunate in the extreme that the issue of who could and could not vote in our elections was not resolved by the framers within the body of Constitution. And for my money, that's the Achilles heel which has brought us, presently, so near to the end of America.
As a matter of tradition, only men who owned property and put it to some productive use were afforded the privilege to vote in elections be they local, state or Federal. The rationale being that as a property owner and/or business owner, one would be unlikely to vote for political representation and measures that would result in destruction of their own property. Conversely, if those who were not land and/or business owners were given voting privileges, it wouldn't be long before the more useless members of society would see an advantage in voting for the kind of unscrupulous political representatives that would be willing to promise them something for nothing, the euphemism for taking the property of land and business owners then by some mechanism of coerced fees or taxation, transferring it to themselves.
The constitution established the general framework for national voting to take place but left many details up to the legislative branch regarding who could or by default who could not vote. This flaw in the system was duplicated by the several states and, here we are. With the anyone-anywhere-under-any-circumstances-can-vote genie now out of the bottle, there's no practical means to return to the old system where property ownership was a pre-requisite in voting for representation. On the correct side of history, some extra-constitutional changes made sense, i.e. removing the prohibition on voting based on color. On the wrong side we find the legally fictitious "right to vote" created by legislation and the courts, which is altruistic at best and has contributed mightily to the corruption of our government.
A government can not, legislatively or judicially, create a single right. Government can, if there's a political will to do so, grant privileges in exchange for some form of renumeration. Real rights are natural to all human beings and one can not be taxed for their mere exercise. Privileges are a man-made creation and are subject to the terms and provisions government or contracts ascribe to them. So is there a natural and unalienable right to vote in an election? No to put it as simply as possible, because government does not naturally exist. In fact most people have an innate desire to live without transferring such authority to others. Government, at least that which is formed by the consent of those governed, is an imperfect creation of men, thus voting is a privilege created by men to perpetuate the system of governance they'v agreed to. It's a privilege granted by contract -- by the consent of the governed -- and can be restricted as seen fit by it's creators as best serves the ends of that contract.
To say everyone has a natural and inviolable right to vote is akin to saying that everyone has a natural and inviolable right to be an American citizen, or that one has a natural and inviolable right to be un-offended when quite the opposite is true. The complete destruction of private property that ensued after the legislative expansion of voting "rights" combined with constitutionally abhorrent interpretations of the 16th amendment and commerce clause has led us for 175 years down the path to the seemingly unavoidable end of America.
Some among us harbor such hate and anger, that they want to lash-out, bash and blame everyone -- "cons", "Repubs", "Libs", "Dems", da-da, da-da, da-da, for the corruption in politics and the possible coopting of the "TEA" party movement. But the truth is that no single leader of the pack has yet emerged, no pied piper has led us this way or that, nor is one necessary. The TEA party -- the tens of millions of people represented by that banner -- can't be led away from their understanding of how we got here unless the movement's underpinnings (unalienable rights of the individual) can be discredited -- which I do not believe is possible. The greatest challenge isn't to stop politicians from taking advantage of the uninformed citizens of this nation, or the outright morons, it's a given that they will! The challenge is to coalesce TEA Party truth into an easily understandable message and to inform the conscience of the previously "un"informed at the state and local level so that can not happen.
Those who seek to divide us with their obsessive adherence to mistakes of the past, with their hate and anger, are of no use to the TEA Party movement and MUST at all costs, be ignored.