Oakhurst Third-Graders Bring Politics Back to the Square
Decatur Metro | October 28, 2008Third-graders will be participating in an age old tradition next Monday…bringing political life to the public square.
Can you identify the three branches of government and explain how they work? Are you able to describe how democracy began in America and its connection to Ancient Greece? If you ask a Third Grader from Oakhurst Elementary on November 3rd, they will be able to tell you.
To connect their learning to real life experiences, the third graders from Oakhurst are holding a voting rally on The Decatur Square on November 3rd from 11:30 am to1pm. As students learn that voting is both a right and responsibility of citizens in the United States, they will encourage local adults to go exercise their right to vote on November 4th. Students will remind Decatur citizens of those who were instrumental in our right to vote.
With a non-partisan approach, third graders will encourage adults to vote by carrying handmade signs; they will give speeches, perform songs, and cheer on the crowds. In addition, a polling place information table and map will be available to assist registered voters find their polling locations. Members of the Democratic and Republican campaigns will be present to offer information about their candidates. This is truly a hands-on learning experience for the Third Grade students at Oakhurst.
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Hopefully, there will be a Libertarian Party rep there as well! Do stop by to cheer these kids on and ask a questions or two. They have learned an amazing amount about our system of government and are proud to display their new found knowledge.
I wouldn’t mind a libertarian rep!
However, I noticed something in the description there that always piques my interest. IMHO, the United States is starting to declare many “rights” to things that are not rights:
The right to healthcare…When did top-notch medical care on someone else’s dime become a right?
The right to a job…
The right to a livable wage…
The right to a college education subsidized by the Federal Government…
None of which are listed in the Constitution.
and on and on and on…
Which brings me to my point.
There is no right to vote in the Constitution.
http://www.usconstitution.net/constnot.html#vote
I for one think that our 3rd graders should know all the nuance of the Constitution! So, if you see one of them, let them know that voting is not a right, but that the qualifications for voters are left to the states!
And, Left Wing, the Georgia Constitution provides that anyone in Georgia who is a resident, is a US citizen, and is at least 18 years old, does, indeed, have the right to vote. The only excpetions being someone who had been adjudicated incompetent or has been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude.
Of course the U.S. Constitution does require voting to be open to all races and genders, guarantees that if you are 18 years old you have the right to vote, and that you shall not be required to pay a poll tax in order to vote.
So it is not entirely accurate that there “is no right to vote in the Constitution.”
There most certainly is.
“Not entirely accurate?”
So, does that mean it is just partially accurate?
Left Wing, you seem to have inferred “constitutional right” instead of “moral right”. One is a bit more flexible term than the other…though not by much.
I also get annoyed by people loosely using the word “right” to make an easy argument…though I don’t usually save my ire for only liberal causes (“right” to life anyone?)
Well, Decatur Metro, I would argue that the people of Georgia do indeed have a “constitutional right” to vote under the Georgia Constitution, and would be protected by the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court of the United States.
If the State of Georgia changed its qualifications to make it harder for a certain race to vote, to make it harder for women to vote, made you pay some sort of toll to vote, or tried to deny someone over 18 the right to vote, then it would be struck down as invalid under the Constitution of the United States, right? And it wouldn’t have to be explicit either, just so that a law or policy had a disproportionate impact on a certain group’s right to vote.
In the spirit of voting… here is a fab youtube video for all you bloggers to enjoy… from Ron Clark Academy.
And get out there and vote…..
Agreed Decaturguy. I wasn’t arguing that Georgians don’t have a constitutional right to vote, just that Left Wing was being loose with his definition of “right” when he transitioned from a “constitutional right” to vote to the other “right” arguments (healthcare, livable wage) he mentioned. Those sound more like “moral right” arguments than anything we’d go looking for in the Constitution.
Decaturguy, those kinds of regulations (relating to making it harder for women or blacks to vote) would probably be struck down not based on a federal constitutional right to vote, but on equal protection grounds.
That said, although there is no express right to vote in the constitution, that wouldn’t stop the supreme court from finding such a right if it had to. It’s found all sorts of other rights that are not mentioned in the text and which are far more attenuated from the constitution that the right to vote. In most cases I strongly disagree with those kinds of decisions, but the right to vote is a systemic right that does seem implicit in the scheme of government the framers set up. So, bottom line, I see nothing wrong with teaching kids that such a right exists.
I wasn’t arguing that Georgians don’t have a constitutional right to vote, just that Left Wing was being loose with his definition of “right” when he transitioned from a “constitutional right” to vote to the other “right” arguments (healthcare, livable wage) he mentioned. Those sound more like “moral right” arguments than anything we’d go looking for in the Constitution.
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I agree with the distinction you draw. The constitution is a mostly negative charter that tells the government what it can’t do; it does not require the government to provide social welfare to anyone. But not everyone agrees — many have gone looking for those kinds of “rights” in the constitution. Obama has said things in the past to suggest that he is sympathetic to that view, though he’s never conslusively said so.
Left Wing:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not
be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
— Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1870)
I think that semantics are being discussed at this point. We all need to focus on the context of the post. Oakhurst’s 3rd grade students are studying a topic that can be quite abstract and difficult to understand – particularly for 8 and 9 year olds. I personally think that the “Voting Rally” is a wonderful way to make the learning of these abstract concepts more “real world” for the children; as well as, promote community involvement.
Pertaining to your statement “I for one think that our 3rd graders should know all the nuance of the Constitution!,” I would ask that you keep in mind the age of the children we are discussing. As you can see from all of the posts – even we as adults do not quite agree to “right to vote” issue – and again, it depends on the context of the phrase.
Does anyone remember what you were being taught in Social Studies when you were in third grade? (Living and Nonliving Things, Habitats, Naming all of the States and Capitals?) I wonder what grades they teach these in now … Kindergarten? We didn’t even begin government until 8th grade.
Was it a “moral right” or a “constitutional right” for slaves and women to vote? Just checking on the semantics. Let’s face it, the constitution and nationalism for that matter were state of the art 230 years ago. Borders are fuzzy, globalization is happening, race is not so definable…this is the new world. Constitutional rights were derived from moral rights and always will be, however, the rules of life change and so should our views of rights whether they be moral or constitutional. People also thought the earth was flat, blacks were property, and women shouldn’t vote. The definition of what is a right and what is not a right do change over time. Obama is not so far off the mark. Most people would like the some socialized services….most importantly healthcare. People talk about socialism like it’s the plague. However, I’ll bet none of those people have ever lived in a country with socialized medicine, or know anything about it other than what they surmise from Rush Limbaugh. I have lived in socailized medicine. It’s friggin’ great. It really takes the stress out of life knowing that you aren’t one disease away from bankruptcy. If basic healthcare isn’t a right it should be and Obama knows that.
Stephen, if most people want social services, they can vote for candidates who support those services. The fact that both major parties are willing to spend very lavishly on such services speaks to the fact that a majority of Americans appear to want them, and they are getting their way. That does not mean there is a constitutional right to have those services. Constitutional welfare rights are simply not compatible with democracy.
Yes, Midi, it is pretty hard to argue that the Contitution does not contain a right to vote (even under the most hard core deranged right wing interpretation of the Constituttion) when the 15th Amendment clearly begins by saying “The right of citizens of the United States to vote …”
Really. Again, we need to remember these students are 3rd graders. What have you done to promote voting in your district?
I don’t think anyone here is criticizing this effort. It’s really great…that’s why I posted it almost immediately.
And I don’t want to speak for Left Wing, but I think he was speaking in jest when he said that third-graders should know that the state of Georgia gives the right to vote.
Don’t take our random tangents as disapproval. Its just the way these sites operate sometimes.