Elon Musk and restricted suffrage: should only taxpayers vote?
Elon Musk suggests limiting the vote to DARPA contractors. The debate over restricted suffrage, Spain's IMV benefit and IQ filters is back in Spain.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Elon Musk and restricted suffrage: should only taxpayers vote?
A controversial quote attributed to Elon Musk is going viral: "universal suffrage leads to universal suffering." The owner of SpaceX and Tesla seems to suggest that only contractors of state-linked companies like DARPA or his own firm should have the right to vote. Far from being a throwaway remark, the idea taps into a line of thinking gaining traction in certain circles: restricting the vote to those who pay taxes or clear a certain cognitive threshold.
Some argue that people receiving benefits such as the Ingreso Mínimo Vital (Spain's minimum income scheme) —730 euros for a single adult, over a thousand with a child— would sell their vote in exchange for keeping the handout, squandering it on various vices. Others go further and demand that pensioners, civil servants and benefit recipients shouldn't vote either. The proposal is topped off with an IQ filter: "the vote of anyone with an IQ below 100 shouldn't count the same," the argument goes, because they would be easily manipulated.
Behind the debate lies the old idea that full citizens must prove economic or cultural solvency. But history shows that census-based voting systems died for a reason. Meanwhile, IMV applicants get creative to stretch the benefit: "CBD, Modafinil, oats and gazpacho," one describes. Democracy has these contradictions; so do handouts.
A controversial quote attributed to Elon Musk is going viral: "universal suffrage leads to universal suffering." The owner of SpaceX and Tesla seems to suggest that only contractors of state-linked companies like DARPA or his own firm should have the right to vote. Far from being a throwaway remark, the idea taps into a line of thinking gaining traction in certain circles: restricting the vote to those who pay taxes or clear a certain cognitive threshold.
Some argue that people receiving benefits such as the Ingreso Mínimo Vital (Spain's minimum income scheme) —730 euros for a single adult, over a thousand with a child— would sell their vote in exchange for keeping the handout, squandering it on various vices. Others go further and demand that pensioners, civil servants and benefit recipients shouldn't vote either. The proposal is topped off with an IQ filter: "the vote of anyone with an IQ below 100 shouldn't count the same," the argument goes, because they would be easily manipulated.
Behind the debate lies the old idea that full citizens must prove economic or cultural solvency. But history shows that census-based voting systems died for a reason. Meanwhile, IMV applicants get creative to stretch the benefit: "CBD, Modafinil, oats and gazpacho," one describes. Democracy has these contradictions; so do handouts.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (53 replies).
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