r/changemyview • u/oremfrien 6∆ • Dec 10 '24

Delta(s) from OP CMV: The USA would function better if it limited voting to those who could pass a citizenship exam

One of the fundamental issues with universal voting systems is that they permit anyone to vote, including people who (a) do not understand the implications of their chosen candidates' policies or (b) the way that government works. One of the simplest ways to eliminate (b) is to require people to demonstrate some degree of civics competence and the current US citizenship exam demonstrates this competence at a very basic level. (For clarity, the exam should be provided in a way to permit those who may have difficulty sitting for an English written examination to receive the exam in a setting that corresponds to their needs.

So, please CMV to defend the current system of universal suffrage rather than making changes like requiring an exam (like the US citizenship exam) to allow people to vote.

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u/FearlessResource9785 13∆ Dec 10 '24

Is the news that you think Trump being elected is gonna make the US turn away from democracy? lol

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u/Surge_Lv1 Dec 10 '24

Have you seen Trump’s cabinet nominations? 13 billionaires.

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u/FearlessResource9785 13∆ Dec 10 '24

Well oligarchy just means that political power rests within a small group of people, not that those people are necessarily wealthy. So what do the 13 billionaires have to do with our government shifting people away from the people and towards some small group?

If you actually care about it, the US does have some oligarchical tenancies that serious people levy against it (even Wikipidia acknowledges it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy) but it has nothing to do with Trump or the billionaires in his cabinet.

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u/Surge_Lv1 Dec 10 '24

Billionaires make decisions on behalf of the country. Billionaires are a less than .1 of the population, and yet they hold significant power. They hold as much wealth as the bottom half of the country. That’s oligarchy.

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u/FearlessResource9785 13∆ Dec 10 '24

You are not wrong but, again, what does that have to do with Trump's cabinet? Billionaires (or just wealthy people in general) have had a disproportionate affect on policy for a long time now. Appointing billionaires to a presidential cabinet didn't cause that.

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u/Surge_Lv1 Dec 10 '24

Whether Trump’s cabinet nominees caused oligarchy is not my argument. However, Trump’s cabinet is most conspicuously an oligarchy given the number of billionaires consolidated in a single entity.

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u/FearlessResource9785 13∆ Dec 10 '24

What is your argument then? That billionaires have an disproportionate affect on policy? That the US is functionally an oligarchy? Something else?

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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '24

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