Pat Sajak wants to disenfranchise teachers

[TC]

DFW's favorite game show host suggests disenfranchising those pesky liberal teachers.

www.nationalreview.com/corner/249650/public-employees-and-elections-conflict-interest-pat-sajak

None of my family and friends is allowed to appear on Wheel of Fortune. Same goes for my kids’ teachers or the guys who rotate my tires. If there’s not a real conflict of interest, there is, at least, the appearance of one. On another level, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has recused herself from nearly half the cases this session due to her time as solicitor general. In nearly all private and public endeavors, there are occasions in which it’s only fair and correct that a person or group be barred from participating because that party could directly and unevenly benefit from decisions made and policies adopted. So should state workers be able to vote in state elections on matters that would benefit them directly?

This analogy seems stupid to me given that Sajak only applies it state workers. Sajak's sponsors also are ineligible to participate in Wheel of Fortune, yet he doesn't go the next step and suggest that, for example, the Koch Brothers cannot contribute any money to the political process or vote.

[rosslynhoya]

You're right, that would be stupid.

A fairer approach would be to draw up a sizeable list of people who directly benefit from handouts by the government, look to see who gets more than, say 50% of their support from the government (that's the legal definition of a dependent, right? we can discuss a higher or lower percentage if you like) and restrict those individuals from voting.

It is increasingly absurd that we have reached the point where half the nation exists merely to reappropriate the productivity of the other half. We can't go on much longer like this.

[Boz]

Where does he talk about teachers? If they were the focus of this article, that is not at all clear. Obviously, some teachers are state workers, but not all of them.

Actually, there isn't much that is clear in this article. We are equating elections to game shows? I suppose there is a certain amount of satiric humor in that comparison, but other than that, I don't know where Sajak's head was when he wrote this (hopefully buried somewhere in Vanna White). Either voting is NOT a fundamental right, or being on a game show IS one, in which case, where the #$@%^ was my invitation to be on "Studs"?

Pat Sajak actually writes some interesting stuff and normally pretty reasonable. Not this time.

[jerseyhoya34]

What would be equally stupid, as borne out by the tax cut and spend policies of the decade would be to cut taxes again or to extend the tax cuts that also turned out to produce undeniable income cuts. The tea sippers have their hands out just like anybody else who wants food stamps and the like.

The idea that we would restrict voting on this kind of basis is patently absurd and is the stuff dreamed up by do gooders who want to game the system so they can get a piggish tax cut.

[DFW HOYA]

Oct 14, 2010 11:47:44 GMT -5 TC said:

DFW's favorite game show host suggests disenfranchising those pesky liberal teachers.

Favorite game show host? Does Ken Beatrice count? (I wonder who will get that amazingly obscure reference.)

I don't watch the Wheel show either. I don 't have local channels on my satellite TV (long story...), and 6:30 pm is spent either watching ESPN or the appellate court arguments on HoyaTalk.

[TC]

Oct 14, 2010 13:25:04 GMT -5 DFW HOYA said:

Oct 14, 2010 11:47:44 GMT -5 TC said:

DFW's favorite game show host suggests disenfranchising those pesky liberal teachers.

Favorite game show host? Does Ken Beatrice count? (I wonder who will get that amazingly obscure reference.)

I'm pretty sure you've posted his graduation address here two or three times.

[Elvado]

Oct 14, 2010 13:25:04 GMT -5 DFW HOYA said:

Oct 14, 2010 11:47:44 GMT -5 TC said:

DFW's favorite game show host suggests disenfranchising those pesky liberal teachers.

Favorite game show host? Does Ken Beatrice count? (I wonder who will get that amazingly obscure reference.)

I don't watch the Wheel show either. I don 't have local channels on my satellite TV (long story...), and 6:30 pm is spent either watching ESPN or the appellate court arguments on HoyaTalk.

As one of the victims of Ken Beatrice's drunken debacle as host of the Sportsquiz final in Copley Formal you just brought back a wonderful yet painful memory. Thanks.

[rosslynhoya]

This heads in a slightly different direction but reminded me of Sajak's argument.

If you concede that the government can compel you to surrender certain rights in exchange for certain privileges, then why can't the "right" to vote be among those rights subject to forfeit or compromise?

volokh.com/2010/10/14/being-forced-to-pay-for-your-own-rights/