Why Conservatives Don't Want You to Vote

Conservatives constant subversion of democracy is both strategic and philosophical. It isn’t just because they’re afraid you will vote wrong(i.e. against them). They really think it’s wrong for everyone to participate in the political process.

They Really Don't Want You to Vote

It probably seems harsh to accuse your opponent of purposely trying to undermine your right to vote. So, instead, I will let them speak for themselves. (h/t to rightwingwatch for composing this list)
Governor Mike Huckabee:

“I know that most politicians say we want everyone to vote, I’m gonna be honest with you, I don’t want everyone to vote,” Huckabee told the Jen and Don Show earlier this week.

“If they’re so stupid – that’s right, if they’re gonna vote for me they need to vote, if they’re not gonna vote for me they need to stay home. I mean, it’s that simple,” Huckabee continued, to the laughter of the radio hosts.

Paul Weyrich from 35 years ago admitted vote suppression as a strategy.

I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people. They never have been from the beginning of our country, and they are not now. As a matter of fact our leverage in the elections, quite candidly, goes up as the voting populace goes down.

Phyllis Schlafly explains the importance of making it more difficult to vote:

The real reason the left wants to make sure that individuals without voter ID are allowed to vote is because they are expected to vote for Democrats.**

The reduction in the number of days allowed for early voting is particularly important because… The Democrats carried most states that allow many days of early voting.”

Pennsylvania House Leader Mike Turzai explains how their policies would lead to Republican victory:

VoterID, which is going to allow Governor Romney to win Pennsylvania.

They Don't Believe in Democracy the Way You Might Think

The problem is we can’t rely on Conservatives standing up for their principals to end this behaviour. Because democracy is not a conservative principal.

250 years ago, the thing that united Conservatives in the old world was that they believed the aristocracy should rule. It was an ideology that said only the best should rule a country, the landed aristocracy tended to be the best, and therefore, the aristocracy should rule. I’m sure it was a total coincidence that it was the landed aristocracy who were arguing that the landed aristocracy should be making the rules. Conservatives of today believe in a slightly more modern version of this same idea.
Conservatives of today try to blend democracy and aristocracy. They do this by either restricting who can vote, restrict who can run, or restrict who can set the agenda of the national discussion. You don’t have to take my word for it, they are quite open about this.

Today, it is this corrupted notion of “the Individual” that has fundamentally rendered the massive problems of the United States no longer merely political but philosophical. This, in turn, has been the result of two vastly different understandings of democracy of which the country has lost sight: aristocratic democracy, which is what the Founders had intended, and egalitarian democracy, which is what we’ve created, much to our peril.

Democracy, according to Conservatives, is only good “under certain conditions”.

The key to understanding the popular defense of an undemocratic regime is to realize that the Founders, while entrusting our government to “the people,” knew that popular government was desirable only under certain conditions.

Conservatives believe in the concept of a natural aristocracy. That there are certain people who are wise, just, and a little bit better than the rest of us. They believe that the best society is that which can find and funnel these people into being our rulers.

we should understand the term[natural aristocracy] to be describing those who make the effort to adopt, cultivate, and perfect certain traits and capabilities in their own lives that will “naturally” make them stand out from and excel the general run of the masses, simply because the possession of these derived traits will make one superior to those who lack them. In other words, it is not an aristocracy that exists through no merit of its own. Rather, it is an aristocracy that rises to the top as the cream does from the milk, through nourishing their inborn traits by self-discipline while fostering new ones through effort and activity.

To their credit, they will say that everyone should be eligible to become this special ruling type of person. But, when being honest, will admit that they believe there is a large overlap in wealth and ruler(same link).

Typically in human history, aristocracies have consisted of those who are considered nobles by birth (hereditary aristocracy) or else who gain and keep power through their access to wealth and other resources (plutocracy). While these do not always coincide completely with the natural aristocracy of which I’ll be writing, there is a great deal of consequential overlap

So that’s what Conservatives think about who should be running. But what do they think of who should vote? I don’t want to be the one that says Conservatives don’t want you to vote unless you agree with them. So I’ll let Conservatives say it for themselves.
Conservatives even try to rewrite history by saying that our founders designed the constitution of America to be an aristocracy.

But we shouldn’t fear the word “aristocracy.” Or even aristocracy itself. The Founders certainly did not. In fact, they sought to establish an aristocracy, and in the Constitution they demand that America be ruled by aristocrats.

So What Are You Going To Do?

Because of their beliefs, and their desire to win, it should not be a surprise when Conservatives try to cheat democracy. The Secretary of State in Georgia changing the rules to help his bid for Governor is but one minor manifestation of this. There are many examples from trying to restrict who can vote by making registering difficult, make it harder to vote, and gerrymander congressional seats are but a few examples.

My question to you is, if you aren’t a conservative and you believe in democracy, what are you going to do about it? Do you think others are superior to you or have you educated yourself on the issues and the candidates? Will all of their voter suppression work? Or are you willing to crawl through the rain and stand in the cold to show them that you will not be deterred? Because if you don’t educate yourself and be determined to vote… well… then maybe Conservatives are right.