Social Question

JLeslie's avatar

If only white men still had the vote, how would the US be different than today?

Asked by JLeslie (65420points) August 4th, 2011
18 responses
“Great Question” (1points)

Let’s say in the US women and black people never were given the right to vote, what would be legal? Illegal? How would our daily lives be different? Would other minorities be allowed to vote? Would the political parties be different?

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Answers

ragingloli's avatar

Would other minorities be allowed to vote? Maybe, probably depending on the lightness of their skin.
And the right wing rhetoric would most likely also target the blacks, in addition to the illegal immigrants, gays, “socialists/communists/marxist” (which means anyone to the left of them).
There would also be no token blacks among the republican party lineup, and the current president would be white and male, since a society that does not give equal rights to blacks would be unlikely to give it to women either.

AmWiser's avatar

I shudder to think.

FutureMemory's avatar

@JLeslie Are you writing a horror story?

JLeslie's avatar

@FutureMemory someone said it in passing the other day. I was not really in on the conversation, just was within earshot. Then there is also the mayor one town up from me (I have mentioned him on other Q’s) who back during the Presidential run, Obama v. McCain, said we should still only give the vote to land owners. So, I thought I would put the question to our collective.

@ragingloli I included women in the Q.

Blackberry's avatar

It is a little disturbing to think about lol. I just imagine it would not be good. I’m not saying we would be back in the early 1900s, but it definitely wouldn’t be what it is now.

Brian1946's avatar

If that were the case, then it would probably be legal for a man to rape his wife, and abortion would be illegal.

Given that my father was a fairly progressive dude, my daily life would be different in that he probably wouldn’t have wanted us to move to a racist and misogynic country, so we’d still be living in Canada.
Therefore, I’d be living in a cleaner, less crowded, and much saner country.

I think some other minorities would be allowed to vote, because IIRC, even during the Jim Crow days of the South, other minorities were allowed to vote in that area. However, if those minorities seemed to be a progressive force, then I could see the white majority voting to deny the vote to all non-whites.

The Republican party might be similar to what it is now, and the Democratic party might be like it was in the south before the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Seelix's avatar

I’d be even happier to be north of the border than I already am :)

ucme's avatar

I guess most folks would be parading about the place dressed in those silly hooded capes, like giant ewoks. They’d go around in packs & have meetings & stuff, calling each other dumb names like Grandmaster Cottontail or something similar.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

If only white men had the vote, could we still vote in a black man for president?

JLeslie's avatar

So the consesus is white men, at least as a group, could never be fair if left on their own. They would not evolve, the country would be stuck in the middle ages.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

That’s why they abolished slavery and gave women and black people the right to vote.

JLeslie's avatar

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies I understand the vote is a representation of equality, but what if we set that aside and leave all the control to the white guys, and ignore that voting is an indication of equality. Another way to think about it is let’s say women ruled the country and only held the right to vote, do you think they would try to create laws that would make men or other races and ethnicities the underclass? Would they never vote in a man to political office?

Blackberry's avatar

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Yes, after people had to ask for it lol.

RealEyesRealizeRealLies's avatar

I’ve never been good at predicting what a woman will do next @JLeslie.

JLeslie's avatar

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies Hahahaha. Ok, you are excused from the question.

Jaxk's avatar

These sort of questions create great fodder for speculation, so I won’t try to side track the debate for long. But if you look back at our history, white males have been the predominant force for the changes you think wouldn’t happen. Abolition of slavery, women’s right to vote, equal rights legislation, all spear headed by white males. The truth is I wouldn’t expect the country to be noticeably different.

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

Not all that different. Things are already fucked up for women and minorities. They’d be slightly more fucked up.

Plucky's avatar

More messed up than it already is.

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