Today, we’re looking at the Twenty-fourth Amendment as we work our way through the Constitution and its amendments.

This post is part of a series that will make more sense if it is read in order. If you haven’t read the earlier posts in this series, please click here to start with the first one. One reason I’ve broken this series into fairly small parts is that we have a tendency to rush through reading the Constitution and miss a lot of it. I hope the readers of this series will ponder the points in each session. I also hope you will comment on each post as we go along.

Throughout this series on the Constitution, my comments will be in black normal font, and the text of the document will be in this color and italicized.

ARTICLE XXIV.

SECTION 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This amendment was ratified in 1964 under the pretense that a $1.75 to $2.00 tax was so onerous it kept black people from being able to vote. The voices supporting this pretense made a racial issue out of it, since racial equality was a popular subject at the time. Never mind that there were more poor white people than poor blacks.

All pretense aside, this was another power grab by the left, using the racial issue as a guise to obscure their real objective. Bulk registration of dead people and people who didn’t care enough to register themselves costs a lot of money when you have to pay a couple of bucks a head to do it. It’s a lot cheaper when there’s no tax.

This amendment is just one more example of the fact that we need to look beyond the rhetoric when politicians speak. What are they really trying to hide behind their overt talk and actions? What significance will this action have over and beyond the obvious result publicized as the intent of those behind it?

It is said that you can tell when a politician is lying because his (or her) mouth is moving. It’s a little more difficult sometimes to see the real purpose and effect of the actions a politician espouses. We, as citizens, need to be more aware of the need to dig beyond the obvious and see what these people are really trying to accomplish.

What legitimate reasons can you think of for constantly trying to make it easier and easier to register people to vote who are not interested or informed enough to do so themselves?

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Benjamin Franklin, exiting Constitutional Convention:

“We’ve given you a republic, if you can keep it.”

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Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.