Ben Carson (Corrected)

Started by Ken B, September 22, 2015, 10:11:02 AM

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Which are consistent with the US constitution? Pick all that apply.

A tax you pay or not, based on your religion.
2 (20%)
A woman's testimony counts half that of a man's.
1 (10%)
The death penalty for having gay sex.
2 (20%)
A religious test to hold political office.
3 (30%)
You can capture and own slaves.
3 (30%)
Laws against theft.
6 (60%)

Total Members Voted: 10

Pat B

Quote from: Ken B on September 24, 2015, 10:21:47 AM
Here's an entertaining followup on the Wesleyan thing.
http://popehat.com/2015/09/23/lets-applaud-wesleyans-student-censors-for-honesty/

Some readers will note what one here did not: that they are not just boycotting but destroying copies of the free paper so others may not read it.

Take heart: that tactic didn't work for Scott Walker.

kishnevi

Quote from: Ken B on September 24, 2015, 10:36:44 AM
Not entirely. 13th & 14th amendments. They are dispositive on several of the examples here.
A few others are debatable. I think a poll tax on Jews would have failed muster early on, and the woman's testimony might possibly have failed muster, as a common law right of testimony under amendment 9 and article 11.

The very fact they were amended shows that these things were possible under the original document. 
Women's testimony and rights in general were limited, some times up until a few years ago (I am thinking here of spousal rape and spousal immunity as a witness).  And c. 1800 the common law situation, in which husbands owned anything that had their wife's name on the title, prevailed.   That changed state by state through legislation.  According to Wikipedia, Mississippi was the first, in 1839, but the process was not completed until after the Civil War. The UK didn't get around to it until the 1880s.  But the original common law status was actually worse for women than Sharia, which recognized the right of women to their own property ( the problem of course being the social fact that women had little to begin with under their own name).

Wandering Aengus

I goofed.  I thought it said "no religious test" ... Surely the other two who ticked off that one made the same mistake...
'And pluck till time and times are done...' - Yeats

Ken B

Wow.  Some interesting responses.  It's not a long document.... I recommend article 6,and amendment 13 especially.