by John Galt » Thu Dec 14, 2017 4:11 pm
in 1832 there were 11 people living in Old Sarum who voted in 2 people to the house of commons, while manchester had no vote. and even if they had a vote, it would have been property owners. after 1832, some renters got to vote; 1 in 7 males were allowed to vote. it wasn't until 1918 after all those boys had fought and died that property restrictions enfranchised men in england. in antebellum US all white men were enfranchised by 1856, and all men by 1870. women gained suffrage in 1920 in the US, and in 1928 in the UK. the first universal suffrage was the Corsican republic. the first nation still around today to give universal suffrage was finland, in 1908
we're talking about parliament; they have freaking hereditary lords still, passing down their whigs from one generation to the next
Americans learn only from catastrophe and not from experience. -- Theodore Roosevelt
My life has become a single, ongoing revelation that I haven’t been cynical enough.