Voter Turnout In The Historic American Republic

Voter Turnout Throughout Our history

Here are two completely unrelated graphs.

Graph #1:

voter turnout in america as share of population

Graph #2:

Some extra charts of interest:

chart showing composite reading level of SOTU by president part 1

chart showing composite reading level of SOTU by president part 2

The composite reading level of the SOTU had to decrease to match the average, as everything does in a democracy. Welcome to expanding the franchise: If we have a 50% voter turnout, then we need to appeal to 50% of the population. Which will no longer solely include the more intelligent, contributory classes.

Some fun observations that the “restore the original republic / I believe in the tree of liberty” types (restorationists) hate to acknowledge:

The first 90ish years after our founding, less than 15% of the population voted.
For about 60ish years out of that first 90, less than 10% voted.
It took 100 years to get us to about 18% voter turnout. Which is where it stayed until the 1920s.
We now hover within 40-50%.

Everyone nowadays seems to imply that we need “active and engaged” citizens and that “everyone needs to be equal” to have a democracy. Well, we certainly did not have a democracy by that definition for the first one hundred and fifty years. Neither did our founders try to create one.

history of voting in america part 1 — It took one hundred years before all men could vote, and women didn’t vote until 1920s (which obviously explains the major spike in those subsequent years).

This is what always makes me laugh about the restorationists. They haven’t reconciled their beliefs with the reality of those time periods. If you honestly want to restore the traditional republic, then we must go back to only 5-10% of the voting population (white, male, landowner, somewhat educated/intelligent) being able and willing to vote. A primary problem with the modern “republic” is that franchise expansion.

But restorationists would never admit that. They want to somehow “restore” the republic but keep the 50%+ voter turnout and demographic quagmire. But when you have that many people voting, it becomes about averages.

And the average American is not exactly an all-star:

While little more than a third of respondents (36 percent) could name all three branches of the U.S. government, just as many (35 percent) could not name a single one.
Just over a quarter of Americans (27 percent) know it takes a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to override a presidential veto.
One in five Americans (21 percent) incorrectly thinks that a 5-4 Supreme Court decision is sent back to Congress for reconsideration.

Restorationists want to return the traditional things that they personally like, but not the traditional things that are now inconvenient. But that’s not how it works. The reason we had those traditional things they like is because of those traditional things that of which are now inconvenient.

If you truly want to “restore” the republic (which you shouldn’t), I recommend you start with shifting us back to a 10% voter turnout.

Or better yet, start rooting for the replacement to democratic voting.

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