The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—PoliticalIngersoll, Robert Green
History
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Political
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
better--sixty days before the election the registry lists should be
corrected, and every citizen should have the right to enter a complaint
or objection as against any name found upon that list. Thirty days,
or twenty days before the election, that list should be published
and should be exposed in several public places in each ward and each
precinct, and upon the day of election no man should be allowed to
vote whose name was not upon the registry list. Our wards and precincts
should be made smaller, so that people can vote without violence,
without wasting an entire day, so that the honest business man that
wishes to cast his ballot for the Government of his choice can walk
to the polls like a gentleman and deposit his vote and go about his
affairs. Allow me to say that unless some such plan is adopted in
the United States, there never will be another fair election in this
country. During the last campaign all the arts and artifices of the
city, all the arts and artifices of the lowest wards were spread over
this entire country, and unless something is done to preserve the purity
of the ballot-box, and guard the sovereign will of the people, we will
cease to be a Republican Government.
Another thing--and I cannot say it too often--fraud at the ballot-box
undermines all respect in the minds of the people for the Government.
When they are satisfied that the election is a fraud they despise the
officers elected. When they are satisfied it is a fraud, they despise
the law made by the legislators. When they are satisfied it is a fraud,
they hold in utter contempt the decisions of our highest and most august
tribunals.
Another trouble in this country is that our terms of office are too
short. Our elections are too frequent. They interfere with the business
of our country. When elections are so frequent, men make a business
of politics. If they fail to get one office they immediately run for
another, and they keep running until the people elect them for the
simple purpose of getting rid of the annoyance. Lengthen the terms,
purify the ballot, and the present scramble for office will become
contests for principles. A man who cannot get a living--unless he
has been disabled in the service of his country or from some other
cause--without holding office, is not fit for an office.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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