Ted Yoho Misses the Jim Crow Era

Via Right Wing Watch: Rep. Ted Yoho wants to bring back the the voting restriction of only property owners being allowed to vote.

“I’ve had some radical ideas about voting and it’s probably not a good time to tell them, but you used to have to be a property owner to vote,” he said to applause.

In 1790, only white male property owners were allowed to vote. So if you are a woman or a minority you are shit out of luck if Ted Yoho ever becomes President. Judging by the fact that Yoho is speaking to a nearly empty church, I doubt we have to worry about Yoho becoming President anytime soon.

I wonder if the tax cut loving Yoho would support Florida bringing back the poll tax. USF political science Darryl Paulson outlines the laws made by whites in the 19th century to deny blacks the right to vote.

By 1876, Reconstruction was over, and Florida politicians would adopt many provisions to eliminate black voting. The Sunshine State would "legally" eliminate black votes without violating the 19th Amendment. Between laws passed by the Legislature and the adoption of the 1885 Constitution, almost every black vote was eliminated.

Florida, like every one of the former Confederate states, adopted a white primary, grandfather clause, poll tax, literacy test, long residency requirements and other obstacles to black voters. It was a virtual fail-safe system. If one barrier failed, there would always be another to stop them from voting.

Yoho's voting policies are about discrimination. Yoho is a self-professed birther.

In audio recorded by an audience member and posted on YouTube, Yoho can be heard telling the crowd that the issue of President Obama’s birth certificate was a “distraction” from topics like the national debt, he said he was hopeful that a birther investigation could bring down the whole government: “They said if it is true, it’s illegal, he shouldn’t be there and we can get rid of everything he’s done, and I said I agree with that.”

Still doubt Yoho holds racist views? Yoho told a black constituent that he isn't sure if the Civil Rights Act is constitutional.

FLOURNOY: Do you think that any part of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 [sic], do you think any part of that is constitutional? And then if you’d discuss why. [...]

YOHO: This country grew through a lot of growing pain. We’re going through it again. As we grow as a country and prosper, we’re going to go through it again in the future. That’s why I’m so thankful for the Constitution because it allows us to do that. Is it constitutional, the Civil Rights Act? I wish I could answer that 100 percent. I know a lot of things that were passed are not constitutional, but I know it’s the law of the land.

Keep this in mind when Yoho asks why black voters aren't Republicans.