Axiphiles Quotes
New thoughts excite The voter's dread. Be sure you're trite, And go ahead.
The last two lines play on Davey Crockett's motto, "Be sure you're right, then go ahead."
Axiphiles, The New York World, October 7, 1930
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Also used in his Message to Congress, May 25, 1967
At the time less than 10% of the Southern Blacks were allowed to vote. The result was that Southern segregationists were elected to Congress even in a state like Mississippi which had a majority Black population, The Southern segregationist bloc was large enough that with a few very conservative Republicans, they formed a coalition could block any civil rights legislation including voting rights reform,
The voting age was reduced from 21 to 18, when 18 year olds were being drafted for military service and some were being killed or wounded. Many argued that a person who was old enough to die for America was old enough to vote in America. 18-21 year olds however have not voted in the same proportions as older citizens. The guilt emenated from the fact that 18 year olds could at that time be drafted to fight in America’s wars and perhaps die, but they could not vote.
