'3/5 compromise': J.D. Vance proposal compared to poison pill that led to Civil War
July 31, 2024
J.D. Vance has drawn widespread condemnation for arguing that parents should have more electoral power than childless voters, and a former Alabama senator compared the proposal to a poison pill embedded in the original Constitution.
The Republican vice presidential nominee has made a number of statements denigrating non-parents as "childless cat ladies" who have no real stake in the nation, and former senator Doug Jones rebuked Vance's suggestion that parents be allowed to vote on behalf of each of their minor children.
"Look at the contrast between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and J.D. Vance," Jones told CNN. "I mean, J.D. Vance is essentially wanting to start another 3/5 compromise for childless couples from the Constitution where you only count votes – people, childless couples count less than votes with people that have children."
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The Constitutional Convention adopted the 3/5 compromise between southern states, which wanted all slaves counted for legislative representation, and northern states, which wanted none, and the agreement to count slaves as 3/5 of a person gave southern states disproportionate power in the U.S. House of Representatives and eventually contributed to the Civil War.
"The border is an issue, there's no question," Jones said, addressing the original question posed to him. "What Kamala Harris did and what her role was was not as a 'border czar' and what she was trying to do was to try to spur economic development, so there wasn't that mass influx of people trying to get a better life and escape the poverty and the gangs in Central America. I think as we go forward, and I think once that border bill that Donald Trump did defeat almost single-handedly, and J.D. Vance voted against, too, by the way, I think it's going to even out a little bit. I don't think it's going to be as big an issue. It is certainly a concern for the American people that needs to be addressed. I think both sides are going to try to play it, but ultimately, I think there's going to be a lot of other issues in this campaign."
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