Tea party leader: Restricting vote to property owners 'makes a lot of sense'

Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips said denying the right to vote to those who do not own property "makes a lot of sense" during a weekly radio program.

"The Founding Fathers originally said, they put certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote," Phillips said. "It wasn't you were just a citizen and you got to vote."

"Some of the restrictions, you know, you obviously would not think about today," he continued. "But one of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you’re a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community."

"If you're not a property owner, you know, I'm sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners."

Approximately 33% of Americans are renters, according to the National Multi-Housing Council.

During the same radio program, Phillips discussed with David DeGerolamo, the founder of tea party group North Carolina Freedom, the repeal of various constitutional amendments.

"Of course, when people talk, three Amendments that really are the only ones that seriously get talked about getting repealed: the 16th Amendment, for the income tax, and we can only hope that happens; the 17th Amendment for having the appointment of Senators got back to state legislatures; and the 26th Amendment, I believe it is," Phillips said. "Do you know which one that is, David?"

"No, but I know which one I want repealed," responded DeGerolamo. "I want the 14th Amendment repealed."

The first clause of the 14th Amendment grants birthright citizenship to anyone born in the US, regardless of whether their parents are citizens. The second and third clause prohibits the government from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without due process and requires the government to provide equal protection under the law, respectively.

Ending citizenship rights granted to children of illegal immigrants born in the US will be one of the first objectives of the Republican-led House of Representatives, according to a published report.

Rep. Steve King (R-IA), who has represented Iowa's 5th congressional district since 2003, said he will push a bill to deny birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants.

"Because the 14th Amendment has been misconstrued, current law inappropriately gives American citizenship to the children of illegal aliens solely because their parents were able to cross our borders illegally and give birth here," King said in October.

"As a result of this perverse incentive, an entire 'anchor baby' industry has developed which exploits a legal loophole caused by a misinterpretation of the Constitution," he continued. "Many of these illegal aliens are giving birth to children in the United States so that they can have uninhibited access to taxpayer funded benefits and to citizenship for as many family members as possible."

In an open letter, DeeDee Blasé, the founder of Somos Republicans, criticized King for planning legislation "that would undermine the 14th amendment of the constitution" which he "swore an oath to uphold."

"We find both this rhetoric and this un-constitutional conduct reprehensible, insulting and a poor reflection upon Republicans because we don’t want our Party to be viewed as the Party of changing the United States Constitution," she added.