Web Letters: The Right to Vote

I agree with Jesse Jackson that we should have a Voting Rights Amendment to the Constitution. I wonder if Mr. Jackson thinks, as I do, that non-citizen immigrants should also have the right to vote?

Ericka Solis

South San Francisco, CA

Mr. Jackson's article is based on the assumption that the federal government is a democracy. According to the Constitution it is a republic with some democratically elected representatives.

Why did the Founding Fathers not establish a pure democracy? Why let the rule of constitutional law stand in the way of the "will of the people"?

Because a pure democracy forces the will of the majority on the minority without regard to fairness. Mob rule is pure democracy. Tyranny, slavery, seizure of property and persecution of the minority are in no way prevented by a democracy. Anything can be done and has been done in the name of the majority.

The US Constitution sets forth a set of principles that should protect us from each other and our government. In a pure democracy, those principles and protections are sacrificed to the "will of the people."

James Vanus

Huntsville, AL