Democracy! Voting rights for every person! Right?

'Voting rights for everyone, that's true democracy!' 'Except of course for women, people of colour, slaves, people who are not rich and people under the age of 18.' 'Of course. That goes without saying.'

Fun times that must have been, at the start of modern 'democracy'. At least for rich, white dudes.

It took mankind some 2000 years to further evolve because rich, white dudes are not known for being quick to adopt new ideas. Or give up even an ounce of power.

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Even a 'progressive' club like the Freemasons took a while to see women as 'people'. Although the first Freemason Lodges that allowed women were formed some hundred years before the first country gave women the right to vote in national elections. And there are still men only-Lodges to this day. On the other hand: there are also women only-Lodges. So there's that. But are there societies (or have there ever been) were only women are allowed to vote?

In quite a few countries it's still men who decide what a woman can do with her body. And while in most countries the old idea that women are not capable of making decisions is being pushed out of society, in 'the land of the free!', the USA, there's a backwards tendency going: more and more States are banning abortion. In Idaho (click) accidentally getting pregnant could land a young woman in jail: she is not allowed to get pregnant ánd is not allowed an abortion. Good luck preventing 15-17 olds from having sex. So maybe it's a really stupid idea to ban sex-education in schools.

In many cultures children have a say in how things go - if even in their own household - and just look at your own family tree: you'll notice your great-grandmother may have become a mother for the first time before she was even sixteen. But should 15-years old teens have the right to vote or become a parent? Always an interesting discussion, even as just a thought-experiment. By extension: should anyone have to perform some test before they foster children or vote? Or should society allow people who have absolutely no understanding of what it entails to become a parent or vote? And how do we decide who is capable and not?

In too many countries a person can't be homosexual, transgender or in some other way not a heterosexual part of the majority without being scolded or even left out of society.

Unless they are a Republican politician of course. D'oh!

Homosexual and transgender people are a minority in society. Should other people bow to a minority? A valid question:

I for one hope we don't have to wait a couple of hundred years to arrive in the world of Star Trek. In which every single individual is seen as valuable. A world in which gender, gender identity, sexual attraction or lack thereof, skin colour, age, religion or colour of skin, mental of physical handicap does not matter anymore. But just the way you are as a human being.

Would you like such a world? If you fear a world in which everyone is considered equal, not just people who look and act like you, may I ask why?

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