[Morgan_Freeman]

The two main purposes of this law are to outlaw, nationwide, any kind of poll taxes or literacy tests for voting. Both of these seem like great policies to me.

In fact, we ought to have only one kind of tax -- a poll tax. You pay your money, and then you vote on how it's used. Makes perfect sense to me. Otherwise, you're just voting on how OTHER people's money will be spent.

Literacy tests may be a bit outdated in an era of ubiquitous radio and television, but some kind of competency test should still be in place. (Although the act of voting itself obviously requires the ability to read the ballot). We require that voters be 18 to vote -- isn't this to ensure their competency? Well instead of this arbitary cutoff line, why not just have a competency test instead?

I find it truly sad that just because this Act has been sold (dishonestly) as "allowing blacks to vote", every politician is too scared to oppose it, or even offer any kind of debate over it.

Whether or not you think that poll taxes and literacy tests are good ideas, what possible justification can you have for making them illegal nationwide?