June 28, 2005
I'd say this is about right....
Jayson writes, in Polipundit:
FWIW, I’d say one could make a plausible case, save for the Florida governor’s contest, that the Wisconsin gubernatorial race is more important than any other governor’s election in next year’s cycle.
For the very instant a Republican takes over the WI governor’s mansion is the very instant that twice-vetoed bill to require photo ID’s to cast ballots will become the law of that land.
And the very instant that corpses, family pets, union thugs, and liberal college students are not able to vote for Democrats there, multiple times, and in multiple precincts, is the very instant that Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes will shift to the GOP column in future presidential elections...
It's the same story you hear over and over. Republicans trying to cut down vote fraud, and Democrats resisting every inch of the way. Usually with some disgusting whines about how tougher requirements will "disenfranchise" minorities. (Democrats think minority groups are grossly inferior beings, incapable of presenting ID to vote. Probably incapable of breathing without government assistance.)
I think it should be hard to vote, not easy. It should be a privilege for those willing to take some trouble. The "crawling over broken glass" bit is hyperbole, but maybe people should have to crawl across a wet lawn, or touch a tarantula, or something. (Am I a "broken glass Republican?" You betcha. But I won't swallow any goldfish.)
Posted by John Weidner at June 28, 2005 10:05 PM | TrackBackThe problem is that historically it is minorities who have been forced to crawl over beds of glass, while non-minorities got beds of grass. Perhaps today things will be different...
Posted by: Andrew Cory at June 28, 2005 11:28 PMI refuse to accept the idea that simply identifying yourself represents any sort of a barrier at all.
I mean, we expect people to physically find their way to the voting booths, don't we? It's no harder to get a sheriff's ID than to cast a vote, and as a practical matter, only the tiniest fraction of lawful voters are out there walking around without valid IDs anyway.
Posted by: Mike at June 29, 2005 05:20 AMAndrew, is that what they teach in school now?
American blacks in the South got far worse than glass--maybe hemp if they tried to vote. (From Democrats...they did mention that, didn't they?)
Elsewhere, ALL minorities have usually voted with no extra difficulty. In fact a lot of our history turns on the ease of their voting, even if they were immigrants with no education. The political machines that long controlled big cities (run by Democrats...they did mention that, didn't they?) were based on buying the votes of the urban poor with favors, jobs, drinks, Tamanny Turkeys, etc.
I get so sick of hearing our history turned into a anti-American vague mush. Yes, minorities have been oppressed here in various ways. They have also been given astonishing (by world standards) amounts of opportunity and freedom and acceptance.
The problem with what you wrote is that it is a mixture of truth and falsehood that most people can't untangle. They hear a constant drumbeat of mushy complaints about "minorities being disenfrancised,' etc, and form an erroneous picture of our history. Which is the intent.
1) John - take a Black History course, you clearly haven't a clue on the subject!
2) A photo ID will have no effect on college liberals voting. Federal Courts have ruled for years, and still hold this as law, college students can vote either in the district in which their family reside, or in the district of the school they attend, their choice, in national elections. An ID won't change that.
3) As I see it, basic difference between Dems and GOP on this is that the Dems prefer a few people improperly vote while maximizing the number of legal voters, while the GOP prefers to deny legal voters a vote while blocking some who try to do so illegally (witness the FL debacle of thousands of so-called "felon" voters who had never comitted a felony). It used to balance out, but now the GOP are rigging the system so one-sidedly, it ain't even close! Did you read the Judge's decision in WA's Gov race? He concluded the evidence GOPer Rossi (who obviously never listened when the GOP told Dems in 2000 "You lost, get over it") presented did indeed uncover some voters who voted illegally, but most of them turned out to have voted for ROSSI!!!
Posted by: Zoomie at June 30, 2005 10:03 PMAndrea: yes, really!!!
!!!!
John: True that Blacks in the South were blocked from voting, segregated, lynched, by mostly Democrats...But lets be a bit accurate here - in the early '60s when the Democratic Party solidly endorsed civil rights legislation to allow ALL Americans full voting rights, most of those Southern Democrats initially tried to split away (remember Wallace's run for the Presidency?), but eventually found a very happy home...IN THE GOP!!! Where many still reside today!!!
Posted by: Zoomie at July 4, 2005 09:40 AM
