Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Disenfranchised On The Fourth Of July

Hypothetical question for you.  Say you're a Republican politician.

What if, as a Republican politician, you were the deciding vote on a law that would, in the state you are a politician in, legally throw out the votes of:

  • 15% of people who make $35,000 or less
  • 18% of senior citizens
  • 18% of 18-24 year olds
  • 19% of Latinos
  • 20% of Asian-Americans
  • 25% of African-Americans.

It would cost you 8% of the white voters in exchange.  Your campaign manager would walk over hot coals to get you a deal like that.  You would be a moron not to take that deal, given the demographics of who votes for Democrats, namely, the people in that list above, and who votes for Republicans.  You would assure wins for a very long time if you could pass a law that would give you the above results.

And yet Republicans in state after state have already passed laws that do just that.

They're called Voter ID laws that require a state-approved photo ID to vote.



Any questions?

Oh, and as far as women go?  What about disenfranchising them?  Republicans surely would love to find a way to do that, right?  What if I told you Republicans could pass laws that would cut the number of eligible women voters in half?

They already have.

Last year, 12 states introduced laws requiring birth certificates or other proof of citizenship to vote; 3 passed.

Only 48 percent of women have a birth certificate with their current legal name on it.

Coming to a red state near you:  Voting laws that require Photo IDs only obtained through proof of citizenship.  Congratulations.  You maintain absolute power in the state for a generation, power exercised overwhelmingly by wealthier white men.

Do you understand why Eric Holder and the Department of Justice's Voting Rights Division have to be utterly destroyed now as far as the GOP are concerned?

Do we understand now?

Good.  We have work to do.

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