VOTER RIGHTS SCAM.

Anthony Watson, author of “Progressively Restoring American Greatness,” began his book with these words.
“The ideas of freedom and individual liberty have never been more under assault than they are today. The Founding Fathers laid the groundwork for a society so forward thinking and revolutionary that moneyed power had a hard time accepting it, even back then. Within a few generations, the Founding Fathers’ ideas and framework were under assault by those elected into power after George Washington. These elected positions of power, in concert with wealthy private citizens and corporate entities, have ever since constantly sought to curtail these rights.”

Mr. Watson was speaking primarily of terrorism and domestic spying. And yet one could easily attach his words of caution to those who would tamper with voter rights. Dare I suggest that such a movement—voter suppression—is in itself a non-violent domestic terrorist attack?

A number of states controlled by Republican Governor’s are attempting to force-feed voter restriction laws to curb (they say) Voter Fraud when in fact time and time again voter fraud across the nation has proven to be miniscule, often by people unaware that they were ineligible to vote in the first place. In fact, statistics show that over a 10 year period only 340 cases of voter fraud were reported, a mere 7 cases per state.

The current attack on voters does not pass the smell test. Not when in Ohio and Pennsylvania elected officials were caught publicly stating that voter restrictions would help get their candidate (Mitt Romney) elected. Fox News reported: “At a recent meeting of the Pennsylvania GOP State Committee, the top Republican in the state House of Representatives, Mike Turzai, declared that a new requirement for voters to show identification with a photograph on it “is going to allow Gov. [Mitt] Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.” Mr. Turzai drew wild applause from lemming Republicans in the crowd that clearly disrespect the basic right on which our democracy is based.

Judith Browne-Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that advocates for Voting rights had this to say. “Make no mistake the non-citizen voter purge is part of the continuum of the voter fraud story that has given us voter ID laws. This is part of a broader effort to limit the influence of immigrants, who are also quite likely minority voters. What we are witnessing is the mainstreaming of the language of xenophobia and fear.”

As an independent, I find Republican attempts to suppress the vote draconian at best. And lo and behold, guess what? Voter’s rights challenges are coming only from Republican governors and legislators and not a single state with a Democratic governor. Do we need to be slapped up side of the head to figure this one out? Makes no difference whether you are Republican, Democrat or an independent, voters rights are basic to our democracy and must be respected.

The governors and legislators attempting this coup should take a moment to read (and respect) The Voting Rights Act signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965: The Act established extensive federal oversight of elections administration, providing that states with a history of discriminatory voting practices (so-called “covered jurisdictions”) could not implement any change affecting voting rights without first obtaining the approval of the Department of Justice, a process known as preclearance. These enforcement provisions applied to states and political subdivisions (mostly in the South) that had used a “device” to limit voting and in which less than 50 percent of the population was registered to vote in 1964. The Act has been renewed and amended by Congress four times, the most recent being a 25-year extension signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2006.

A lawsuit before a Pennsylvania court may be a pivoting point. Civil rights advocates and the Justice Department are attempting to stop the GOP’s ongoing attempts at hobbling “certain” voters from voting. However, if the GOP is successful, it will clearly spell the decline of democracy as we know it. Without the absolute right of those eligible to vote there can be no true democracy. We might as well consider our voting process the equivalent of North Korea or Iran or China or anywhere else in the world where elections are rigged.

Our country is known as the United States of America, not the Independent States of America, and if these jokers succeed with their tearing down of our system our national election process will have been turned into a joke—a very destructive one at that.

So, in the end this whole voter purge nonsense is nothing more than a political power grab; a way of insuring that a particular candidate gains an unfair (illegal?) edge over their opponent. So call it what it is: voter suppression not voter fraud.

Democracy is under attack whether we recognize it yet or not by a political party who requires a President with five working digits, able to hold a pen, and to sign legislation created by special interests. But first they have to get him elected by any trick possible.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: elections, Republicans, romney, ryan, suppression, voters