Evil is afoot and Hillary Clinton knows it.
She addressed the American Bar Association yesterday and the subject had to do with republican efforts to stop large numbers of Americans from voting. It isn't a new phenomenon. In fact, republican controlled legislatures have been working as busy as beavers wrapped up in meth induced frenzies for several years now trying to prevent urban, minority, and younger citizens from casting ballots.
The devious efforts are a product of the chilling knowledge that the right wing can't win national elections with white voters alone any more. The demographic of the nation has changed irrevocably. However, rather than address the concerns of African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and just about everyone else cast adrift in Mitt Romney's 47%, the GOP plan is to make it so difficult to vote that many in those groups will just give up on the idea of democracy altogether.
Mrs. Clinton pointed out in her speech there have been 80 different bills introduced in 31 states that have no other purpose than to shrink the size of the electorate. In her words it is a, "sweeping effort across the country to construct new obstacles to voting." The laws are in response to what she called, "a phantom epidemic of voter fraud."
She specifically cited new restrictions in North Carolina and she has a point. The new law there makes you ineligible unless you have a state issued photo ID card--in effect forcing everyone to leave work, or take a vacation day, then secure transportation to some state facility to re-register. Doing so is easier said than done when you're flipping burgers at a McDonalds or stocking shelves at a Wal-Mart. All this is because some republicans have convinced themselves the only reason they could ever lose an election is because it was stolen from them.
The cold hard stat was that in November 2012, out of nearly seven million votes cast in the Tar Heel State there were only 121 alleged cases of voter fraud. That would be 0.00174% of the vote. In fact, David Schultz, a professor of public policy at Hamline University School of Business, has been quoted as saying, "There is absolutely no evidence that voter impersonation fraud has affected the outcome of any election in the United States, at least in any recent election."
And that is what it comes down to. Voter ID cards sound all fine and wonderful, but they don't stop any sort of fraud except voter impersonation. The widely documented main sources of election chicanery are corrupt officials who rig the results, and forged absentee ballots which are mailed into election facilities. Voter ID's have no impact whatsoever on either criminal enterprise.
So, are all these clods spread out across state legislatures simply delusional conspiracy theory loons, or cynical beasts out to make sure only white suburbanites can cast a ballot?
Probably a little of both. Back in the bowels of the cigar store, the good ol' boys with the bull frog necks were shocked, shocked last November, because hell, they didn't know anyone who had voted for Obama. I guess I didn't count, but hey, who am I to argue such minor details? The point is, when so perfectly insulated and convinced their ideas and philosophies are in the absolute majority, some people think abject defeat can only be the result of vast armies of the dead casting fraudulent votes.
On the other side of the coin are the grimy realists who know the situation is dire. They understand their souls are owned by a shrinking, but highly vocal and intractable conservative white population. They realize all too well that any sort of move to the center is counted as capitulation rather than mere accommodation. Even talking about immigration reform, or other minority related issues is tantamount to committing political suicide in the districts they so carefully gerrymandered back in 2010. To compound the nightmare, they are staring straight into the face of Hillary Rodham Clinton and at this moment they don't have anyone who can beat her--especially if everyone who is eligible to vote right now shows up at the polls in November of 2016.
The answer to them is starkly clear--stoke the fires of conspiracy and screw every voter who doesn't have the income to afford a week long trip to someplace like Disney World. If you can't count on their support, keep them the hell out of the voting booths by any means possible.
Yes, all this democracy stuff is peachy keen in theory, but you can't let just anyone decide who is going to run the place. After all, they aren't like we are.
Indeed, our normally impeccable high standards have been sullied recently, not just once, but twice. That means Quality Control must be given a free hand to do what ever is necessary to restore them. There can be no higher priority.
No wonder vast numbers of people living on this blue ball think we're dangerously
insane.
I mean look at us for God's sake. We are currently in the process of making it harder for an American to vote than it is for him or her to go online and buy a fucking AR-15 with a loaded 30 round ammunition clip.
Land of the free my ass.
Bartender, a martini. And make it dry--very, very dry.
8-13-13
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