A handful of newly elected radical Republican governors are on a quest to destroy the Democrats electorate base by eliminating unions and passing stricter voter ID laws. They know this new law will reduce voter participation among a number of Americans of color, college students, the elderly, and the poor that typically vote for the Democratic Party. This law is being passed in many states under the pretext of voter fraud. Perhaps the governors themselves are perpetuating the greatest fraud in voter history to destroy the fabric of our democracy. The Republicans will stop short of nothing to get their way, if it means ramming their bills through the state houses and senate and removing all political dissidence. They are about dominance, reductionism, elimination, racism, classism, and the State Supreme Courts are validating these Republican-inspired voter ID laws.
Furthermore, the American people were hoodwinked into voting them back into power during the 2010 mid-term elections, and the only substance the Republicans have given us in the short time they’ve been in office is a far-right radical agenda and politics that operate outside of mainstream political thought. If the Republicans destroy the Democratic base and take full control of this country, they will place “federal policy and decision making” at the service of the wealthiest citizens of this country “who will fill the party’s coffers on an unprecedented scale.”
With the passing of new Voter ID laws, these states have added hurdles and rules that will hinder voter participation that will certainly affect a percentage of Americans of color, college students, the elderly, and the poor who will not be able to surmount this hurdle. In fact, it will deter them from voting, and this is on what the Republicans bank their political strategy. But it is up to the American people to protect our democracy and keep this country from turning into an elite plutocracy, the Republicans true political agenda. Every vote counts.
The American people weren’t “hoodwinked.” “Hoodwink” implies that voters weren’t willing participants. They were.
That said, we can just add this to the list of racist, hateful, stupid Republican laws.
Hi, Blaque Swan: I appreciate your comments, and agree with you that these white Republican decision-makers are just racists against Americans of color and hateful against working class whites. However, a large percentage of whites (78 percent) who voted the conservatives back into office are now in denial or were truly deceived by the conservatives’ campaign lies of creating jobs to make Obama look bad. Why the majority of white working-class Americans could not see through these campaign lies I believe was racist retribution against Obama. In fact, they did not know they were voting against their own interests. If they were aware, then why are they fighting so hard to repeal collective bargaining laws, recalling politicians, and protesting untiringly? But the actions of the conservative right have backfired on white voters, and they regret voting for the Republicans. It’s called buyer’s remorse. When I talk to my white colleagues at school, it is obvious they are shell shocked. They never thought this could happen to them because they were so accustomed to such measures being passed against Americans of color. I say “hoodwinked” because these white voters allowed their own racist thinking to blind them. It should not be surprising that average American citizens have always allowed themselves to be deceived by campaign lies. Historically speaking, do you truly believe that whites would have voted for the Republicans if they had known the Republicans would destroy the things that are important to them, especially those things in the economic realm?
Cool beans. We’re on the same page.
To answer your question, though, I’m not convinced they would not have. In the past, they allowed their racism to prevent them from joining with black sharecroppers to form alliances against the white landowners who were exploiting sharecroppers of both races. The white sharecroppers and tenant farmers knew they weren’t getting a fair deal but still just couldn’t bring themselves to join forces with people of color.
Prior to the Civil Rights and Voters’ Rights laws, the South was Democratic-blue. By that time, the Republican party had forsaken its former glory days of Lincolnesque-liberalism. By that time, it had become the party of steel and railroad robber barons. Meanwhile, the Dems passed the New Deal legislation that strengthened unions, provided for poor widows, orphans, and seniors, etc, etc. So by the 1960s, the Dems were known more for economic liberalism than pro-slavery conservatism.
So after the 60s, what happened? They claim the Dems had stopped listening to regular Americans, ie hard-working white Americans, and become elitist. They cover up their racism in terms and phrases like, “the moral majority.” The same people who opposed religious involvement in politics when it came to justice for people of color suddenly “found religion” in the 70s and 80s and now dare argue that there is no “wall of separation” between church and state.They even admit to voting against their economic interest because, they’ll explain, there are more important issues than money.
They’ll admit it! They’ll admit being proud of “clinging” to God and their guns! They’ll admit it! I remember during the 2004 election hearing a televangelist tell a stadium full of people not to be persuaded by Kerry’s economic argument because the president doesn’t control the economy, God does. So they admit to knowingly and willingly voting against their economic interests. They may be too embarrassed to admit it now, but they had no shame about it in the past. Not even a little bit.
So do I think they’ve allowed their racism to confuse their judgment? To borrow a phrase, you betcha! But do I truly believe they would’ve voted for Republicans if they had known this is what would’ve happened? Historically speaking, there’s every reason to think they would and no evidence to suggest otherwise.
Hi, Blaque Swan: I share your argument about the sharecropping situation between black and white sharecroppers joining forces to protest the exploitative policies of the white landowners, as Martin Luther King had encouraged African Americans and poor whites during the civil rights movement to join hands and fight the economic oppression they were both experiencing, but poor whites would not join forces with blacks because they did not want to be ostracized from their communities or be perceived as “nigger lovers.” I understand the logic of this situation that can perhaps be generalized to other economic situations that affect blacks and whites alike. However, in your first paragraph you said:
. . . Though, I’m not convinced [whites] would not have. In the past, they allowed their racism to prevent them from joining with black sharecroppers to form alliances against the white landowners who were exploiting sharecroppers of both races. The white sharecroppers and tenant farmers knew they weren’t getting a fair deal but still just couldn’t bring themselves to join forces with people of color.
Under the circumstances about which I speak concerning k-12, higher education, the Fraternal Order of Police, firefighters and so forth, mostly whites dominate these institutions where they have benefited from collective bargaining that helped to raise their standard of living to “middle-class” at an exponential rate. If African Americans and other Americans of color are living a middle-class existence, they mostly work for corporate America. Consequently, when white voters gave the Republicans a sweeping victory during the 2010 mid-term elections and gave them control of a number of state houses and the U.S. Congress, they voted against their own interest as a backlash against Obama, which still smells of racism, because they are holding this black man to standards to which many of them cannot live. They expected Obama to turn the economy around in the first 90 days of his administration by listening to the strident and racist rhetoric of the conservative right that is trying to hold him responsible for a problem that had begun devolving upon this country almost 3 decades ago by previous administrations. White racism wants to blame Obama, but this voter retribution backfired on them. Now these voters claim they want the Republicans OUT. I am on the faculty listserv at my school and you will not believe how many faculty members are taunting those who voted for the Republicans, telling them that they “deserve the state government for which they voted.”
I’m not sure I follow you. You’re saying that the white voters who supported Republicans in the 2010 midterms now regret having done so, right? And faculty members are mocking said white voters, yes?
Are they mocking the fact that the voters don’t like the government for which the voted? Or, the fact that the voters explicitly want the Republicans out?
Sorry. I’ve been in something of a fog today.
Hi, Blaque Swan: I don’t think these white voters regret voting Republican per se, but as you astutely observed, they don’t like the kind of government the Republicans are handing THEM today, which affects their economic life.
There is a surefire way to resolve the scandal of Voter ID laws, but this won’t go down well with the civil libertarians: a national ID card. I know the objections, but there are also advantages, both are enumerated on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_ID.
A national ID card is essentially a domestic passport, and it is widely used in Europe and in nations across the planet. In terms of the matter at hand, it would provide universal voter registration for all citizens over 18, therefore removing the many barriers that already restrict voting to the more privileged segments of society in patent violation of democratic norms.
At the least we should implement a VOLUNTARY ID card, issued by the government. This would would be a big improvement over the current registration process, already biased against minorities and the poor, and make universal suffrage a reality and not a hollow promise.
Unless they’re gonna issue a National ID the way they issue social security numbers, no thanks. If it involves having to travel somewhere to get papers to take to somewhere else, or, to put it simply, the same process that Republicans are advocating, no thanks.
I find it funny how whites seem willing to engage in actions (such as who they vote for in elections) in order to segregate themselves from Blacks, even if it means making themselves poorer and limiting their own opportunities. As for the national ID card, it would be quite expensive to do, and largely unnecessary. The fact is that the threat of voter fraud is quite small, and is used as a means to keep certain “undesirables” from voting. Still, a national card that one could use anywhere to vote does sound good; here in Arkansas (though not limited to AR), people don’t want to serve on juries so they don’t register to vote. I swear that “the powers that be” do that because they know that will suppress the Black vote.
Are you serious?! That just seems so . . . are you serious?!
After serving jury duty a couple of years ago, I recall some of my students telling me that, and it floored me as well. I have no idea if there has been any research on this, but it seems very interesting.
Okay. Here’s the thing about the voting process people don’t seem to be aware of: precinct workers.
I was a precinct election chief in 2004, and I was a precinct election assistant in 2006. What I learned may differ in other states, but I feel assured that the basics are the same. Precinct workers/judges are the people who take care of the nuts and bolts of things at the poll. They set up the voting machines/booths, plug in the ballot counter, ask for your name and address before handing you a ballot. It’s those people I’m talking about.
-When you vote early, your name is marked to let the poll day workers know you shouldn’t vote again.
-Election after election, it’s usually the same poll workers and the same voters.
-As much as possible, the poll workers come from the precinct they’re working in. Ie, the same community.
So, it’s near impossible to commit fraud at the poll because — drum roll please — the poll workers will recognize you and know whether or not you can vote!!
Think of it like this, you can go to any local branch of your bank and do business. Most people go to the same branch to make large deposits, withdrawals, or what have you. The benefit of doing this is that the branch employees will get to know you; and if there’s an emergency where you need to get some money but don’t have your checkbook, chances are you’ll be able to access your account because the people know you.
It’s the same way in terms of voting at the poll. The workers come to recognize who can and who can’t, who should and who shouldn’t vote. Maybe so many people are buying into the nonsense because they’re thinking of what happens at “other” polls rather than what happens at their own. But by law, polls work the same way across the state. So just like you probably know Mrs. So’n’So at your poll and Mrs. So’n’So knows you, other people know the Mrs. So’n’So at their poll and she knows them, too.
The whole issue is just stupid.
Got it. I absolutely agree.