Voter Suppression

Tightening security “standards” and purging registration lists is just a couple of the tactics being used by Republicans in trying to steal yet another election (more often than not acquiesced to by spineless Democrats). All of this is based on the false premise of wide-spread voter fraud.

The U.S. should be ashamed that only half of the eligible voters actually vote. But, as is well known, the higher the turnout the more likely the Democrats win. Most citizens are not uber wealthy, which is the Republicans primary constituency. Noise about voter fraud is merely a political ploy to repress a majority of citizens who would undoubtedly vote Democrat.

As noted in an earlier post, Jeffrey Toobin explains, "Nationwide despite an attempt by the Bush Justice Department to crack down on voter fraud, there were only a hundred and twenty federal prosecutions and eighty-six convictions between 2002 and 2006 -- a period in which close to four hundred million votes were cast." As Eric Lipton and Ian Urbina state, "Many of those charged by the Justice Department appear to have mistakenly filled out registration forms or misunderstood eligibility rules."

Again, as is Republicans’ want, non-issues are dominating our news coverage and taking precedent over more pressing issues. We are being bogged down in Ayers, ACORN, lapel pins, voter fraud, and other meaningless distractions. Is it any wonder that election cycle after election cycle nothing of substance ever seems to get done to improve lives of most Americans? The campaigns go on and on, back and forth, debating such inane topics, rather than discussing the real challenges that we should be tackling.

I guess if my party was responsible for deficits, budgetary crises, a botched response to Katrina, a diminished standing in the world, the occupation of Iraq, shredding the constitution, the Justice Department scandals, and a whole host of other catastrophes, I’d be using all the smoke and mirrors I could to draw attention elsewhere...and possibly steal another election.