And Texas becomes the latest state to deliberately disenfranchise anyone who doesn’t own a state-issued photo identification card. The Democratic equivalent would be to require that all prospective voters prove that they do not own a boating license. That would have a similar effect of disproportionately impacting the base of voters from one party over the other.
I hope the Texas Republicans enjoy their last decade in the Sun, because their state will be Blue before long, and payback is going to be a bitch.
It’s a poll tax. I think even the SCOTUS can figure out that the 24th Amendment bans this sort of thing.
Nah, they’ll interpret “poll tax” literally. If you don’t have to pay money at the polls directly, it’ll be fine.
Better not count on the SCOTUS for any help. They upheld Indiana’s photo ID law.
No, payback won’t be a bitch. Obama and the other Lieberdems will act almost apologetic when they return to power and go out of their way to offer every nicety to the GOP, like they did in 2006.
Hell, the Dems might as well grind the GOP’s nose in it. Whether they do or not the GOP will tell the world that they did and act like they did. Remember all the lies in 2001 about how Clinton’s team trashed the white house? A HUGE scandal, entirely bogus.
yup. my feeling too.
This is the party that let Lieberman remain a democrat, didn’t reform the filibuster, didn’t pass a budget, and extended the bush tax cuts. This was after “looking forward, not backward”.
“payback”. right. that’s a good one!
What depresses me the most is that the Liberal/progressive/Democrat base in America is so damn passive and NON AGGRESSIVE against the damn Republicans! The Republicans have utilized their minority base so effectively on the local political turf throughout America that it boggles the mind. The Republicans have switched their strategy from the federal political scene to focus on taking over local state governments. As usual the Democrats are sound asleep while the Republicans setup and execute their post 2010 election plans without any significant opposition. The Democrats skillfully influenced by the Republican controlled MSM spent their time during the 2010 elections worrying about the Congressional House and Senate races. Meanwhile during the 2010 elections the Republican base was busy taking over State legislatures in a number of key states. (This was what all the Tea Party Townhall disruptions were all about!) Now in over 17 states the state governments are totally under the control of Republicans, so the progressive/liberals in these states are fighting rear-guard actions in the form of recall petitions, trying desperately to stop the Republican juggernaught onslaught in local state politics. Eleventh hour recalls are currently in progress in Michigan and Wisconsin, all of which leaves me asking will there ever be a future in America for progressive/liberal ideology?
Its not that the Republicans are so clever, smart or rich. Its just that the Republicans never stop planning sinister ways to destroy the Democratic Party. They are fanatically driven to secure absolute power for themselves in America. The reason why they are having success is that the Democrats/liberals/progressives don’t do any ANTI-OPPONENT POLITICAL PLANNING at all. The Democrats treat American politics as if it is an institutional Lodge Association of some sort; in that any planned actions outside of the existing Lodge Charter Rules and regulations are strictly forbidden. If you will not plan aggressive strategies against your political opponent, while your opponent is busy planning moves against you, then you are doomed to certain failure.
Currently we have a catalog of anti-union, anti-voter, anti-municipality legislation already passed by Republican controlled states across the nation to the point it is difficult to know where to start to mount a redemptive fight against these forces. We still have unrestricted access for organizing via the Internet however the Republicans are feverishly working to restrict this access, and if they regain control of the federal government they will do it. Right now from my perspective any possibility of a Texas “pay-back” is more like a “Texas size” pipe dream.
Well, here in Illinois where the notoriously corrupt local Democrats are leading the charge against teachers, cops, fireman and their pensions, it’s hard for me to get excited about supporting those bribe-taking slugs.
I said this elsewhere, and I will say it again.
We need to create a grassroots movement to get blacks, elderly, people of color to get IDs. Period.
Wisconsin passed theirs last week. This is the poll tax come north. Fck you, GOP.
you speak the truth
That’s the way! Arguing for the right not to show an ID is a loser, but it shouldn’t be hard to raise money to pay for state ID’s for those to poor to pay. And if we can drive voters to the polls, we can drive them to the Secretary of State’s office to get the ID.
This has been the law in Fla for some years. Each election I refuse to offer my ID. I provide my Voter ID card only. I am allowed to vote, but only provisionally.
We are required to say why we are not providing photo ID on the form. I write that it’s unconstitutional.
It’s really the only form of protest I have at my disposal.
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It’s not worth losing your vote over.
My vote has counted every time, according to our supervisor – who, by the way, has elected NOT to follow the legislation signed in to law by rick Scott shortening early voting and regressive registration laws.
Here in Illinois, provisional ballots are usually not even counted unless they could sway the results. This is very rare.
Why not just show your driver’s license? You can’t even buy groceries or see a doctor without it.