November 8, 2012

Post-Election: A Palpable Fear Of Change For Conservatives

I’m a big fan of routine, of knowing how things work, and not needing to constantly re-adjust my expectations. And I think this is true of most people. But post-election, it seems fear of change for many (white) conservatives is palpable. Conservatives see a rapidly changing America, and it scares them. Their fear is not based on a tangible threat, but rather a sense that America is heading to a different and unknown destination. I get it; change is scary. The unknown is scary. I get that people prefer the devil they know. — But should this fear of the unknown hold us back from embracing what makes America unique?

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August 30, 2012

Texas Voter ID Law Blocked By Federal Appeals Court

Texas flag on capitol domeFinally some good news on the effort to stop Republican voter suppression. Today a federal court of appeals blocked the Texas voter ID law saying it would disenfranchise the poor. Texas cannot implement their discriminatory voter ID law unless today’s ruling is overturned by the Supreme Court. While Texas is not a swing state and is a lock for Mitt Romney in November, this is still a nice victory for everyone who believes in a fair election system.

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August 15, 2012

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Lives, Judge Refuses to Block It

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson says he will not halt Pennsylvania’s voter ID law. Everyone else is calling the law “tough” but I call it “discriminatory,” and it matters little to me what one particular judge has ruled because I know what’s right and what’s wrong. It turns out that the reason Republicans stated we needed this law played little role in the judge’s decision.

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July 18, 2012

Pennsylvania’s Voting Problem – Partisan Hackery Looks To Rule The Upcoming Presidential Election

Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer Bob Warner reports, “More than 758,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania do not have photo identification cards from the state Transportation Department, putting their voting rights at risk in the November election, according to data released Tuesday by state election officials.” This is a staggering number and it represents over 9 percent of the over 8 million registered voters in Pennsylvania. The number of voters who will be disenfranchised this election is still unknown, and is not likely to ever be known, but based on this report we know over three-quarters of a million voters face the possibility of being turned away at the polls. This is just one state!

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July 15, 2012

Voter Suppression and the Voting Rights Act: It’s not the intent that matters, it’s the effect

As always, another great point made by Chris Hayes. On today’s Up with Chris Hayes the topic of voter suppression was at the top of the show. Texas is defending it’s undemocratic photo ID law and they want to be free from the restrictions of the 1965 voting rights act. Hayes tells us that the purpose of the voting rights act was not to police intent, but rather the effects. So if a state passes a restrictive new law that requires photo ID in order to vote, the test of whether that is allowed under the voting rights act is not the intent. We don’t need to know why the Republican legislators in Texas passed their restrictive law in order to judge it’s lawfulness. We don’t need to know if they are racists (which some most certainly are), and we don’t need to know if the reason Republicans passed these laws was to make the process of voting a more difficult task for minorities who are more likely to vote Democratic. Like Hayes said, “nobody has to do any mind-reading,” in order to enforce the voting rights act.

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July 10, 2012

Is the Republican Party heading for political armageddon?

Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out something on his show tonight that never occurred to me. The Democratic Party has won the popular vote in all but one presidential election since 1992. That’s 4 of the last 5, and it includes the 2000 presidential election that was awarded to Republican George W. Bush by the Supreme Court (he lost the popular vote to Al Gore).

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June 25, 2012

PA Voter ID Law Will “Allow Governor Romney To Win The State” According To Mike Turzai

Liberals and progressives already know voter suppression is the goal of the strict new voter ID laws passed by Republicans in many states. Republicans say the laws are needed because of voter fraud. This is of course bullshit because there is no voter fraud problem. No, the real goal is voter suppression. Republicans don’t care to win over minorities, instead they will do their best to make sure minorities (who overwhelming support Democrats) are unable to vote this November. Old, white Republicans see the writing is on the wall. They know how the demographics are shifting in this country. Instead of embracing change and trying to gain support of minorities, especially African-Americans, Republicans are instead doubling down on racism, bigotry and well, just plain old being an asshole.

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May 8, 2012

Pennsylvania Sued By 93-Year-Old Woman Over Discriminatory Voter ID Law

Yes, Pennsylvania’a new voter ID law (and similar laws in other states) is in fact discriminatory. I don’t care about rationalizations, because the Republican lawmakers responsible for these laws know exactly what they are doing. Their rationalizations might have convinced Republican voters that voter fraud is a serious problem, but for the rest of us these laws are a big steaming pile of horseshit.

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