Professor LawDog ponders the mystery of why so many rights, some explicitly enumerated and protected in the Constitution (and some so basic that the Founding Fathers would have looked at you like you'd grown a second head had you suggested they need Constitutional protection) require producing papers and tugging your forelock before you may enjoy them, and yet, in order to exercise the franchise... to tamper, however minutely, with the very mechanism of the republic, requires no form of positive ID at all.
Now, in Wookietopia there wouldn't be any such thing as "government-issued photographic ID", but in a land where there is, it can be telling to examine where and when someone thinks you should show it. Right, Mr. Holder? Boss says you gotta figure out a way to get Tejas a little bluer between now and November, no?
Excellent post. It's always been a telling sign about our times that you can tamper with the system without an ID but can't enjoy the rights of a free person under said system unless you produce one.
ReplyDeleteI've been called a pessimist because I believe our system is dead and is merely a decaying corpse that reeks.
Um, because South Carolina, and Texas, are part of the gang of 14 that receive extra scrutiny. It's not like there isn't a reason the federal government does this.
ReplyDeleteShootin' Buddy
Shootin' Buddy,
ReplyDeleteYeah, keep tellin' yourself that. Holder and Barry, stalwart members of the Party of Lincoln, are afraid that Texas Democrats are using this as a backdoor route to enslave the black man.
(Incidentally, considering what happened in Marion, Indiana as recently as 1930, how come you Hoosiers get to keep the black man down with your racist Voter ID law?)
ReplyDeleteVery simple. Which one stands to expand the power of the state and its agents, and which one stands to restrain it?
ReplyDeleteFunny. I guess it's okay to be a Racist in Indiana ('cause a 6-3 Supreme Court Ruling a few years back said so), but it's not okay in Texas. Of course, since this a result of LBJ's 1965 Voting Rights Act, it might explain why Obama said on 60 Minutes a few weeks ago that "History will show that I have one of the best Administrations, with the possible exception of Lincoln, FDR and LBJ" (paraphrasing, of course).
ReplyDeleteBut don't worry about any Voter Fraud! I'm SURE ACORN (or whatever it's calling itself this week) will ENSURE that the Anointed One will stay in Office.
"Incidentally, considering what happened in Marion, Indiana as recently as 1930, how come you Hoosiers get to keep the black man down with your racist Voter ID law?)"
ReplyDeleteBecause Indiana shed blood to abolish slavery and save the Union, not preserve slavery and destroy the Union.
But . . . that was long ago and like you say, since African-Americans are now present in political office in the South, it may be time to revisit the special scrutiny the South gets for the sins committed generations ago.
Shootin' Buddy
If I walk into a gun store to buy a gun, even tho the 2nd Amendment "guarantees" my right to do so, I have to give the government money to run a background check to see if they feel like letting me enjoy that right. I'd better have clear proof of who I am, also. If it's illegal to require proof to vote then it's illegal to regulate gun sales in anyway. Like Holder will agree with that!
ReplyDeleteAnon3:20, Holder *might* agree with you, as long as you're on the list of "folks who shouldn't have a gun anyway, but since we've got a special for the drug cartels, we'll look the other way."
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have a problem with a photo ID provided by your bank used as identification.
ReplyDeleteNot to go all "Probability Broach" on you.
OK, no need for ID. Stick your finger in this (free of charge) ink-pot to show you've voted.
ReplyDeleteShow your finger before voting to make sure it's one person, one vote.
I can't wait to see how that would become racist.
wv: psycl a two wheeled conveyance.