But I would be remiss if I do not at least make passing mention of how depressed, disgusted, and, yes, angry I've become as I watch the ongoing attempts at voter suppression in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa, and other states where Republicans and their Teabagger allies control key seats of power.
It is one thing to attempt to win elections. But trying to do so by denying the most basic and important right of any American citizen to hundreds and thousands of people, on entirely spurious grounds... that goes beyond reprehensible. That is despicable.
It would really be nice if there were still some Republicans of conscience out there who would stand up and loudly denounce these efforts, a few men of honor and integrity for whom "win the election" does not "win the election at any cost." There were once many Republicans I admired, even I disagreed with them: men like Everett Dirksen, Clifford Case, Henry Cabot Lodge, William Scranton... yes, even Barry Goldwater, conservative as he is. I do not believe for a moment that Goldwater would have approved of this, any more than Robert A. Heinlein would have. They were conservatives, but they were not bigots, nor racists, nor corrupt. The Vote Suppressors have far more in common with Lester Maddox, George Wallace, John Stennis, and their ilk than they do with their distinguished GOP forebears.
The people behind these efforts at disenfranchising large groups of voters (the young, the old, the black, the brown) are not Republicans, since clearly they have scant regard for our republic or its values. They are oligarchs and racists clad in the skins of dead elephants.
And don't tell me they are libertarians either. No true libertarians would ever support a culture where citizens must "show their papers" to vote or travel. That's a hallmark of a police state, not a free country.
TUESDAY ADDENDUM: Okay, this has been running several days now, has been featured on HUFFINGTON POST and ABC news, referenced on Stephanie Miller, and no doubt countless other people. We have had four hundred messages, and I think everyone has had their say, and everything that needs to be said has been said. Generally eight or ten times. There are plenty of links and references in the comment threads for those who would like to know more about these voter suppression efforts. If you don't want to dig through the links, start with the Brennan Center for Justice and get the facts.
There's no sense in letting this spin on in circles forever. I am locking comments. Back to Westeros and worldcon and similar subjects, boys and girls.
Thanks for listening.
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- George R. R. Martin
Comments
Your post is full of so many misstatements, distortions, and outright lies that I hardly know where to begin refuting it.
Let me just state, for starts, that the "blocking the military from voting" is completely false, as one of the other posters documents below. Whoever told you that was case was a spin doctor, to be generous... but it's not true.
And thank you, Mr. Martin.
Certifications are usually made a couple weeks out after all ballots are counted with the only exception being some provisional ballots in some jurisdictions. Provisional are very different from military or absentee though. Military and absentee ballots are counted every time though.
I get stuff returned by the post office as well. Really important stuff I send registered or certified.
This is a solution in search of a problem, so why go to any additional expense over it, especially when that expense is to the right, and actually duty, to vote in our representative republic.
When I was over seas my mail in ballot got returned to me, but I lived in Massachusetts at the time so it wouldnt have mattered anyhow.
All those fake names that were on Acorn registration lists? They didn't get voter registration cards, because county election clerks check those lists and verify the identity and address of the persons on there before they send them a voter registration card. Not only that, they aren't necessarily Acorn's fault, but the people that they hired to sign up voters. Acorn is only considered a Left-leaning organization because they were almost entirely black and blacks predominantly vote Democratic, although that's changing gradually, and Democrats are NOT Socialists. We're just not Fascists. Why are you swallowing all the lies that the far-right is putting out?
Don't believe everything you hear/read on the Internet, especially when it's coming from the opposing camp.
As far as integrity of the vote, let me give you some statistics about this manufactured problem that they call "voter fraud" from my home state of TX which is considering a Voter ID law. Between 2002-2010 over 20 million votes were cast in TX. About 300 voter impersonation cases (what photo ID is trying to prevent) were submitted but of those only 9 were deemed worthy of filing charges. However, the Department of Justice estimates over 600,000-700,000 registered voters in TX will not have this newly required ID to vote if this law goes through (many of which live in counties that do not have a DMV where they need obtain the necessary ID). So I ask you, what is a greater threat to our democracy? A handful of impersonators on rare occasions that likely have no effect on the outcome of any election or creating an obstacle that may prevent hundreds of thousands of CITIZENS from voting each year?
The 2000 election came down to 380 votes....just saying
The 200 election came down to 5 votes.
The five conservative members of the Supreme Court ordered the state of Florida to STOP COUNTING THE VOTES and gave the election to GW Bush.
Yeah that was surely in the spirit and letter of letting the voters decide. A SC decision that even declared that their decision was to never be used again in legal arguments.
Edited at 2012-08-14 01:25 am (UTC)
Oh and by the way..as for limiting voting for members of the military..yeah that's the Republicans doing that. Obama's suit is to keep the number of early voting days the same.
As for ACORN..yeah your claim about Acorn is a bald faced lie.
There is no voter fraud issue, only a vote suppression issue. You need to decide which "side" you're on, the side of constitutional rights or the oligarchy before you lose said right altogether.
Republicans know exactly what they are doing by forcing voters to get IDs and they know exactly who it hurts (hint hint, it's not Richie Rich or even Average Joe, but anyone who struggles to make ends meet on a fixed income will not be able to vote).
Case in point, the Republicans did not push for the same stringent demands of absantee voters. Do you know why this is? It's because Republicans by and large vote absantee and by putting the same demands on absantee voters would hurt themselves. This is not about protecting the sanctity of voting and preventing voter fraud. This is about disenfranchising poor voters who would vote Democrat.
You might want to look into getting your news from somewhere else.