THE FOUNDATION OF DEMOCRACY

The right to vote is the foundation of any democracy.  In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations unanimously adopted the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” that said in Article 21:

Article 21

1 . Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.

3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.

Yet in Bush V. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), the Supreme Court wrote in its answer that, "The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States."

While the Constitution prohibits voter discrimination based on race, sex or age and forbids the use poll taxes or literacy tests, it does not explicitly guarantee that U.S. citizens have a right to vote.

So is voting a right or a privilege?  In either case, a person should have to prove who they are before they cast their ballot.

What does the “newspaper of record” feel about the subject? The New York Times published an editorial  on April 27^th accusing Republicans to trying to disenfranchise certain groups of voters.

“Less than a year before the 2012 presidential voting begins, Republican legislatures and governors across the country are rewriting voting laws to make it much harder for the young, the poor and African-Americans - groups that typically vote Democratic - to cast a ballot.

 Spreading fear of a nonexistent flood of voter fraud, they are demanding that citizens be required to show a government-issued identification before they are allowed to vote.”

If I may facetiously say, “I am confused.”   A person needs a government- issued ID before they can buy cigarettes, firearms or liquor; gamble in a casino; check a book out from a library; fly on an airplane; cash a check; gain access to federal buildings, etc., but it is discrimination for government-issued identification to be required for voting?

Isn’t verifying that someone is legally able to vote more important than making sure a store is not selling beer to an underage minor?  Every single vote in an election is crucial (as Bush/Gore proved) so isn’t it crucial that each vote actually be legitimate?

The New York Times is up in arms that eight states already have photo ID laws and, “Now more than 30 other states are joining the bandwagon of disenfranchisement.”  How is requiring an ID disenfranchisement?   A person already needs an ID for practically everything else they do in life. 

The editorial concludes with, “The Supreme Court, unfortunately, has already upheld Indiana's voter ID requirement, in a 2008 decision that helped unleash the stampede of new bills. …There is still time for voters who care about democracy in their states to speak out against lawmakers who do not.”

Again the New York Times is wrong!  If a voter really cares about democracy, they would want to know that each vote was legitimately cast and has a right to be counted.

If the Supreme Court has ruled that requiring identification is constitutional, I don’t disagree.  I think the justices are smarter than I am and certainly understand the law better than 99% of the people currently reading this blog.   But, obviously, the editorial board of the New York Times thinks they are smarter than everybody.  The “Gray Lady,” prints many words and few photographs, but it just doesn’t get the picture on this issue.