Republicans in Raleigh are reviving their push for a hard-line bill that would require voters to show a government-issued photo ID each time they vote. There was a brief moment where Republicans seemed to recognize that accepting a broader range of ID documents would be fine, but the zealots’ perspective has apparently prevailed: North Carolina should impose harsh burdens to purge voters who scare conservatives, including College Students and especially Black College Students. Fortunately, the students continue to organize meetings and write columns opposing the photo ID legislation. On the zealot’s side, the Pope Civitas Institute keeps promoting the popularity of election integrity (duh!) as a reason to impose their exclusionary agenda on everyone else. These reactionary fears are sad and pathetic, but their consequences are both far-reaching and tragic when they become the basis for government policy.
So is it zealotry to ask somebody to show a photo ID when they cash a check?
How is the Republican push for photo ID for voting in North Carolina akin to George trying to privatize social security and the brazenly ideological attacks on labor rights? They are systemic attacks on democracy by the obscenely wealthy as it works to consolidate and increase its power. Getting hit in the head by a two-by-four hurts, but if recent events serve to awaken the American people to the stark reality of what is really going on, let’s hope some bumps in the head turn out to be worth it. People exposed to fact and reason will see misleading, bumper-sticker, shin-kicking arguments for what they really are: deceptive attempts to prevent the reasonable discussion of issues.
I fail to see how voting in any way equates to cashing a check and it’s time for rightwing extremists to realize how silly they sound when they keep pulling out that tired old sound bite.
Voting is a basic civil right of Americans and nowhere does it say you have to have either money to vote or carry official government papers to prove you are a citizen — this is America, not Nazi Germany. At least not yet.
Cashing a check is a discretionary activity that bank account owners and the people cashing their checks choose to engage in — provided of course that they are a century behind the times and have never heard of debit cards.
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