Monday, August 26, 2013

Rebel Hell


It's worth noting that in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision that took a wrecking ball to one of the pillars of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, new voter identification laws have spread throughout the south like kudzu. Certain states whose past actions indicated voter suppression, and were thus obliged to pre-clear any changes in election laws with the federal government, were freed to harness-up the old partisan mules and plow that rotted field. The surge in states voting to make major changes in voting laws looks like a map of the old Confederacy, including the recent additions of  Alabama, Virginia, and North Carolina. Every week, another rebel state makes a symbolic secession from the union, in defiance of the federal government's desire to uphold the right to vote. Only hours after the court's decision. Gov. Rick Perry announced that the strictest Voter ID law in the country, which had been previously blocked by the government, would become effective "immediately." In turn, last week the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas. Attorney General Eric Holder stated, "We will not allow the Supreme Court's recent decision to be interpreted as open season for states to pursue measures that suppress voting rights."

So, you may ask, "What's the big deal? You need a photo ID to do everything from cashing a check to buying cigarettes. Besides, I've always presented my identification at the polls." The facts are that before the 2006 mid-term elections, no state ever required a voter to produce a government issued photo ID as a condition of voting. In the past, a driver's license, a student ID, a utility bill, or any other proof of address was sufficient. The new Voter ID laws sweeping the south require that voters obtain a special photo ID, given either for free or with a fee to recipients by the government to combat "voter fraud." Critics say the laws disproportionately affect minorities, the elderly, and lower-income groups because it's a hassle to get. Obtaining the new, official, Flash Gordon, state-approved voter ID card can be a costly burden to those without transportation. Even free, state-issued ID requires a birth certificate, which costs twenty-five dollars per copy and is often difficult for the elderly to locate. Many states eliminate the right of college students to vote on their own campuses, forcing a trip home to see Mom and Pop in order to exercise their franchise. For the poor and minority voters, it's the return of the poll tax, plain and simple.

A New York Times study, done in 2007, found that in the previous five years, there were a total of eighty six convictions of voter fraud. The new, state ID is an antidote looking for an illness. Voter fraud today isn't committed by some ward hack trying to register the dead, it's done by voting machine irregularities and tampering by election officials. We've all seen it. In previous presidential elections dating back to Clinton, there have been proven incidences of the miscounting of absentee ballots or the wholesale discarding of provisional votes, not to mention a little thing called Bush v. Gore, the Superbowl of vote tampering. Do you remember way back to the last election when a state legislator in Pennsylvania bragged on camera that the Commonwealth's new Voter ID law would deliver the state to what's-his-name Romney? Minority voters turned out in droves. Out of the thirty states recently enacting changes in Voter ID laws, all of them, with the exception of Rhode Island, have been introduced by Republican-led state legislatures. That includes the distinguished statesmen in the Tennessee House as well- the same ones who thought it was a good idea to allow guns in bars. If you don't believe the intention of these laws is voter suppression, just watch the zeal of the GOP officials announcing the changes. And it's not just Voter ID laws that have been altered. States under Republican control face cuts in early voting days, and the elimination of Sunday voting, the day that African-American church-goers traditionally go to the polls.

The Tea Party sticklers for fiscal responsibility conveniently discard that philosophy when it comes to disenfranchising black voters and resurrecting a new type of Jim Crow. In their favor, a huge, new government bureaucracy dealing with the creation and distribution of state approved voter ID cards would certainly be a job creator, and a stimulus of sorts. Of the estimated twenty-one million citizens without any government issued ID, the great majority are Hispanics, African-Americans, and the poor. That's enough to alter an election. In 2012, a Federal Court found Texas' Voter ID law and redistricting plans to be discriminatory against particular racial and language groups- in other words, Democrats. After the recent Supreme Court decisions, the rulings of the Federal Court were thrown out. So, now Texas Republicans are free at last. Recalling the long lines of people determined to cast their votes in the last election, regardless of restrictions, the foolish, Limbaugh-listening fundamentalists facing extinction who are attempting to hold on to their dwindling political power by rigging the game will probably ignore the warnings of Colin Powell. The former Secretary said, "These kind of procedures (which) make it likely that fewer Hispanics and African-Americans might vote...are going to backfire." There just aren't enough angry white men to go around anymore. Of course, the Supreme Court's decision leaves it up to the legislative branch to determine which states are to be covered by the Voting Rights Act in the future. Considering the current, do-nothing Congress, any bets on who makes the list?


 

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm scratching my head over that "distinguished statesmen in the Tennessee House." Since Steve Cohen went to the U.S. House, is there anyone fitting that description left?

Gregg said...

Thanks for the piece, RJ. Not sure what kind of response could be manufactured that would make any sense other than, "Yep. Pretty transparent robbery perpetrated by a bunch of desperadoes we know as "Republicans". Eighty-six convictions, you say? And how many people are potentially being disenfranchised? Right.

We all know that corruption exists just about everywhere humans create institutions. Don't have to say more than "the Catholic Church" for a little punctuation. So, not suggesting here that there are angels and devils. Not as clean as that. But, when filthy actions are so transparent and so easily seen by everyone passing by the public square how can we not all look up from our computer screens and say, "pull up your pants, for God's sakes. Have you no shame."

When Colin Powell says that there will be a backlash against this, he is not just "whistling Dixie."
Who here can say, "Hil la ry?"

Anonymous said...

Ride Randy Ride.....enlighten us all (hehe), the Republicans are coming!

Your Tutor said...

Are there really so many feckless people in America that getting a government ID constitutes a major infringement on voting rights? If the government ID were required in order to buy alcohol, you can bet your bottom dollar that the feckless, even bed-ridden ones, would find enough 'feck' to get their ID cards in short order. The nanny-staters seem to think that everyone must be spoon fed. Listen carefully and you can probably hear some of the liberals' perpetually dependent class plaintively crying, "Obama, come wipe me...the horrid conservatives actually believe that I should do that for myself". No wonder some consider liberalism to be a form of arrested development. A nation of dependent cry-babies deserves to lorded over by a dictator, and it soon will be. Dr. Gregg, you are right about the Catholic Church, but if you keep it up Father Farkin may put a curse on us.

performs said...

Washington D.C. and probably all the state governments are, or are soon to be, bi-partisan. No amount of ranting against either party serves a purpose except to perpetuate the illusion that their is a actual, real difference. Both parties are governing this nation of the Club, by the Club, and for the Club. And as George Carlin told us: Its a club--and you aint in it! It's a simple illusion: The Republican act and talk like utter lunatics while the Democrats speak a different language and claim that they are powerless. There is your difference--illusion. I know it's another inconvenient truth.

Anonymous said...

You Leftists/globalists have indeed won the battle, but you may not like the unintended (or, more accurately, the unrevealed) consequences that will soon be accelerating and on a global scale. No need for chin music. At this point we can pull up our chairs and watch real reality (as opposed to virtual reality) unfold before our eyes. Talk is cheap, but reality bites and can bite horrifically at times. Oh, and tighten your chinstraps. You weak-stomached libs may not like to see what is coming our way. You will learn in the end that the Evil One is an equal opportunity destroyer. He hates you as much as he hates me. Hey, but at least he is an egalitarian.

Anonymous said...

performs, I may frame your last post. You are absolutely right in everything that you said. The only argument is in regard to who the foil is. I say that it is the Dems who play at the straight role while the Repubs are the perpetual dupes who pretend to try to thwart the globalist plans of the Dems. Both parties work for the globalists and the big money boys. If you believe that the Dems really care about the poor, you have been punked. It is a shell game to acquire votes, and hence, power and wealth. Again, the Repubs just play hop-a-long and try to act innocent. The Oligarchs pull the strings for both parties. You don't want to know their final plans for us, the little people.

Your Tutor said...

Half the people in this country think that the Democrats will save the day, the other half believe that the Republicans will save the day. The problem is that both the Donkeys and the Elephants have their heads up their asses. They are both going to fail you. It is the Oligarchs who own both parties that we should be worrying about. These are the really big money/power boys who know no allegiance to any country...only to themselves. They make George Soros look like a piker. But then he works for them. In a nutshell, the Oligarchs plan to one day own and control all of the Earth's resources and to control all of humanity as cheap labor. There will be no Bill Of Rights. When your economic use comes to an end, you are dispatched. The Earth will be run like a high tech farm and we will be the live stock. The egalitarian dream will be finally realized...a classless underclass living in egalitarian poverty over lorded by uber-wealthy, merciless capitalist pigs. Talk about being punked...you wake up one day to find that you have been serving the purposes of the worst type of capitalists. They will just remove their faux do-gooder masks..."Please allow me to introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and fame..." George Bernard Shaw, a famous progressive from yesteryear envisioned a situation in which each person must appear before a tribunal each five years to show why he should be allowed to live for another five years in terms of worth to the collective. If he fails the test, he is executed. But, the time will come when he cannot pull his share of the load and he will be liquidated then. This is not bullshit. I heard Shaw say these things in an old documentary. Something like the aforementioned will transpire. Follow the progressives if you wish, but there is no rainbow at the end, rather a firing squad. We will rue the day that we lost our constitutional republic for what sounds like a more egalitarian society. The only thing that will be equal is poverty and misery. We eat swill while the ruling elite eat caviar and wear diamonds in the soles of their shoes. But, if that is what you want, go for it. Like you said, the Americans have lost the battle for their country and are at the mercy of whatever is unleashed upon not just them, but every one of the little people. Liberals remind me of the nutty professor in the original 'Thing' movie. He feels that the others are too harsh on the monster, so he approaches him and says, "let us reason together". As you know the beast killed him without batting an eye. Deal with the Devil and you will get burned.

performs said...

YT, you paint a grim picture that of course could play out as everything is a possibility. If all cling to their fears, conventional attitudes, and selfish desires it works toward that picture. BUT, consider the effect of suffering and its ability to inspire change. Consider the human mind and heart when freed from illusions and addictions and moved to action--to revolution. We will be sustained through the very bumpy ride ahead of us all. Install some good shocks today.

Your Tutor said...

performs, you inspired my last rant. There will indeed be some horrific bumps in the road. The question is, at the end will there be a utopia or a dystopia? Judging from human history, I wouldn't count on utopia. Centralize power on a global basis so that there is no way to escape governmental tyranny, and there will be BIG problems for the little people. Can you imagine a world in which the likes of a Hitler might reign? Evil ruling classes have been more of the rule than the exception throughout world history. In fact totalitarian systems have a horrid track record when it come to the abuse of human rights. Those of you who think that Mary Poppins will rule a world of Disney-like peace and charm need to lay off of the hallucinogenics. One MUCH worse than Hitler will one day be enthroned as world dictator. Try to imagine everyone in the world under the thumb of an Al Queda-like rule...beheadings, stonings, and hangings being carried out for the most trivial offenses, etc. Or, to draw from actual history, consider the Japanese occupation of Nanking, China back in the 1930's. The details of the mass butchery are breathtaking. For an education, check out this website...http://www.nanking-massacre.com/RAPE_OF_NANKING_OR_NANJING_MASSACRE_1937.html Something like this will probably happen to those who resist the New World Order. Don't be too quick to say yes or no. Time will tell. Whatever the endgame, we are headed there. I hope that the good guys will rule, but I wouldn't bet the ranch on it.

performs said...

Speaking about who will rule, good guys versus bad guys is very limited thinking, YT. There are more choices than that--new things to explore. New questions must be asked, and experiments must be made in how to live in harmony. The male domination trip is about over. Enough already. I see a humanity cooperating in practical and complex ways to achieve what is best for all concerned. Simple, honest, natural lives of humble work, play, and rest. It has been experimented with for ages, but never embraced universally. It is called family and brotherhood.
This will, of course require, a major shift in consciousness and attitude. We are in the midst of it right now. One can resist it or receive it--like it or not--we're gonna get it.

Your Tutor said...

I would like to see what you base your utopian hopes on. New Age teaches what you espouse. Are you in the New Age camp? They believe that we are evolving toward divinity. That is a hard sell. But, I know better that to try to convert anyone. Good luck with your musings. I don't see the Russians, Chinese, or Muslims endorsing what you are attempting to sell. About the only market for your ideas is hippie burn-outs, Trekkies and assorted New Agers. Been there, done that.

performs said...

YT, beliefs and opinions are superficial and transitory., hence they don't really matter much as to what is truly lasting meaningful. They easily change when one is motivated either in satisfying one's ego needs or upon powerful experience, say suffering as an example. This is well exemplified by: "Been there, done that."

What matters is who one is, how one lives, and what one loves. Yes, these concepts are "hard sells." Not too many buyers at this time. But even among those who buy (intellectually understand), this is only an invitation to the party. One still has to take the trouble of going to the party, dancing the dance, singing the songs. Experimentation and practice takes one beyond beliefs and opinions. Actual experience plunges one below the surface.

performs said...

Here is something additional to the previous post from a poet friend:

There is nothing new to say about love. For that matter, there is no way to describe, in words, what can only be experienced in silence.
But everyone must have a craft. Some stitch shoes, some bake bread, some sit in silent communion with God. And I scribble.
It is not inherently less useful than any other job, for they are all simply ways to pass the time until the opportunity comes to be with Him. And, as long as I'm throwing out words, I might as well sing of love, for it is the only thing in creation that has any lasting value.
-Steve Klein, from "Fire and Smoke"

Anonymous said...

Those words would probably melt the heart of a Hitler, or a Stalin, or a Mao, or a Pol Pot, or an Assad, or any of the other monsters of history. I can see them now after hearing your words wearing tutus, and pirouetting around, throwing rose petals, and singing 'All You Need Is Love'. Have you considered saying these things to the UN? This could solve all of the world's problems.