Who Hijacked Our Country

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Will Congress Re-Authorize the Voting Rights Act?

The voting rights issue — like immigration reform — puts Republicans in a damned-if-we-do-damned-if-we-don’t position.  If they just sit back and rejoice (silently) that the Voting Rights Act is dead, Democrats will have a volatile issue for the 2014 election.

Then again, if Congress does rewrite the Voting Rights Act so that it conforms to the Supreme Court’s objections, Republicans won’t be able to keep all those minorities, college students, elderly and low income voters out of the polling booth.  What to do?

The Supreme Court overturned Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act — if I’m understanding correctly — because it discriminates against certain southern states.  OK, so re-authorize the Voting Rights Act and change the wording so it applies equally to all fifty states.  Presto!  No more discrimination.

Ohio and Pennsylvania are every bit as guilty as any southern state for conjuring up one slippery method after another to keep non-white non-country-club-members away from the voting booth.  Let’s make every state, north or south, grovel for federal approval whenever they want to block the vote or gerrymander even safer districts for their incumbent “representatives.”

Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen (Tennessee) was asked whether he thought Republicans would make any effort to revise Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act:

“Absolutely not. They want to thwart people’s right to vote. They’ve shown it regularly. All those voter ID laws, all the changes in precincts at the last minute, their redistricting processes….Do you think those people at the Republican National Committee who want to stop older people, African-Americans, Hispanics and students from voting … really want to put those states (that had been covered by section 5 of the Voting Rights Act) under the thumb of the federal government? Absolutely not.”

[sigh]

Can’t argue with that.  But at least we’ll have a potent campaign issue next year.

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5 Comments:

Blogger Snave said...

However it goes, I always enjoy seeing it when the GOP is over a barrel.

July 18, 2013 at 6:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So once again they have sought to trash every group they said they were going to reach out too. Maybe the next election, if they lose will really convince them to get serious.


Erik

July 18, 2013 at 11:18 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Snave: Yup, the GOP over a barrel -- there's nothing better.

Erik: I don't see how the GOP can stay united as one party. Rightwing teabagging bigots and country club mainstream Republicans -- they hate each other and at some point they're gonna have to split up into 2 separate parties.

July 19, 2013 at 10:50 AM  
Blogger Snave said...

I look forward to the day when that happens, Tom!

We've already heard from the opportunistic Sarah Palin that she would consider leading the Freedom Party, which I believe would basically just be the Tea Party people splitting off from the GOP. If Palin sees it coming, the rest of the country certainly must. (And I think she probably just sees it as a way to keep herself in the spotlight a little while longer.)

So if we had the Freedom Party, what would then happen to that one? It would end up splitting too... it would have to. There would be too many of the modern "libertarians" who worship Ayn Rand instead of worshiping God like the Christian "moral values" crowd does. So that would be another nice schism.

How about in the 2020 elections we see the Democrats having a comfortable 50% of the vote, the mainstream GOP about 20%, the Freedom Party (or whatever the Tea Party renames itself) about 15%, and then the conservative Christian party about 15%? Sounds GREAT to me.

Hey Republicans, who's herding cats now? 8-)

July 20, 2013 at 12:13 AM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Snave: I hope the Far Rights splinters off and forms the Freedom Party. Country club big business Republicans vs. the Freedom Party -- they'd both be the equivalent of third parties and the Democrats would clean house.

And you're right, the Freedom Party would divide itself too. The atheists and Biblehumpers would turn on each other and each form a fourth party.

July 20, 2013 at 8:49 PM  

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