So my conservative friend got me thinking about corruption in politics and I was fuming because I just don't see how Democrats equal Republicans in the latter's quest to suppress the vote in this country. Ken Blackwell, who is now running for Governor in Ohio, double-take, is exhibit #1 in the number of ways Republicans have blocked, obscured, complicated, and interfered with (often illegally) democracy. Ohio and Florida are easy examples. The only tampering I can recall hearing about with Democrats was Kennedy's people paying people to go vote. So, here's this moral equivalence thing...Republicans and the press will say that both parties are equally bad even though Republicans STOP people from voting, and Democrats have alegedly PAID people to vote (I'm not even sure about that).
Huh?
At worst you can call what Democrats may have done in the distant past a bribe, but in the real world of voting mechanics it's a GAMBLE. No dollar can guarantee that someone punches the card for your guy or girl.
On the other hand, what Republicans do is STOP Americans' right to vote (whether a person does it voluntarily or involuntarily). Doing everything they can to retain power, Republicans have now resorted to controlling voting machines and software so that there isn't even the slightest chance that an opposing party can win. That's no gamble, that's macro DISENFRANCHISEMENT.
I'm amazed that there isn't more outrage about this--it's so basic to our right to govern ourselves.
Update: My husband pointed out that while voting tampering may be the lesser of two evils for Democrats on the individual level (in terms of a person being or not being in the voting booth), the effect of vote tampering by either party is equally damaging to our democratic process. Mea culpa!
No comments:
Post a Comment