The controversy over voter ID is a fascinating one because it highlights the deep divide between contemporary conservatives and contemporary liberals. That this non-issue is debated at all shows that the Left is bereft of common sense.
Anyone with common sense ought to be able to appreciate that voting must be conducted in an orderly manner, and that only citizens who have registered to vote and have satisfied the minimal requirements of age, etc., are to be allowed into the voting booth. Given the possibility of fraud, it is therefore necessary to verify the identities of those who present themselves at the polling place. To do this, voters must be required to present a government-issued photo ID card, a driver's license being only one example of such. It is a reasonable requirement and any reasonable person should be able to see it as one.
Too many liberals, however, see these common-sense requirements as acts of voter suppression, as witness this astonishing outburst from Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan:
In November, five million eligible voters will find it harder to exercise their rights in America -- 150 voter suppression laws have been introduced in 30 state legislatures across the country.
The most common tactics: requiring photo ID, restricting registration drives, limiting early voting and imposing onerous residency requirements. Who do these laws most directly affect? The poor, the elderly, minorities and the young. And how do those groups typically vote? Democratic.
Let's consider photo ID. For Granholm, requiring such ID is a form of voter suppression. How's that for hyperbole? Does she call it bank withdrawal suppression when check cashers are required to produce ID? The other day I withdrew a sum of money from a checking account in excess of what is obtainable from an ATM machine. I was asked to show my driver's license. Was that an infringement of my right to access my own funds? Of course not. The demand was eminently reasonable even though I am known at the bank in question. Similarly with the photo ID requirement at the polling place. Examples like this can be multiplied indefinitely. See the above graphic.
Some liberals say that voter fraud is rare. Maybe, maybe not. In any case, irrelevant. There is a principle at stake. Besides, how many people lack ID? Without ID one simply cannot function in society. To exploit and adapt a slogan of the Harvard logician, Willard Quine, "No [social] entity without [social] identity." You're a nonentity without ID. So when a liberal says that voter fraud is rare, reply, "So is lack of ID. Since almost everyone has it, almost no one is excluded from voting by the ID requirement."
Since liberals don't have even one cogent argument against photo ID, we are justified in psychologizing their opposition to common-sense requirements. Their opposition is rooted in a desire to win by any means, including fraud. As lefties, they believe the end justifies the means. They see themselves as the noble standard-bearers of equality against their disgusting, evil, SIXHRB opponents. (SIXHRB: sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, racist, bigoted. HT: Dennis Prager.)
By the way, Governor Granholm is now on the faculty at University of California, Berkeley. Surprise!
Companion post: I Was Forced to Show My Papers!
Recent Comments