I’m very bothered by a 50% nonvoting rate. I don’t know what to do about it.
But I don’t see what it has to do with this discussion at all. If I come up with some legal scheme which suppresses voter turnout an additional 5% among a specific demographic, it’s not huge compared to apathy, but it IS huge when it comes to partisan balance in swing states or regions.
History doesn’t bear that out. The 19th Amendment passed, for example, as did the 24th and 26th amendments. No, we are perfectly capable of changing our laws to extend voting to whole swaths of the populace when needed.
Well a whole bunch of the people don’t like the pool of available candidates. Probably a good place to start.
IMHO, from looking at it from the outside, I don’t see a whole lot of difference between one group of pirates to the other, so your concern about who gets into power is moot.
eg.
Republicans = Against universal health care
Democrats = For universal health care
Republicans in power = No universal health care.
Democrats in power = No universal health care.
Republicans = Pro war
Democrats = Against war
Republicans in power = Wars around the world.
Democrats in power = Wars around the world.
It’s not IMPOSSIBLE for situations to resolve themselves. But it can be difficult. Look at Jim Crow laws in the South. There’s a situation where unjust laws were 100% legal and supreme-court-approved for close to a century. Now imagine a slightly different reality in which the the Jim Crow laws contained all the unfair crap about buses and schools and lunch counters, but in no way prevented black voting. Clearly, with all southerners expressing their democratic opinions about how just these laws were rather than only the white ones, the situation would have gotten better a heck of a lot faster. And if the South was left completely alone, so that court cases could go up to the Georgia Supreme Court but no higher (or what have you), the situation might well never have gotten better.
That’s why laws which potentially tamper with voting rights are so dangerous. And that’s the base point I’m trying to make, which is that any law which has as a likely side effect suppression of voting should be held up to a much higher level of scrutiny than other types of laws.
I very very strongly disagree with what you’re saying. But it seems like a topic for another thread.
Except in this analogy, the Republicans are pushing the pennies off the table while setting the dollars on fire.
How would you feel if you started a Pit thread about some group espousing eugenics and someone continually hounded you with the fact that abortion was legal and constitutional?
I’ll give you the first example, though Obamacare is a long sight better than nothing, as anyone with a pre-existing condition will tell you. The second one, not so much. Though Obama has not shut down Afghanistan as any sane and reasonable person would do, he has been winding it down, and he did manage to pull out of Iraq. He is EXTREMELY unlikely to invade Iran. If we elect Republicans, look for the warmongering about invading Iran to start almost immediately.
NM
And what would the mechanism of this “higher scrutiny” be?
I’d feel like I do every day I post here on the Dope. I don’t like the fact that abortion is legal, but I accept it as a consequence of living in a representative democratic society.
Well, I must have misunderstood. I guess when you said they were illegal aliens, I thought you meant they were illegal aliens. How you knew that, you do not advise, but hey! this is Bricker talking here! By the way, is this the same anecdote you related in GD, the one I quoted?
And it seemed as though there was a clear inference that she was counseling them on how to cast illegal votes and get away with it. You didn’t intend any such inference? Gee, my bad. Sure looked like that to me. But really, you were just relating a casual occurrence that had no particular relevance to our conversation? Yes, that’s clear now.
They have? I’ll check into that, get back to you.
Seems I’m not the only one with memory issues. At least I come by mine honestly, more or less, smoked enough weed to bury an elephant. You?
Having a bit of trouble finding all these cites in this thread. That Google trick doesn’t seem to work for you offering anything about the NAACP, or Tunica, or anyone named Sowers. Maybe you’ll point out these multiple cites for us, since you would be the guy who would know…
From your cite:
Oooh, dat debbil liberal media!
I think this is the second time in the thread you cited the Daily Caller. Regular reader, are you, lad? Weren’t you the guy who was on about dismissing citations because you found the slant on the editorial pages too obvious? But the Daily Caller is OK?
So, anyway, if you could just…go ahead, and clear those up, that would be great.
Yes, they were illegal aliens.
There was such a clear inference.
But inference alone would not be sufficient to sustain a criminal conviction. Right now, in repeating what she said, I am providing the same information – am I committing a crime? Of course not. So there was nothing to report.
And here we go. Next week, undoubtedly you’ll act like no such cases exist, and the name “Lessadolla Sowers” will be lost to your recollection.
The name “Sowers” appears in this thread three times, all of them on this page. Just sayin’, is all.
Clear up what, exactly?
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/14/why-voter-id-should-matter-to-all-americans/
Or something else?
In the GD thread, as quoted above, you refer to them simply as “people”, yes? Odd that you would leave out their illegal status, since that fact would clearly bolster your case. Especially when you tell us how you knew they were illegal aliens. Will that be anytime soon?
Well, you see, that isn’t quite what you said. Here’s what you said:
But they haven’t. And you didn’t.
No shit bro, burying that elephant seemed like such a good idea until the pot ran out.
Oh, there’s lots more out there. And the elephant is cool about it. Pretty good company, too, except for the farts. He blames the dog.
No, I picked her at random when you asked for an example. You’re asking to be reminded of earlier citations about other instances of voter fraud?
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15161088&postcount=34
Didn’t remember that one?
Shocker.