We have now witnessed the national outrage when the referees of a professional football game decided the contest in favor of the wrong team. What will our nation do if the wave of voter suppression laws in Republican-controlled state governments actually keeps millions of voters from choosing their leaders? If the Romney/Ryan ticket actually won the popular vote in states that kept opposition ballots from being cast, will the thin fabric that holds this country together withstand the strain?
We Americans have proudly pointed at ourselves for decades, decrying the unfair practices of dictators and single party governments in countries near and far, from Mexico to Iran, the Arab states to North Korea. We have extolled one and all to follow our example of free elections with secret ballots and every citizen both encouraged and assisted to vote. What happens if we allow one of our two powerful parties to capture the national government by preventing millions from voting? How do you feel, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or independent, if you learn on Nov. 7 that the President of the United States came to power because we did not stop overzealous politicians from blunting the will of the majority?
This “beacon of democracy” we depend upon can be extinguished if a corrupt wind is allowed to blow strongly enough.
Ron Weitbrecht
Gilbert
chatmandu002 posted at 10:39 am on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
Ron,
Your voter suppression cry is just another ploy by the liberal/progressives to distract and avoid the miserable record of Obama, his administration and the democratic party. Your wailing about millions of voters being disenfranchised is false. Voting is a right, privilege and responsibility of citizenship. It is the citizen voter's responsibility to get and provide all documents necessary to vote. There is no suppression of the voter's will, unless you consider the millions of illegals that may believe they should be allowed to vote. Is that where you millions of suppressed voters numbers come from?
downtownresident posted at 10:52 am on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
I dismiss everything the ultra-radical tea party fanatics, such as chatmandu002 say as BS. This element is so entranced with the "win at any cost" attitude that the laws of the land are ignored by them.
Carl Rove brought a new low to politics with hanging chad, and Russell Pearce begat Olivia Cortez to win at any cost.
Ethics, morals and fair play have no place in Republican politics. The advertised goal is to completely obliterate any opposition so that they can rule without any opposition. Hitler did it. Look what that got the world.
OK chatmandu002, defend what Hitler did. I'm waiting.
fae4now posted at 10:56 am on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
Nicely written Mr. Weitbrecht.
Now I expect that the anti- illegal screamers will all be here soon to call you names and while agree that non-citizens should not vote, these laws appear to be preventing LEGAL citizens from voting. Disgraceful!
I just wonder what all the screamers would do if they received a letter stating they had been dropped from the voting registers because some bureaucrats records erroneously indicated their home address was a vacant lot! Welcome to the nightmare of getting that straightened out!
truth posted at 11:09 am on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
If the wrong party wins we Americans will continue in the wrong direction, examples.
1. American students now rank behind most of Asia and much of Europe in math, science, and literacy. The New York Times
2. Americans are reduced to putting up sad coffie cans in gas stations and restaurants, begging for donations for a family member's surgery or cancer treatment. National Post
3. Americans spend $2.6 trillion on health care last year. But a third of that spending - $750 billion - was squandered on unnecessary treatment and tests. Byzanthine paperwork, fraud, and other inefficiencies according to new analysis by the institute of Medicine. Associated Press.
4. About 25 % of seniors receving Medicare spend all their savings and must sell their homes and other assets to pay for non-covered medical care in the last five years of life, a new study found. Nursing care accounts for much of that cost. The Washington Post
5. The wealth gap between the richest Americans and the average family has more than doubled over the past 50 years. In 1962, the top 1 percent had 125 times the net worth of the median U.S. household. By 2010 they had 288 times more . CnnMoney.com[sad][sad][sad][sad][sad]
Arizona Willie posted at 12:10 pm on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
truth ... you just described the Republican Dream.
The Republican Party has -- prematurely -- began installing the Republican Plan for America.
In Kansas they pushed through massive tax CUTS for the WEALTHY of up to $20,000K / year. This is in State Taxes not Federal ( yet ).
At the same time, they INCREASED TAXES on everyone else!!
Romney's tax plan that he won't tell you about until after the election was put in place in time to warn the rest of the country --- IF THEY WOULD ONLY PAY ATTENTION.
Tax cuts for the wealthy and tax increases for the masses to pay for them.
Brought to you by the Republican Party ... the Party of Borrow and Spend and leave the bills for the grand kids, don't raise my taxes to pay the bills.
Arizona Willie posted at 12:23 pm on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
chatmandu .. it is a FACT that the company the Republicans hired for voter registration has been caught red handed committing voter fraud.
FACT
FACT
This is NOT the first time the Republican Party has used this company either, and probably not the last.
They only fired them because they got CAUGHT.
onerebel posted at 1:06 pm on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
Democrats pointing their fingers at Republican's claiming they have no ethics, and a win at any cost mentality is like the sewer telling the toilet it's full of you know what. That's why the Democrats took away the looking for work requirement to get welfare, and are offering up all this free stuff, now including cell phones to the poor to buy the votes. What about all the previous voter fraud done by ACORN, like the Left is not doing the same thing still? Yet UNTIL the Incident involving the GOP in Florida Democrats claimed there was no voter fraud. So maybe now the Democrats should agree to photo ID's to make sure the GOP don't cheat. If anyone believes that their side would NEVER do anything unethical you are a fool. The fact is 90% of Politicians are out for the power and money, and could care less about anything about us except our vote!
Leon Ceniceros posted at 1:23 pm on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
A.C.O.R.N.................REMEMBER THEM FOLKS...THE GOOD OLE ..."ACORN SCANDAL"............NOW LET ME REMEMBER WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BENEFIT FROM ALL THOSE ........"TAINTED VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS" ??????????
YUP, FOLKS..............THE GOOD OLD.........DEMOCRATS......THAT'S WHO.
NOW THAT AMERICA WOKE UP TO THE FACT THAT A...."CERTAIN POLITICAL PARTY".............WOULD DO JUST ABOUT ANYTHING TO GET THEIR ......"SHEEPLE"..........ELECTED.
WE NEED TO SHOW ..............."IDENTIFICATION"....TO RENT AN APARTMENT, TO BUY A HOUSE, TO REGISTER A CAR, TO GET A DRIVER'S LICENSE, TO GET A HUNTING OR FISHING LICENSE, TO CASH A CHECK, TO ENLIST IN THE ARMED FORCES OF AMERICA..............BUT THE ...DEMOCRATS......DON'T FELL THAT A PERSON WHO IS..............VOTING..........SHOULD BE ASKED TO SHOW ...."I.D.".............GIVE ME A BREAK !!!!!!!!!!
Arizona Willie posted at 1:49 pm on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
Leon, that whole ACORN scandal was a fraud committed by Breitbart. It was proven he spliced tapes together to make it appear people said and did things they did not do.
That whole thing was a false smear on ACORN.
Mike McClellan posted at 2:38 pm on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
No one can be naive (or disingenuous) enough to actually believe that all of these "voter purges" and voter ID laws aren't a concerted effort to suppress the vote of particular voting blocs favorable to Obama.
In fact, some of those groups go into heavily minority areas in brazen attempts to deny folks their right to vote.
And the Penn. AG admitted in court briefs that his office had no evidence -- zero cases -- of suspected voter fraud.
But there has been valid accusations of voter fraud -- by Republicans.
In at least 8 Florida counties, a company (headquartered here in AZ) hired by the Florida Republican Party to register Republicans has been accused of fraud in at least 106 cases. The Florida Republican Party, the Colorado Republican Party, and the National Republican Party have all fired this company. Meanwhile, investigations continue in all those state of phony voter registration on behalf of Republicans.
sockratties posted at 5:13 pm on Sun, Sep 30, 2012.
chat... are you one of those people who feel guilty if someone says their purse has been stolen? Seems your denial is quit enthusiastic for an innocent person. Do you also defend the political infusion of Koch brothers' money and the behind closed doors dealings of ALEC?
k33j88 posted at 5:45 am on Mon, Oct 1, 2012.
How can anyone with a clear conscious not support voter ID laws? Illegals and tax users----thats who.
Arizona Willie posted at 7:55 am on Mon, Oct 1, 2012.
Leon ... I know you have no interest in TRUTH ... but I'm gonna throw some at you anyway.
If you had ANY interest in the TRUTH you could easily have googled for ACORN and found out that you were spreading lies.
Here are just 3 links. There are easily hundreds of links to doctored ACORN videos available.
It has been know as a FACT for years that the videos were doctored and the charges were FALSE.
But, being the good little ultra right winger that you are, that doesn't stop you from continuing to spew lies. And I say lies because it has long been proven that the ACORN videos were lies. Unless you have been hiding out in Argentina there is hardly any way you could have missed the exposure of the fraud. But you continue to bray about it as though it were true anyway.
http://www.fair.org/blog/2010/07/23/sherrod-hoax-exposed-but-breitbarts-acorn-fraud-lives-on/
http://mediamatters.org/video/2009/10/21/discussing-heavily-edited-acorn-tape-wapos-leon/156011
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/acorn_report_finds_no_illegal_conduct.php
Arizona Willie posted at 7:59 am on Mon, Oct 1, 2012.
Here is an excellent link to an article that helps to understand people like Leon.
http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/28/14142490-why-some-of-us-refuse-to-face-facts-yes-birthers-that-includes-you?lite
DonMey posted at 12:20 pm on Mon, Oct 1, 2012.
The difference between the GOP and the Dems, is when the GOP found out their contractor was committing voter registration fraud, they immediately fired them. The Dems still continue to vehmently support ACORN.
Arizona Willie posted at 12:49 pm on Mon, Oct 1, 2012.
Yep, the GOP ( Greedy Old Prevaricators ) fired them --- because they GOT CAUGHT.
They have been using this company for years which really brings into question past elections also. Since this company like to and is willing to cheat and break the law, did they do it in past elections? How did that affect the election?
ALL registrations done by this company in all the states it is working for the GOP should be thrown out.
They can't be trusted.
DonMey posted at 1:37 pm on Mon, Oct 1, 2012.
Willie - That's pretty impressive; they've been using a company that's only been around a few months for "years"?
Arizona Willie posted at 1:53 pm on Mon, Oct 1, 2012.
DonMey .. according to an article I saw ... it said they used this company as far back as to 2004 election.
Mike McClellan posted at 4:00 pm on Mon, Oct 1, 2012.
Don Mey, the only thing new about the company is its name. In fact, what happened was this: Republicans insisted that the company change its name so that the Republicans wouldn't be associated with that company's previous shenanigans.
Here's the link to the story about it:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/170198/gop-quietly-hires-firm-tied-voter-fraud-scandal-work-battleground-states
DonMey posted at 4:31 pm on Mon, Oct 1, 2012.
Mike - I read a different article which actually spells out the accusations, and they are very minimal in substance. They may be true (and a big problem if they are), but they are allegations by a handful of former employees, none of which seem to have gone anywhere.
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/01/a_history_of_the_gops_favorite_voter_registration_professional/singleton/
remo303 posted at 5:00 am on Tue, Oct 2, 2012.
I sure would like to see one...one single instance...where a person has legitimately been denied the Right to vote under laws requiring I.D. to prove you are a legitimate voter.
One. Just one.
Arizona Willie posted at 9:12 am on Tue, Oct 2, 2012.
DonMey, I just read the article you linked to and those are hardly " minimal in substance ".
They are very severe charges.
Very big crimes.
Destroying voter registration forms of an opposition party verges on treason.
It is unfortunate that it appears nothing was done about the charges, but not unusual I suppose.
It appears that Nathan Sproul has operated the same company under different names all over the country during many elections.
This throws the results of EVERY past election, during the time his companies were in business, into question.
The charges that have been made indicate that this cheating and destroying voter registrations has been his method of business for a long long time.
I suspect if it was a Democrat running a company who did this you would be a wee bit unhappy about it.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 9:24 am on Tue, Oct 2, 2012.
Boy, the........Ultra-Left Wing Liberals, the Socialist, the Marxists, the Commie Wanna-Be's and the other Democrats are really running scared this Election.
Folks, we have to show ...I.D....for almost any Government Service or even to buy a pair of socks to prove that the name on the credit card is that same name as what's on the Driver's License.
YET THE ABOVE PEOPLE (I WON'T CALL THEM "CITIZENS" BECAUSE THEY ONLY WANT TO DESTROY AMERICAN) DON'T FEEL THAT A PERSON SHOULD PROVE THAT THEY ARE "LEGAL" AMERICAN CITIZENS TO VOTE, OUR MOST SACRED CIVIC DUTY.
I WOULD SAY ...."SHAME ON THEM"...BUT OBVIOUSLY FROM THEIR COMMENTS.....................THEY HAVE NO......."SHAME".
chatmandu002 posted at 9:51 am on Tue, Oct 2, 2012.
The liberal/progressives love changing the subject.
It's about the economy and yes you are stupid to support Obama and his liberal band of progressive socialists. Under Obama the 47% will keep growing along with the deficit and debt.
The liberal/progressive slogan "Following our messiah FORWARD over the cliff". LOL
DonMey posted at 11:38 am on Tue, Oct 2, 2012.
Willie - By "minimal" I meant the depth of the evidence, not the actual accusations.
Bluepoet posted at 8:23 am on Fri, Oct 5, 2012.
By far, the most effective stategy, to suppress votes, is simply to not have anyone running for office worth voting for...
The rest of the political shenanigans is just dogs fighting over scraps from the table of the ruling class...
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