Read on voting regulations(and possible effects0

[Venom]

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011093821/conservative-saying-it-out-loud-they-hate-democracy

Excuse the title of the link, but the information contained is (afaik) entirely true. While it could be said that this is just stacking the deck a little, it seems like an "unamerican" way to go about it.

The article is mostly about legislators making voting laws that discourage people who are in certain venues of life from voting. While it isnt a direct way of making voting impossible for the groups it affects, its about as much as I would expect they could legally do.

Im not exactly sure how to word how I feel about this, and would like to see opinions/thoughts/ other facts about it from other members.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

Republicans: If you can't win, cheat.

With poverty growing, the middle class shrinking, and billionaires skimming off taxpayer-funded bailouts, Republicans know they must prevent the poor from voting their interests. With a shrinking middle class, there are fewer comfortably well-off swing voters, er, people for them to bamboozle, though Obamacare provided them with a nice shiny distraction that they leveraged for 2010. So Republicans have to disenfranchise the growing ranks of the poor to win. It's nothing new really.

I know Republicans like to point to Chicago as an example of a corrupt Democratic political machine that allegedly fixed the 1960 election but they are doing the same thing to benefit themselves across entire states. Florida has long been an example (including fixing Florida 2000 in a manner similar to Illinois 1960, only kicking eligible voters off the voter registration rolls instead of casting votes for dead people), and they recently tried to make Wisconsin into another. Oh, yeah, and the Justice Department is also looking into redistricting abuses in Texas IIRC.

 

[Insanity]

Writing in Registering the Poor to Vote is Un-American conservative columnist Matthew Vadum reflects these views, writing that democracy is "like handing out burglary tools to criminals." He writes,

It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote.

A decade before the Motor-Voter law that required states to register voters at welfare offices was enacted, NAACP official Joe Madison explained the political economy of voter registration drives. "When people are standing in line to get cheese and butter or unemployment compensation, you don't have to tell them how to vote," said Madison, now a radio talk show host in Washington, D.C. "They know how to vote."

Lol? Some idiot says Obama ruins the country by doing this? Seriously? ****ing retarded.

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Dave Johnson is awesome, because he's pointing out some epicly ****ed up shit. Bloody politicians are getting ready to hang themselves.

 

[Cailst]

Just another strategy to keep in power, just as much as encouraging non-citizens to vote is.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/09/14/a_dictators_handbook_for_the_president?page=0,0

 

[Venom]

Just another strategy to keep in power, just as much as encouraging non-citizens to vote is.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/09/14/a_dictators_handbook_for_the_president?page=0,0

Which wasnt mentioned in your article btw.

Anyways, yeah I already stated that its really just a way of stacking the deck. But I was going for more of the moral implications behind doing so. I also cant find much evidence of dems doing anything similar really. Then again, I consider convincing people to vote so you win a bit better than trying to get more people to not vote for you to win. Seems to say something about the side that would like less voters imo.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

Which wasnt mentioned in your article btw.

Anyways, yeah I already stated that its really just a way of stacking the deck. But I was going for more of the moral implications behind doing so. I also cant find much evidence of dems doing anything similar really. Then again, I consider convincing people to vote so you win a bit better than trying to get more people to not vote for you to win. Seems to say something about the side that would like less voters imo.

Yeah I read the article in its entirety and I didn't see anything about encouraging non-citizens to vote either. Tried to post this a couple hours ago but the site seemed to be down.

 

[Venom]

Maybe I shouldve titled this differently or something. :P