Old Southern joke: A state trooper pulls over a little old lady and asks her, “Ma’am, do you have any I.D.?” and she answers, “‘Bout whut?”
Yes, Hillary Clinton is right: North Carolina enacted legislation made up of the Who’s Who of voter suppression efforts.
And yes, the Suppressitories are right about one thing: all voters should have to present a valid picture ID at polling places.
But (cue the drumroll, please) both sides are also utterly clueless: neither side says absolutely anything about addressing the underlying problem, namely that there are millions of Americans – actual citizens – many if not most of them poor, elderly, with limited transportation and mobility, who lack a valid, universally accepted, identification card.
Republican silence reinforces the charge that they’re flagrantly targeting those people in order to make it more difficult for them to vote.
Democrats’ silence invites the charge that they’re simply grandstanding to their base.
Here’s a novel proposal: FIX THE DAMN PROBLEM!
If census takers can go door-to-door and count them, someone can go door-to-door and help them get proper IDs. If state and local governments won’t undertake the task, then local Democratic parties and civil rights groups should pounce on this opportunity.
Look at just some of the things, not even counting voting, you can’t do without a valid picture ID:
- Fly on a commercial airline
- Buy a ticket for an inter-city bus line, such as Greyhound
- Open a bank account
- Cash a check at a bank
- Rent a USPS post office box
If you really care about these unfortunate Americans, get off your butt, get organized, and actually help them.
Because meanwhile, the little old lady still has no I.D.
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