The Furor Over Voter ID in Georgia’s New Voting Law
You really can’t make this up. The furor over Georgia’s revised voting law has been blown way out of proportion. What has occurred is not logical and defies common sense. It is a microcosm of what is happening in this country. It exemplifies the political and racial divisions in America at the present time. Criticisms of the new law are rife with lies, misconceptions and exaggerations, all with the intent to deceive the uninformed and score political points. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad and frightening.
Briefly, the situation is as follows:
The State of Georgia has amended its voting law as it is authorized to do by that pesky document called the Constitution. The amended law was written, debated and approved by a clear majority of both houses of the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Kemp. Unlike most laws nowadays it was passed with bipartisan support.
It has various features that liberalize voting procedures. For example, it increases the number of drop boxes; it expands early voting; and it increases the hours in which polls are to be open.
All of the above are designed to enable more eligible voters to get to the polls.
Collectively, these changes made the state’s voting laws more open and liberal than those of many, if not most, states, including President Biden’s home state of Delaware.
The problem for some people is that it also requires voters to present a valid ID. This feature is an anathema to Dems. Apparently it is serious enough to cause them to vehemently oppose the law. Perhaps, critics are ignorant of the fact that (according to Ballotpedia) presently 36 states require voters to present some form of ID (or, perhaps, they choose to ignore it for the sake of politics). To these critics, the requirement of an ID signals a return to the “Jim Crow” laws of yesteryear. In condemning the law President Biden, other prominent Dems, and their allies in the fake news media have characterized it in just that manner. Their new catchphrase for it is “Jim Crow on steroids.” I say, they all need a history lesson. Anyone the least bit knowledgeable of the “Jim Crow” period knows there is no comparison, and to make one is a huge insult to those who suffered through it.
According to polls conducted by both Gallup and the AP some 80% of respondents support voter ID. They see it as a mechanism to safeguard what I feel is among our most cherished rights – free and fair elections, where only those eligible to vote may do so. Think about that! 80% of Americans do not normally agree on anything! Clearly, the Dems are on the wrong side of this issue.
Those who object to IDs claim it is racist and a tool for voter suppression. I think that is a ludicrous argument. They would have you believe that many Blacks, Hispanics and other poor, disadvantaged minorities are somehow going through life without valid IDs and are incapable of obtaining them. According to many Blacks, notably journalists Lawrence Jones, Candace Owens and Leo Terrell, among many others, that argument, in and of itself, is racist. It implies that these groups, for lack of intelligence or other faults, are incapable of figuring out how to obtain an ID. As we all know, IDs are easy to obtain. Just go on-line or visit the DMV. Of course, one would need to be able to document one is in the US legally. Everyone knows that is the real reason for the Dems’ objection.
In reality, it is virtually impossible to live in the US nowadays without a valid ID. Some of the things that require a valid ID are:
1. Purchase alcohol.
2. Purchase tobacco.
3. Open a bank account.
4. Apply for welfare.
5. Apply for Medicaid
6. Apply for social security.
7. Apply for unemployment.
8. Apply for a job.
9. Apply for a mortgage.
10. Rent a house or apartment.
11. Drive, buy or rent a car.
12. Board an airplane or a cruise ship.
13. Get married.
14. Purchase a firearm.
15.Apply for a hunting license.
16. Apply for a fishing license.
17. Buy a cell phone.
18. Enter a casino.
19. Donate blood.
20. Rent a hotel room
21. Buy certain over-the-counter medicines such as Sudafed.
In other words, it is virtually impossible to live in a modern-day society without an ID. Almost everyone who is living in the US legally has one. I don’t know anyone without one. Do you?
CONCLUSION
Predictably, several institutions have hopped on the cancel culture bandwagon with respect to this issue. For example, MLB has moved its 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver. (More on that later.) In addition, other corporations, such as Coca Cola and Delta Airlines have gone on record condemning this law. Maybe, we should all take a page out of the Dem playbook and boycott MLB, Coca Cola, Delta, and these other companies.
As I said above, these people have absolutely no conception of how degrading and horrific life was really like for people of color under “Jim Crow” laws. Simply put, they are ignorant and scared, ignorant of history, and scared of the cancel culture/twitter crowd. I don’t have the time, space or inclination to educate them. Perhaps, they could ask their grandparents what it was like. Furthermore, I would wager that their decision-makers have not read the law and don’t have the foggiest conception of what it contains.
The irony of this entire fiasco regarding MLB is that moving the All-Star festivities from Atlanta to Denver will severely hurt the very people it claims it is trying to support. The population of Cobb and Fulton Counties, which are located in and around the Atlanta area are heavily minority and working class. These people were relying on the economic boost the All-Star festivities would have brought to the city and the state. Moreover, in the 2021 run-off senatorial elections it was those areas that were primarily responsible for electing the two Dem candidates that have given the Dems control of the Senate. On the other hand, Denver is heavily white.
To be consistent, perhaps, MLB should cease business relations with China, which has one of the worst records of human rights. Don’t hold your breath for that.
So, were MLB’s hasty, ill-advised actions racist? One might argue that they were. In contrast, kudos to the PGA for not cancelling or relocating the Masters golf tournament.
As for Biden, in my mind he has no credibility on this issue. First of all, maybe he doesn’t know or has forgotten that Delaware’s election laws are more restrictive than Georgia’s. As the late Casey Stengel was fond of saying, “you could look it up.” Secondly, Biden was one of those who supported the late Senator Robert Byrd, a senior member of the KKK back in the day. He even eulogized Byrd at his funeral. Throughout his long political career he has been like a “chameleon on steroids” regarding race. Just listen to his old speeches. It’s time someone called him out on it, but I don’t anticipate anyone doing so. To put it kindly, Biden is being disingenuous on this issue to score political points. Even the liberal Washington Post, in evaluating his comments, gave him “four Pinocchios.” In view of the strong political bias of the Post that is bad, really bad. As I said, the Dems are on the wrong side of this issue, one more thing that figures to hurt them in the 2022 elections.