I don’t understand the uproar over requiring identification to vote. What is the big deal? We routinely show an id to rent a car or hotel, to open a bank account or cash a check, to enroll in school, to get a credit check, to rent an apartment, to use a credit card at a retail store, to drive a car, to buy alcohol or tobacco products, to verify our age, and even to get a public library card. In this technological age of rampant identity theft, is it so unusual to require that we prove we are who we say we are? Is that simple request to be deemed some kind of discrimination or political trickery?
I continually hear the argument that Voter ID laws are discriminatory, aimed at suppressing the vote of minorities and the poor,and that it disproportionately affects Democrat voters. Help me understand what is discriminatory about asking you to put your face on a certified means of verification? Are you being asked to put another person’s face on your ID, or to change the color of your face on your ID? Where is the discrimination here?
Furthermore, how does the requirement to have an ID suppress your right to vote? Because you don’t want to go to all the trouble of getting the ID, paying the fee, or possibly sending off for a new certified copy of your birth certificate that was misplaced or incorrectly filled out? I will grant my sympathy to any of us that have to deal with an inefficient or understaffed government agency in order to secure an ID card. That can truly be a project and I understand your avoidance and procrastination. Nevertheless, with the right and privilege to vote comes some responsibility on the part of the voter.
Those who want to drive a vehicle in any state in the country, must go to a government office and get a license with your picture on it. You must bring very specific documentation or you will be unapologetically sent away. No exceptions. In fact, the Department of Motor Vehicles is notorious for doing just that – regardless of how far you drove to get there, how inconvenient it was, or how long it took you to finally get time off work to go to their office. Proper paperwork … or you gets nothing. End of story. If we used the same logic for those seeking state ID’s or driver’s licenses, then we would have to say requiring the current driver’s license is also discriminatory and exclusionary of certain groups of the population.
Driving is a privilege that we are willing to jump through hoops to gain a license to do, yet the very important vote to determine how our country is run should require less proof of identity? Does that make sense?
And what is this notion that minorities can’t get a photo ID? Are we so inferior, incompetent,and fundamentally unintelligent that we can’t do what everyone else in the country is required to do? Is the task of sitting down in front of a government agency camera so daunting that minorities need special exemptions?
Mind you, I understand there are very real challenges for some elderly Americans who may have gone through life without a birth certificate, who never received one after having been delivered by a midwife in one of our rural towns. Or the health and transportation challenges that make it difficult to get to polling sites.
Then there are the least educated and poorest among us that struggle to make the necessary calls and trips to city hall to find out how to become eligible to vote. Some of these Americans may incur costs and fees to obtain the correct legal documentation to show their voting eligibility; costs that may create a financial burden. These are all very real hurdles to getting a legal photo ID. Are we being told these are insurmountable hurdles? Are there not hurdles, challenges, difficulties and hardships in many areas of our lives? So, get help. Get help from friends, family, neighbors, or a local agency.
This is a sad and truly disparaging commentary on what liberal leaders and strategists believe about the poor, elderly, and minority people of the United States. Pushing through hard times, persevering in the face of adversity, and showing strength and resolve to make it is what the American spirit is all about. And getting a photo ID pales in comparison to much weightier struggles faced by so many.
Don’t waste your vote simply because it may take some effort on your part to get an official ID, learn about the candidates running for office, research the issues being presented, find out where your polling site is, and the times and dates to cast your ballot. If you care about your right to vote, don’t squander it and don’t let a basic requirement to have an ID stop you.
Helping people in need is a good thing, but patronizing and marginalizing them in the process is where that help morphs into hindrance, enabling, and debilitating. Minorities do not have a corner on the market when it comes to doing difficult things and we are certainly up to the challenge. So, if it takes a little effort, or even a string of tasks, getting an ID in this technological age is a necessity. A necessity supported by assistance programs, volunteer organizations, and family members across this great nation.
Go get an ID. Now, what you choose to do with that identification is entirely up to you, but may I suggest going out to vote.
#notafraidtothink #notsheeple #reunifyournation
EmmSix 