Where is the National Guard?

[Morlock]

Election days should be national holidays or should be on Saturday. Or it could be over several days, really no reason it all has to be on one day.

Try to get the Republicans to agree to that though. To many people (of the "wrong" sort) would be able to vote then.

The wrong sort being, say, the dead.

 

[billd91]

You want mandatory voter IDs? Fine. Provide them to all eligible citizens --ie, the one on the voter rolls -- for free. Or rather, use taxpayer money. Its' what we pay taxes for.

Even when free, the documentation requirements for getting one may be a challenge. Need a birth certificate? That may not be so easy for elderly voters whose records may have been destroyed or lost over the years or who may not even know where the records can be found. Then there are places that charge for copies of those records. The time and fees involved may serve the place of a poll tax even if the ID itself is free.

Of course, IDs aren't the only means over suppressing voters. The student vote in WI was directly targeted by new residency requirements when the WI legislature pass their "voter fraud" law. Unfortunately, that provision clearly passes constitutional muster because the state constitution includes a provision for residency statues - it does NOT provide for an ID - yet somehow the GOP-dominated state Supreme Court found a way for that to be constitutional, overturning lower courts that found a statutory ID requirement unconstitutional.

 

[Ovinomancer]

What? I think those on the Right want what is best for America. All I ask is that they acknowledge the same in return.

It's nice that you generalize the right as misrepresenting the left, but you make sure to personalize your response to the charge the left (general) does the same. This is extra funny and ironic since you just did generalize the right as bad actors.

 

[Morlock]

Even when free, the documentation requirements for getting one may be a challenge. Need a birth certificate? That may not be so easy for elderly voters whose records may have been destroyed or lost over the years or who may not even know where the records can be found. Then there are places that charge for copies of those records. The time and fees involved may serve the place of a poll tax even if the ID itself is free.

Of course, IDs aren't the only means over suppressing voters. The student vote in WI was directly targeted by new residency requirements when the WI legislature pass their "voter fraud" law. Unfortunately, that provision clearly passes constitutional muster because the state constitution includes a provision for residency statues - it does NOT provide for an ID - yet somehow the GOP-dominated state Supreme Court found a way for that to be constitutional, overturning lower courts that found a statutory ID requirement unconstitutional.

Funny how all of these objections evaporate when it comes to exercising the 2nd Amendment.

 

[Janx]

You seem to have missed my point, which was that I'd be willing to bet that a large proportion of the (very small) number of people for whom starvation is actually a real problem are probably self-inflicting their wounds. E.g., parents who would rather sell their food stamps on the black market and use the proceeds to get high than feed their kids, or the mentally ill who can't manage a household, no matter how much money or aid you give them, or...you get the idea (I hope).

On this particular point, I don't know that hordes of Americans are starving like those ethiopian babies sally fields showed us.

But plenty of poor people are eating poorly due to lack of proper diet because health food costs more and in many cases, isn't available at the gas station where "food" comes from because there isn't a proper grocery store near enough to them. You can "live" off the Mcdonald's dollar menu for $2-$3, but it won't be healthy. And you probably be hard pressed to get healthier food for that money.

public schools have been supplying what their stats say are "the only meals" a kid gets in many cases. Apparently, if a kid doesn't eat at school, he might not eat at all that day.

 

[Bedrockgames]

It's nice that you generalize the right as misrepresenting the left, but you make sure to personalize your response to the charge the left (general) does the same. This is extra funny and ironic since you just did generalize the right as bad actors.

Full disclosure, I consider myself a liberal, but I agree with this sentiment. I do think both sides are increasingly far too quick to call the other the devil and completely dismiss them, rather than talk through things and try to find some common ground. At the end of the day, neither side is going anywhere anytime soon. The country is pretty evenly divided between liberals and conservative. We have to learn to live with each other at some point. I do think there are some people out there who are hateful and warrant heavy criticism; but a lot of people in these discussions just have honest disagreements about the facts and have just reached different conclusions based on those facts. Also, when you immediately accuse people of crossing the line, then when folks actually do cross the line, that accusation has no power at all.

 

[Lord Twig]

The wrong sort being, say, the dead.

Inner city poor working class that primarily votes Democrat. Why would the dead be better able to vote on a holiday?

 

[Lord Twig]

It's nice that you generalize the right as misrepresenting the left, but you make sure to personalize your response to the charge the left (general) does the same. This is extra funny and ironic since you just did generalize the right as bad actors.

There is a trend to on the Right to misrepresent what people on the Left believe. I don't know how else to say that other than to say it. What I am not doing is accusing them of doing it out of evil intent. I don't know why they do it, but it is happening.

 

[Ovinomancer]

There is a trend to on the Right to misrepresent what people on the Left believe. I don't know how else to say that other than to say it. What I am not doing is accusing them of doing it out of evil intent. I don't know why they do it, but it is happening.

And the left doesn't do the exact same thing? Your pitching this as a problem of the right when it's, as bedrock notes, a problem of both sides.

Tribalism is strong on both sides.

 

[Lord Twig]

Full disclosure, I consider myself a liberal, but I agree with this sentiment. I do think both sides are increasingly far too quick to call the other the devil and completely dismiss them, rather than talk through things and try to find some common ground. At the end of the day, neither side is going anywhere anytime soon. The country is pretty evenly divided between liberals and conservative. We have to learn to live with each other at some point. I do think there are some people out there who are hateful and warrant heavy criticism; but a lot of people in these discussions just have honest disagreements about the facts and have just reached different conclusions based on those facts. Also, when you immediately accuse people of crossing the line, then when folks actually do cross the line, that accusation has no power at all.

Fair enough. The only talk radio I get where I'm at is right wing, which I listen to on the way to and from work. So it's possible I'm only hearing one side of it.