Political "discourse" concerning voting rights.

[toddwv]

When the Bush Administration and its rubberstamp Congress took us into two wars, one of the MANY reasons given to us was to bring freedom and democracy to the oppressed, particularly in Iraq. Now fast forward to the last couple years as the "conservatives" of the American right-wing seek to redefine the very political structure of our country. If you dare refer to the US as a "democracy", these revisionists will try to exert that America is and was never a democracy that it is a constitutional republic. I'm sure that everybody here can understand the not-so-subtle message that refusing to acknowledge that we are a constitutionally mandated representative republic and not just a republic extends. The US elects its representatives using a democratic process. That makes us a democracy regardless of the right-wing's games of semantics.

Has anyone else noticed the not so subtle shift in the right-wing's opinion about who deserves the right to vote and who doesn't? The meme has always been there and is echoed at some level by both sides, that certain people simply don't have the capacity to make an educated choice about who to vote for in an election. While I don't doubt that there are some on the left who truly believe that voting is a privilege and not a right and wouldn't mind seeing some controls over who can vote, I have never seen solid dogmatic support for actively denying people the right to vote. In fact, the opposite is true across the WIDE spectrum of the left concerning voting. There is definitely a feeling that the more people that vote, the better. Contrast this with the attitude of the American right-wing.

I've noticed on a couple discussion forums that the right's meme has shifted even further right. This coincides with the recent heavy push to disenfranchise voters by increasing the requirements to vote as well as making it even more difficult to vote. Let's leave alone the fact that voting is one of the most important foundations of a democracy yet we refuse to make election day a national holiday. It has always perplexed me why we get a day off work for "Good Friday" yet the same privilege isn't extended in order to make sure that people can make it to the polls. Early voting has helped this somewhat but even this is now under attack by the right. Anyways, back to the alleged meme shift. When the topic of the Republicans' push to make voting much more difficult for certain segments, segments that are thought to lean heavily Democratic Party in particular, comes up I'm starting to see a defense of these actions along the lines of "well, not everyone deserves to vote anyways." Along with this comes the explanation that if they don't have "skin in the game" then they shouldn't be allowed to vote. What this means is that the right is shifting even further right with the idea that only certain groups of people should have a say in how the country is ran. They seem to be growing more bold in their efforts and justify it by declaring people that they don't agree with as unfit to vote.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[midnight]

1. They sold us a lie.... We were lied to.... Why are all those who

are perpetuating this lie allowed to hold office. They should resign from office immediately for keeping this murderous lie going.... How will anyone trust each other in congress if they know they are all lying to us and each other?