What Scares Republicans More Than Paying Workers a Living Wage? Voting Rights

Last updated on February 17th, 2013 at 04:10 pm

During his State Of The Union Address, the President spent most of his time on ideas to improve our economy and with it our lives.

The only thing that scares Republicans more than paying workers a living wage is our right to vote. One can only imagine what they were thinking when the President said:

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” Defending our freedom, though, is not just the job of our military alone.  We must all do our part to make sure our God-given rights are protected here at home.  That includes one of the most fundamental rights of a democracy:  the right to vote.  When any American, no matter where they live or what their party, are denied that right because they can’t afford to wait for five or six or seven hours just to cast their ballot, we are betraying our ideals.

So tonight, I’m announcing a nonpartisan commission to improve the voting experience in America.  It definitely needs improvement.  I’m asking two long-time experts in the field — who, by the way, recently served as the top attorneys for my campaign and for Governor Romney’s campaign — to lead it.  We can fix this, and we will.  The American people demand it, and so does our democracy.”

Combine that with Senator Boxer’s LINE Act (recently co-sponsored by Senator Ben Nelson) and Republicans see their efforts to destroy this most basic freedom go up in smoke. It’s enough to send Republicans into a fetal position for some time.

One can almost imagine them muttering to one another.  Bad enough the Democrats are sabotaging all our hard work to make sure only the right people vote.  But, co-opting Mitt Romney’s lawyer, it’s a communist plot I tell ya!

Rick Scott was probably trying to find another way to say that he had nothing to do with the reduced voting hours that forced 102-year-old Desiline Victor and many other Floridians to wait 5 to seven hours to vote.

Perhaps the cruelty inherent in Florida’s voter suppression policies played a role in Marco Rubio’s night of the big gulp. After all, how can you possibly look voters in the eye knowing that your party was directly responsible for attacking the freedoms that Republicans say they love, but attack when it hurts their interests?

It’s more than time to set national standards assuring that your right to vote is equally protected no matter where you live and no matter who your state government is.

One thing I’m hoping for, though not mentioned in the President’s remarks.  If we are to improve our voting experience, we need to fix the idea that dollars have voices worthy of protection under the constitution, while human voices are at the mercy of Republicans whose love for freedom, in truth, is restricted to their ever-dwindling voting base.

Image: Jewish Journal

Adalia Woodbury

Former contributor.