Voter ID

The cartoon strip "Doonesbury" has taken an interesting topic this past week. Now, I normally enjoy reading "Doonesbury" because of its political jokes, even though the swipe is usually pointed at the right. Because, hey, politics is messy and pretty ridiculous. I enjoy laughing at what I...well, enjoy. (Plus, the illustrations of Donald Trump crack me up.) But I really, truly, do not understand all the fuss over voter ID laws. They are being called anti-American and a tactic used by the right to prevent minorities from going to the polls. Huh?

Okay, first, what's anti-American about being required to have an ID? A political cartoon in my obviously left-tilted local newspaper this morning had a picture of a Nazi labeled "photo ID" welcoming a voter to the land of the free, and asking to see his papers. Um...no. Making sure you are an American citizen before you vote is not being a Nazi, and it's not infringing on freedom. If you're an illegal immigrant/not a citizen of the US of A, you aren't allowed to vote. Sorry. And you're not allowed to vote twice, whether you're a citizen or not. That's cheating. IDs are ways of the government keeping track of the people. I don't mean in a creepy "Shadow Children" way--I mean in a make-sure-you-follow-basic-rules-of-the-republic way. It's like the census; we need the census to calculate how many representatives each state is allowed to have, how to distribute funds, etc. Is it annoying? Sure. But it's a necessary annoying.

...please?

I recently wrote a blog post on racism hype. This is a perfect example of why I'm so exasperated. Me? Racist? Because I want people to follow the rules? It's the left that's being racist. Aren't they insinuating that minorities aren't smart enough to get their own IDs? Getting an ID is not hard. You show up and fill out an application and present proof of your age and identity. This can be: a birth certificate. Your social security card. School documents. Marriage certificate. U.S. government documents. In North Carolina, the fee is $10. That is not a lot of money. If you are living in poverty, of course, then it can be. But most people can afford $10. Most people 'in poverty' have Cable TV, a car, air conditioning, and other modern luxuries, for crying out loud! My family for years could not afford Cable, and there was a point in time where we lived on oatmeal, beans, and the kind of popcorn that you get in a plastic bag and pop yourself on your stove. And yet, had it been necessary, we could have afforded the $10 dollar photo ID fee. I'm not trying to be insensitive to people who really do have money problems--even if they have luxury items. I just want to point out that most do not have a reason they can't get an ID.

It's true that I don't want illegal minorities to vote. But that's not because they're one of the groups most likely to vote for President Obama. It's because they're illegal. I want people to follow the rules. Is that too much to ask?

All images found via Google Images. No copyright infringement intended.