Clinton Is Right About Voter Disenfranchisement

I have not always agreed with Bill Clinton. He is far too conservative for my taste and too willing to give in to the corporate interests that rule this country (to the detriment of most citizens). But he has recently been speaking out on the Republican efforts to disenfranchise many American voters, and on that issue he is absolutely correct.

The Republicans, under the guise of fighting voter fraud, have been passing new laws in many states -- laws that will result in many citizens being denied the right to vote. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud and the Republicans know it. This was never meant to curb fraud. It is meant to keep people from voting -- people who probably wouldn't vote for Republicans.

Republicans can see this country's population trends as clearly as anyone else. The country is obviously going to have a majority composed of ethnic/racial minorities within a few decades. Instead of changing their bigoted policies to engage this coming minority, the Republicans have decided to try and restrict their ability to vote. They see this as their only hope of retaining political power.

Here are some of Bill Clinton's words in a speech at the annual Campus Progress convention. He believes the Republicans are creating a new version of "Jim Crow", and I agree with him.

I can’t help thinking, since we just celebrated the Fourth of July and we’re supposed to be a country dedicated to liberty, that one of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today is the disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators to keep most of you from voting next time. There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the other Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today.

Getting rid of same-day registration. Some states getting rid of all advanced voting. Governor of Florida proposed to reverse his Republican predecessor’s signing of a bill that gave people the right to vote when they got out of prison and they’d finished they’re probation period, even if they didn’t have a pardon—that’s one of the most important things we can do. Why should we disenfranchise people forever once they pay their price? Cause most of them in Florida were African Americans and Hispanics and would tend to vote for Democrats, that’s why.

Why do we want to get rid of same day registration? Why has New Hampshire made it almost impossible for college students who come from other states but live in New Hampshire most of the year to vote there? Why is all this going on? This is not rocket science. They are trying to make the 2012 electorate look more like the 2010 electorate than the 2008 electorate.

This is a pernicious and vile effort by the Republicans. It is also anti-democratic and anti-American. A democracy such as ours is helped when as many citizens as possible exercise their right to vote -- not when those rights are restricted by unnecessary rules and regulations. The denial of the right to vote is the first step in the death of democracy.