| Amidst our bashing of Republican leaders with the Voter ID issue, we do miss the one sparkle of virtue in their actions. For it is certainly noble to fight intensely for the well-being of democracy. Some Republicans, although we suspect otherwise, genuinely believe that Voter ID requirements would protect the purity of democracy. As Democrats, we think that such requirements actually contaminate the voting process, so we will fight like hell against it.
So here we see members of the legislature arguing for countless hours in defense of America's greatest ideal. At least our representatives exude patriotism for state and country. The Republican leaders insist we make this change, however, as if Texan democracy needs a fix. Last I checked; really? The legislature only stands in session for five months, so if we want to hijack that important time for one issue, it should be an issue of extreme urgency.
But I do not perceive any crucial problems with Texan democracy. A simple observation of elected officials will tell you that. In a Republican-majority state, every statewide office holder has a GOP membership. Not discounting the growing presence of Democrats, though; the House of Representatives is almost split down the middle, and almost every major city has a Democrat majority in their respective city councils. The only argument you can make in favor of the sickness of our democracy is the lack of high profile Hispanic politicians, but I have not heard one Republican contend that SB 362 alleviates that worry.
Todd Smith, David Dewhurst, etc. might maintain that the voters want Voter ID requirements. I guess that's true, but did the Founding Fathers listen to the people when determining how best government should listen to the people? That just doesn't make any sense. It makes even less sense when over 40% of Texan voters misstated the current rules on Voter ID, suggesting they are not informed enough to have a fully evolved opinion. This is why, of course, we listen to the experts: a technique in which Representative Smith, at least, finds difficult.
Even if the UT poll found 90 percent support for Voter IDs, though, the poll found more important numbers (.pdf). The poll's 21st question asked the open-ended query, "What would you say is the most important problem facing the state of Texas today?" Nowhere in the document, however, do I see a response along the lines of "Integrity of Voting." Even if every "Miscellaneous" response related to Voter ID (and that obviously is not the case), three other issue would be more important by more Texans by wide margins. For this reason, it would make more sense for Republicans to champion racist immigration laws than racist voting laws.
Instead, our state's leadership is completely wasting our time. According to the poll numbers, Texans would definitely prefer they tackle the problems or education, immigration, and the economy. They probably would also easily prefer work on the energy industry, health care, and Texas' lack of true political leadership. Texans as a whole are apparently more in touch with the health of our democracy than the Republicans are - they realize there is no problem! And when the experts are against the Republican Party's stance on this, too, one has to wonder what the hell they are thinking. The current session only has two and a half months left before saying goodbye for another year and a half. Instead of squandering their hours spent in the capitol, can our state's leaders instead try to control the rising cost of my tuition, distribute the federal stimulus money productively, and become less addicted to oil?
There were reasons epitomized by the governance of Tom Craddick that Democrats made electoral gains. Mr. Craddick no longer sits on that pedestal of power, but those reasons are still there. Republicans still seem to screw up our government. |
