Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Bill of Privileges


This issue talks about Republican Voter ID laws. I chose this topic because of the proximity of this release to Martin Luther King Day. I find it interesting that the struggle of just a couple of generations ago: the right to vote, is one of our most neglected freedoms in our current political culture.

I did a lot of research into Voter Rights Laws for this issue. I actually came away from the research with some respect for the other side. Where they lost me, however, is in how these laws target only a fraction of voter fraud cases.

I remember reading through an article reading a politician’s response to a question about why these laws don't target absentee voting. This is a form of voting which brings with it many more cases of fraud. The fraud which is a small problem to begin with. The politician answered something like, "We don't want to place that undue burden on disabled voters."

My first thought was, "Why would we want to place that burden on any voter? Why would we want to place that burden especially when that voter is likely to be elderly, a minority, or a young person?" Why place that burden on someone when the risk to our Republic is much greater than any benefit? That's why I oppose Voter ID laws.

I also worked in the line about a Bill of Privileges because that seems to be the prevailing philosophy after 9/11. That there are things more valuable to us than liberty, rule of law, or integrity. It also occurred to me as I was updating this, that this strain of thinking in American politics is not something new. It emerges from time to time throughout history in many guises. Often times, in our history it emerges to suppress the rights of minorities and the disenfranchised.

I am very much against this line of thinking.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

It makes me roll my eyes to see the Bundys on my Newsfeed again...


For this issue I decided to criticize the white supremacist terrorists who are occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building. I did this one late and was not sure what to satirize. I was going to go with both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, but Ammon Bundy was too tempting.

I don't like these white supremacist assholes. I think it is astounding the level of delusion they must possess to not realize what it means to stage a peaceful protest. It astounds me that Ammon Bundy can claim to be peaceful when he is making an implicit threat of violence by going into a building armed and occupying it. I sincerely hope there isn't a single judge in the entire country that would allow this kind of defense to hold up in court.

The irony is that many of these militia folks would shoot an armed man for a lot less than these terrorists have done. To me, Ammon Bundy calling himself peaceful is like a man holding a gun to another man's head and robbing him, then claiming he hasn't threatening to shoot the other man. It is just ridiculous.

I also don't see how you can compare what Ammon Bundy is doing to Black Lives Matter or any other kind of peaceful protest.

The joke I was tempted to make in this issue, but didn't, was that it is good to be white in this country. If these protesters were any other race, they would be shot for less.