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Democracy in the Balance: Indiana Goes Jim Crow > > by Bob Fitrakis > > The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in favor of the Hoosier state's Jim Crow > voter identification law sanctions the continual racist assault upon > black voters and institutionalizes the disenfranchisement of the poor. > Not surprisingly, the axis of evil -- Justices Anton Scalia, Clarence > Thomas and Samuel Alito -- claim that "the law should be upheld because > its overall burden is minimal and justified." > > In a real democracy, the burden should be on the state to enfranchise > voters, not on the state to think of ways to keep poor people and > minorities from the polls. At the age of 18, all eligible voters should > be routinely registered to vote with a unique identifier, similar to a > social security number. Scalia, Thomas and Alito love "state's rights" > and "Jim Crow." As partisan Republican appointees, their judicial > opinions are blatantly partisan and their approach to democracy, as it > has been through most of American history, is to shrink the electorate. > > The Supreme Court should have mandated that the state provide, free of > charge, voter IDs for every eligible citizen in Indiana beginning with > all graduating high school seniors. We increasingly live in a police > state, where the Patriot Act monitors you day and night, and the NSA > spies on you through the Echelon system. But Big Brother can't figure > out who's eligible to vote? > > Voting must become a constitutional right, and for that matter, so > should privacy. That way, backward Hoosiers kissing the ass of > right-wing Republicans would be prevented from ushering in another Jim > Crow era. > > We should salute Justices David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen > Breyer who upheld the principles of democracy. Souter put it best, that > the Indiana law "threatens to impose nontrivial burdens on the voting > rights of tens of thousands of state's citizens." The other three > justices, John Paul Stevens, John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy, argued > that the Indiana case failed to meet the heavy burden required to > prevail in a "facial challenge" of the law. > > So democracy remains in the balance. The problem is those facial > challenges won't come until the middle of the 2008 election, as once > again Karl Rove and his racist pals objectively disenfranchise millions > of black voters. McCain is likely to be elected president on the > Hoosier state's racist and class-based apartheid law and his dream of a > 100-year Reich in Iraq will be foisted on the American people and the > world while the vast majority of Americans oppose it, whose voices will > never be heard. > > I'm with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on this. God, our concept and name > for the force and principles for universal justice will damn this law.
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