Conservative blogger Matthew Vadum wrote a controversial piece recently titled “Registering the Poor to Vote is Un-American”. His essay made the standard loop of punditry roundtables and op-ed rants pro and con. Excerpts of his argument are below:
Why are left-wing activist groups so keen on registering the poor to vote?
Because they know the poor can be counted on to vote themselves more benefits by electing redistributionist politicians. Welfare recipients are particularly open to demagoguery and bribery.
Registering them to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals. It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote.
First of all, I would argue that the “left-wing activist groups” are keen on registering the people to vote who are mostly likely not reached by traditional methods of voter outreach. I would argue that all citizens of the United States should be registered to vote, and should exercise that right, and that anyone who helps in that process in doing noble work.
Secondly, “criminalizing” the poor is a solid example of class warfare, if you ask me, or if you ask anyone who is honest about the real purpose of Vadum’s words.
Thirdly, elections in this country are filled with examples of groups of people voting against their own interests. Otherwise, how does Vadum explain a wealthy person ever voting for a “redistributionist” Democrat or a poor person for a “heartless” Republican?
Fourthly, the racist undertone of his thesis is undeniable, and it is offensive. I say that while recognizing that sensitivity to perceived racial slights is too high these days, and many see racism when it is convenient for their positions, not when it genuinely exists. Vadum lays out his racial bigotry in plain view.
Finally, I would ask contrarian question of Mr. Vadum: Why are right wing activist groups so keen on not registering citizens of the United States?
There was a time in our history when only white, male landowners could vote, but those days are rightly on the dust heap of history. I think an equally persuasive essay could be reworded thus:
Why are right-wing activist groups so keen on registering the rich to vote?
Because they know the rich can be counted on to vote themselves more benefits by electing redistributionist politicians. The rich are particularly open to demagoguery and bribery.
Registering them to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals. It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the top 1% of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why {insert your favorite GOP candidate for the nomination here} zealously supports registering corporate welfare recipients to vote.
The sentiment reads pretty true, doesn’t it? Since the top 1% of earners take home more than 18% of national income today and in 1973, it was 7.7%, this actually IS the truth. We are being robbed, but not by the petty thieves. We’re being robbed by professionals in suits.
Vadum’s essay was written with a backdrop of various voter ID laws making their way through state legislatures. For the record, I am sympathetic to the voter ID laws springing up around the country. I cannot argue that requiring a photo ID at the polls is wrong, but that is assuming equal access to those IDs is available without cost. Any charge represents a poll tax, sorry. In South Carolina, the voter ID is being offered for free…but to get the free ID, you must show either a drivers license or passport, both of which cost money. Nice dodge.
I am sympathetic to efforts to prevent voter fraud, and support those efforts; however, the escalation of voter fraud of this type to national emergency status is overblown fear-mongering to push an anti-Democratic agenda. Between 2001 and 2007, the government pursued 86 cases of voter fraud. 86 cases in 6 years. It became an “emergency” when Obama won the Presidency, pure and simple. It is more dangerous and more likely that an election could be stolen through access to the ballot boxes themselves than through a few people voting twice. The efforts to push voter IDs laws now is transparently partisan.
His essay goes on to mention all the popular hot button words in Sillyville – Trotsky, Communism, Saul Alinsky, “Marxist”, Stalin, and ACORN. Since the days of Joe McCarthy and his trumped up Red Scare hearings, the only new player in this fantasy world of fear is ACORN.
Vadum writes:
America needs to know that ACORN is restructuring in time to help re-elect President Obama in 2012. Obama used to work for ACORN and represented the group in court as its lawyer. These radical leftists who use the brutal, in-your-face, pressure tactics of Saul Alinsky want to destroy America as we know it and will use any means to do it.
Never mind that ACORN was acquitted in court once the entire video of the staged meeting with far right role players was shown. The fact is they help poor people vote, and according to Vadum, poor people are lazy criminals that support the current President and his party, and THAT is the real problem Vadum and his ilk are trying to solve.
Vadum may preach Power to the People, but only the ones Vadum approves of, of course.
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