Perception vs. Reality

It is not often that I agree with OpEd pieces; particularly those from the NY Times. Recently, that paper presented an article which highlights the ridiculous scam being conducted by the Missouri state legislature. The article, "The Myth of Voter Fraud," discussed the disingenuous attempt (on the part of the state's Republican Party) to reduce -- yes, REDUCE! -- voter turnout.

To quote from the article,
"As with Missouri’s proposed amendment, the driving force behind strict voter ID requirements in general is not a genuine effort to prevent fraud, since there is virtually no evidence that in-person voter fraud is occurring. It is, rather, the Republican Party’s electoral calculations. Barriers at the polls drive down voter turnout, especially among the poor, racial minorities and students — groups that are less likely than average to have driver’s licenses, and that are more likely than average to vote Democratic."

While I agree that the American political party system is among the best forms of representative democracy in existence, I also believe that we need some type of overhaul. Yet, we hear so little media coverage of this opinion, either in print or on Faux News (i.e., Fox), Clinton News Network (i.e., CNN), among others.

The article pointed out the embarrassment endured during the recent Indiana (which has passed legislation to reduce voter turnout) primary elections when nuns were prevented from voting because their ids did not meet state requirements.

Being a one-time Hoosier Scholar while attending Purdue University and, now, a resident of the state of Missouri, I see a little-known link between these two states of our nation: both have a humiliating record of enacting legislation that has not only become notorious, but demonstrates how politicians can easily flush taxpayer money down the drain.

Example from Missouri: Until 1976, a state law existed on the books which called for the extermination of Mormons in the state.

Example from Indiana: The General Assembly, in 1897, created a bill which would have dictated that the value of pi be fixed at 3.2. Fortunately, a professor from Purdue University was present and was able to prevent the bill from getting passed!