Credit Cards for Everyone, But a Voter ID for Thee
The war on voting rights continues. In the latest development, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal of a voting rights case over whether or not government identification requirements discriminate against the poor and minorities. The lower court opinion under review was written by an appeals court judge who believes voting distracts citizens from their most important duty: shopping.
The court will hear the appeal of a U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding such a law in Indiana. It is disheartening to see that the federal appeals court ruling was written by Judge Richard A. Posner, who has written elsewhere that political participation distracts citizens from their responsibilities as consumers. And it is far easier these days to obtain a credit card than it is to register and vote. Every day the credit industry offers, unsolicited, new and remarkable credit cards. Not one of those solicitations asks for a picture ID before the card will be issued. And few retailers ask for an ID, either.
Posner is an outspoken advocate for “elite democracy.” Issues are too complex for Americans to deal with, and so it is necessary that key decisions be made by a select few. Voting, Posner says, is good to have as a possible corrective on elites if they should get carried away with their power. But it is not important, Posner says, that many Americans participate in American political life.
Posner, appointed to the court by Ronald Reagan, is a well-respected jurist and conservative intellectual. He is not a crank. He represents a serious movement in conservative political theory, one that believes not in democracy, but in elite, authoritarian rule with some democratic institutions kept in place just in case.
Elite democracy contemplates the de facto disenfranchisement of millions of Americans. That’s why barriers to voting like voter identification laws are no big deal. (My colleagues at the Rockridge Institute recently examined the use of voter ID requirements to achieve voter suppression.) In fact, they promote the kind of elitist rule these authoritarians believe is necessary to maintain social order.
In Posner’s political world, “The participation required of the people is minimal. They are left free to spend their time on other, more productive activities, undistracted by the animosities, the polarization, and the endless inconclusive debates of an active political life,” as he wrote in his 2003 book, Law, Pragmatism, and Democracy. By productive activities, Posner means consumer support of the economy:
“…it is doubtful whether political deliberation would today have fruitful spillovers to private or commercial life, and, if not, the reallocation of time from private and commercial activities to the political realm could reduce social welfare.”
When the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, appointed George W. Bush president in 2000, it followed the conservative, elitist logic. It was the first time in American history that the Court had chosen the president. But nothing in the elitist view considers such a circumstance extraordinary. In this case, nine voters were as good as ninety million voters.
Driven by a kind of inertial wishful thinking, the political press and many Americans want to believe we live in an era of politics as usual. But today’s conservative movement represents a threat to democracy that has never before had such traction. The will of the people is secondary to their own righteous authority.
Tom DeLay’s unprecedented mid-decade congressional redistricting of Texas, voter suppression and fraud in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, un-verifiable voting machines, the proposed California ballot initiative that will steal electoral votes from Democrats and hand them to Republicans - all these things are manifestations of a new kind of twisted, anti-democratic power.
These power-mad right-wingers, so different from the individualistic, Barry Goldwater conservatives of old, really do believe themselves to be our anointed strict fathers. No other authority approaches their own, at home or abroad. That is why attacks on voting rights are not so different from the Bush doctrine of pre-emption. No other world leader is Bush’s equal; therefore in the eyes of these elites we are not one of many sovereign nations, we are the only sovereign nation. With regard to voting rights, since we are supposed to do what we are told by our authoritarian leaders, how could it matter to us whether or not we have unobstructed access to the ballot box?
We are no longer sovereign individuals. That term is reserved for the conservative elite, just as the term sovereign nation is reserved for only one country, the country these elite believe they embody and rule.
I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. Since the 2000 Florida debacle and the Supreme Court anointing of Bush, a re-energized progressive movement has blossomed to challenge the emerging authoritarian hold on America. But sometimes I fear that even the progressive movement underestimates the madness behind the conservative thirst for power. Their politics is not usual. We are not engaged in a battle over ideas. We are engaged in a fight that will determine whether the experiment in Democracy continues or ends.
I don’t know how the press overlooks the danger. They have watched the Bush Administration be handed the keys to the White House by the Supreme Court, watched it lie the nation into a war, watched in lie about the occupation of Iraq, watched it privatize the armed forces and every other government function it sought to turn over to its cronies.
I suppose it is easier to believe that attacks on voting rights are just partisan squabbling, that Bush is just another conservative, that an imagined ever-swinging pendulum will swing back one day. That democracy can thrive without an effort, like the moon circling the earth.
There is no pendulum. There is only us. And if we don’t save democracy, no one will. God help us if the Supreme Court should agree with Posner that barriers to the ballot box are no big deal. They’ve already stolen one election from us. Now they have the opportunity to steal all future elections in a single ruling.
Glenn W. Smith is a Senior Fellow at The Rockridge Institute
We need to recognize that judges don’t just act on ideology–they respond to citizens putting time and energy into publicly demonstrating their concerns. An article that articulated this well (though addressing a different topic)said:
“Virtually every advance for human rights in the Supreme Court (e.g. Brown v Board of Education) has been preceded by shifts in public opinion and visible demonstrations of demand for change. At least in part due to fear of social upheaval and undermining the Court’s authority, the Court follows…It’s time to instill that concern in the Justices again.” Excerpted from http://reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_speech/measuret_movement_building.php
By requiring an ID from state or federal authorities, the election law is establishing a poll tax, quite contrary to the laws of the land. Unless anyone here gets their drivers license or passport free of charge.
Having read John Dean’s book, “Conservatives without Conscience” it’s quite clear what the agenda of these authoritarians really is. In contrast, America was built upon a government design that honored diversity. IF citizens understood the degree to which the right wing conservatives wish to eviscerate ALL liberties and replace the sovereignty of individuals with a theological mandate, they would NOT vote for Republicans of this ilk EVER. Of course those who would vote in this manner are themselves the faithful flock of megachurches and related authoritarian philosophies. They are dangerous because they have no clue what it means to live in a representative democracy. They are so convinced THEIR way is the ONLY way, that as we see with the current war(s) of aggression, they believe they are in the RIGHT and see any intelligence or opposition as a lack of patriotism. Worse still, it is their erroneous belief that some ‘god’ authorizes this type of behavior, aggression and all, that makes them LETHAL opponents to the things we cherish.
One reason I turn to CD is that otherwise, facing this stuff as an awakened individual, I would feel utterly convinced that I had accidently crossed over into some sickening sci-fi plot, some inversion of what REALLY was going on. USA today just seems to IMPROBABLE, the truth is harder to face than any convenient fictions.
Here in Washington State i have been disenfranchised from voting due to a past felony conviction and a restitution order that is beyond my ability to pay in this life or even in three lifetimes, due to the exorbitant interest rate tacked on.
Funny how i can easily get a credit card and run myself further into debt, but i can’t vote.
Even the process of restoring the right to vote is long and arduous and can cost so much money, that most people are either unable, unwilling, or just not knowledgeable to take the steps.
The ACLU will help those of us who have had our votes stolen from us, but you have to notify them of your desire to do so.
“Posner, appointed to the court by Ronald Reagan, is a well-respected jurist and conservative intellectual. He is not a crank. He represents a serious movement in conservative political theory, one that believes not in democracy, but in elite, authoritarian rule with some democratic institutions kept in place just in case”
Someone who believes in non-democracy and calls it elite democracy is not a crank because other cranks and bottomfeeding law professionals ‘respect’ him?
Justice Tanney I suppose was “not a crank” and a “respect jurist” as well.
It only takes 4 Justices voting affirmative for the Supreme Court to decide to take a case, but it takes 5 to make a majority opinion. We now have 5 conservative justices (Roberts Scalia Alito Thomas Kennedy) and 4 others, so it would be interesting to know now which 4 or more voted to take this case.
As much as we might want to believe the new Supreme Court won’t make voting harder for poorer, less educated citizens, it is fairly likely that indeed they WILL do exactly that, if not by upholding the last ruling, then by adding language to the opinion to encourage legislatures to adopt other restrictions.
And the best way I know to avoid those kinds of bad rulings is for citizens and journalists to predict them in advance and debate them LOUDLY in the public arena for all to know BEFORE they happen. Justices will say they’re not swayed by public opinion. Nonsense! They’re human like everyone else, and the more public opinion is out there for them to see, the better.
So a big THANKS to the author for this article!
How about abolishing the Supreme Court & the entire rotten structure that the 18th century white colonialists imposed on the next 2 centuries plus?
Did you just disqualify yourself mjolnir?
mjolnir____if we can put up with a stupid president and a whole herd of his stupid cronies for eight years, we can surely get along with some stupid voters. The ones that put George and company in were not stupid, they were just greedy criminals that knew what they were doing, plus some religious nuts that fell for the fairy tale. All they had to do in Iraq to vote was stick their finger in the ink___now thats a real democracy!
I’m not against voter ID nor a national ID card / driver’s license, especially as seperate state DL’s are just a ripoff that force people to pay more money every time they move. As far as the “poll tax” argument goes, come on, a picture ID is ten dollars. Whoever can’t come up with ten bucks every four years has a lot bigger problems than whether or not they get to vote. Especially considering picture ID is so necessary for almost everything in life, not simply voting. I’ve been extremely poor before, but I always managed to keep ID. In fact, it’s necessary to recieve most social services, so it’s something poor folks need and are almost gauranteed to have anyhow.
That said, I believe that every citizen should be able to swipe that ID at a polling station and vote, no registration or extra paperwork necessary, based on their Social Security number. No arguments, no hassles, and a simple database that checks whether or not a vote has been registered under that SSN and if not, lets the person vote and then flags that number as having voted.
Voting should be simple, easy, and fast. And everyone should be encouraged to do so by whatever legal means necessary.
mjolnir is a Troll! Trolls should not bother thinking humans, since they have nothing worth saying. Posner is also a Troll, only he is a Troll with the power to eat average citizens with no worries about the biggest billy goat giving him his comeuppance. I think Posner and all his ilk should be tried as traitors!
I have a real problem with the idea of being ruled by some group of degenerate fraternity boys busily playing pranks on the world while it devolves into chaos. Actually I have a problem with being ruled at all, by anyone. Being governed by elected officials is as close to being ruled as I am willing to go, but I prefer real (direct) democracy, with a well educated electorate who take their responsibilities as citizens seriously. Democracy is not a spectator sport!
The truth is that this assault on democracy is not something cooked up by “conservative Republicans” alone. The Democrats are complicit at every turn. I actually believe the Democrats would like to be the ruling elite that the republicans have managed to become.
Author asks, “I don’t know how the press overlooks the danger.”
Because the press is a member of the elite class.
I know exactly what you mean. That is exactly how I feel.
Siouxrose, you have such an eloquent way with words, a keen intellect, and a fierce patriotism. Your vibrant composition is greatly appreciated. Prose such as yours greatly soothes my tortured soul. Like you, in my dismay, I turn to Common Dreams for therapy. I must be dreaming for it appears I have materialized in a nightmare alternate universe; a kind of 1937 Berlin Germany with nukes….. It just has to be a bad dream. Freedom and Liberty can’t just have vanished along with the sustainability of the planet within my lifetime. But it has.
We lost it so fast…… Maybe I just didn’t notice it slipping away. But no matter. We have to resolve to assist in restoring the constitution by whatever means we can derive.
Goodnight from the South Pacific,
pac