The gentle State Senator from Murfreesboro must have followed Alice down a rabbit hole and found himself in Wonderland. There is hardly any other explanation for the logic he uses to defend his photo ID for voters law.
The Murfreesboro statesman points out that photo identification is required for everything from making a purchase at the mall to boarding a plane or cashing a check.
His logic really goes down the hole when he points out that many brave Americans fought and died for us to have the important right to elect our leaders.
Yes, they did. And yes it is. That is the problem with his logic. Voting is a right for which brave Americans have fought. The other actions he mentions are choices – not rights. We are not required to show a photo ID to make a purchase at the mall. We are required to do so if we chose to use a credit card. We are required to show an ID only if we chose to participate in any of the optional activities he mentions.
He insists that voter fraud is a problem in Tennessee that we all should be concerned about. To support his argument, he points out that state officials recently found 10,000 felons on voter rolls and thousands of other individuals who were registered in multiple states. He says this is alarming. Indeed it might be. But, he fails to have a logical connection between this information and the voter photo ID law. How will showing a photo ID identify felons or persons registered to vote in other states?
Voting is a right for Tennesseans. Going through the standard procedures to receive a voter registration card should be adequate protection against fraud. The most likely disenfranchised individuals will be elderly and those at the lower ends of the social and economic scale. In previous centuries, Americans have fought and died for all Americans to have freedoms and rights. Voting has been central among those rights from the beginning. Using a credit card at the mall has never been a protected right. Don’t confuse the two. Alice
