People ask me sometimes if it is hard to come up with ideas for columns. I tell them that there is so much happening in the world that it usually isn’t hard to find something that I want to spout off about. Now, if I had to do a daily column I’m sure that it would be a different story (is that a pun?).
Anyway, I read and listen to a lot of news and I don’t just pay attention to those commentators who I agree with. When you write an opinion column you can’t just hear one side of the story. You need to be willing to listen and consider a variety of opinions — or at least you should. I get a lot of good ideas for columns from those who don’t agree with me, and I think it’s important that people hear all sides of an issue.
Such is the case with this column. I read the column by Steve and Cokie Roberts that took the Republican Party to task for advocating that someone who votes should have to prove that they are who they say they are. Heaven forbid that you should have to do such a thing in America. They said, and I quote: “There’s only one word for the deliberate and systematic attempt to undermine voting rights going on right now. That word is ‘un-American.’”
Really, so they think it’s un-American to require people to at least prove that they are who they say they are to vote? I guess maybe in some way they might be right because there is ample evidence in American history of instances where various political machines have used voter fraud to sway elections. So, since that has been a part of the American political scene forever, maybe someone could consider it un-American to try to keep that from happening.
For the record, I want everyone entitled to vote to do so — regardless of political party or ethnic background. I would love to have a 100 percent voter turnout. The privilege for Americans to vote has been bought by the blood of patriots for over 200 years, and I want to see that right preserved for everyone eligible. But what is the big deal about making sure the voting process is fair, and how does requiring identification disenfranchise certain groups of voters?
When you go to your local convenience store do they ask to see an ID if you write a check? What about if you go to the video store? Do they want to make sure that you are who you say you are before leaving the store with a DVD? And, no one questions that. So why would we not want to preserve the most precious right that we have as Americans and make sure that only those eligible are voting?
Now, before the liberals get out the pens or burn up the keys on the computer railing on about how many people can’t afford ID cards, just take a breath and read the rest of the column — then you can write the rebuttal. When I was in the Legislature, I know that we considered that very issue and made sure that anyone who could not afford an ID card was given one free of charge. If I remember correctly, we even had it written into the legislation that there would be mobile units going around to communities providing state identification cards for those who didn’t have driver’s licenses.
So, if the cards are free, what is the beef for requiring people to prove who they are if they show up to vote? Is it really that big a deal to insure the integrity of our most basic right? How does requiring someone to prove that they are who they say they are before casting a vote disenfranchise them?
In their column, the Robertses quote Attorney General Eric Holder as saying: “Protecting the right to vote, ensuring meaningful access and combating discrimination must be viewed not only as a legal issue, but as a moral imperative.” I wholeheartedly agree, but I also think that protecting the right to vote includes ensuring that those who do vote are actually eligible to do so. To me that is not un-American but rather an honor to the sacrifices of those who died to preserve that right.
Kevin Wilson lives in Neosho. He is a former state legislator.
Opinion
Kevin Wilson, guest columnist: What’s so un-American about voter ID?
- Opinion
-
-
Our View: Spying on us
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
-
Our View: Pass on the legacy
Forty hungry members of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry began gathering corn at the Rader farm near the village of Sherwood when they were ambushed by a guerrilla band of about 70 Southern sympathizers.
-
Our View: Big Brother looms large
The federal government, working under the cloak of secrecy, has been having a heyday at the expense of all Americans.
-
Our View: Disgraceful military assault
We want to make one thing clear: A sexual assault is not a sex scandal. Nor can the rise in sexual assaults in the military be justified in any way.
-
Elliott Denniston, guest columnist: Right-to-work laws only hurt workers
Middle-class workers have been fighting an uphill battle for the past 30 years.
-
Your View: Food drive efforts
Branch No. 366 of the National Association of Letter Carriers along with the National Rural Letter Carriers Association, the American Postal Workers Union and the U.S. Postal Service would like to thank all the area communities that participated in the 2013 Stamp Out Hunger food drive.
-
Your View: More about tax credit
The Globe’s editorial in “Our View” (May 10) may have left readers with a few inaccurate impressions.
-
Other Views: Sickening disparity
Don’t feel bad if you don’t understand the wide, sometimes huge, discrepancies in fees hospitals charge for the same procedure. Or if you don’t understand the arithmetical magic the hospitals use to arrive at those fees.
-
Carol Stark: America in need of more 'momisms'
Several years ago, I attended a writing workshop where one of the sessions was called “Tell it to Mom.”
-
Our View: Keep learning
Donna Maus, a biology teacher from St. Mary’s Colgan High School in Pittsburg, Kan., told a group of top students, their parents and their teachers something we think everyone needs to hear.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Tornadoes, Storms Strike Midwest
'Babyland': Camp Lejeune's Toxic Legacy?
Raw: Heavy Tornado Damage in Shawnee, Okla
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash
NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash
Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country
Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital
Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest
Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting
CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools
$1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest
NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor
Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool
Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids
Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree
Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics
Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday
Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge
Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel?
Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot
