"Un-American"

I debated on whether to comment on this comment by one Matthew Vadum, writing for a journal somewhat laughably titled American Thinker, but it's so egregious that I can't not do it. If you want to read the whole article, Joe.My.God links to it at the post I'm linking to. Take my word for it -- it's a few hundred words of conspiracy thinking, and not something you want to read on an empty stomach -- or a full stomach, for that matter. (The comments are even worse.) The key quote, and Vadum's real agenda, are right here:

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. Encouraging those who burden society to participate in elections isn't about helping the poor. It's about helping the poor to help themselves to others' money. It's about raw so-called social justice. It's about moving America ever farther away from the small-government ideals of the Founding Fathers.

First, a little bit of conflation going on -- notice how "the poor" somehow become "welfare recipients." Frankly, a lot of us are working and we're still poor. This is the sort of rhetorical sleight of hand one expects from the radical right, but I thought I'd make note of it.

And now "the poor" are the "nonproductive elements of society." As I pointed out, a sizable proportion of the poor are working, so am I supposed to think that I'm going to work for nothing -- that none of us contribute anything? I suggest that the real nonproductive elements of society are the parasite class -- those bankers, brokers, corporate CEOs who don't actually create wealth, but merely appropriate it the wealth created by others. But then, those are the ones who are paying people like Vadum to be their mouthpieces, so you're not going to hear about that from him.

The really good part is the idea that registering people to vote is "un-American." I looked at the Constitution to see what it says about voting rights, and it's quite instructive. Article I, Section 2 says that the Representatives of each state in Congress are to be "chosen every second year by the People of the several States." Amendment XV states that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." Vadum's already in hot water here. Amendment XVII provides for the direct election of senators, "elected by the people." Amendment XIX states: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Amendment XXIV notes that "the right of citizens of the United States to vote . . . shall not be denied or abridged . . . by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax." Amendment XXVI sets the legal voting age at eighteen and forbids any denial or abridgement of the right to vote because of age.

So it seems to me that Vadum has a little bit of a problem here in stating that registering poor people to vote is un-American. I think, rather, that the shoe's on the other foot. Of course, he does call on the Founding Fathers, who are so conveniently dead so we have no way of finding out what they really think of his ideas -- although why we should care all that much is beyond me: They lived two hundred years ago and were all the best American had to offer in terms of landed aristocracy. But then, that seems to be what Vadum is aiming for: just return control of the country to our betters and let them take care of things.

We can see how that's working out.

Update: Here's a comment from Andy Towle, with a video.

Uodate II: Read this article by Ari Berman at Rolling Stone on the Republican attack on voting rights. It's not just Vadum -- he's just a tool.

Republicans have long tried to drive Democratic voters away from the polls. "I don't want everybody to vote," the influential conservative activist Paul Weyrich told a gathering of evangelical leaders in 1980. "As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." But since the 2010 election, thanks to a conservative advocacy group founded by Weyrich, the GOP's effort to disrupt voting rights has been more widespread and effective than ever. In a systematic campaign orchestrated by the American Legislative Exchange Council – and funded in part by David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who bankrolled the Tea Party – 38 states introduced legislation this year designed to impede voters at every step of the electoral process.