Voter ID and You: A National Concern

In an unsurprising 6-1 decision Monday, the Missouri Supreme Court found the Voter ID Law to be unconstitutional. Unsurprising because courts around the country have been pretty consistently striking these laws down and there was no reason to think Missouri's would meet a different fate.

So, fine. People living outside of Roy Temple's brain recognize that this wasn't some Republican plot to win in 2006. People living in the left's Fantasyland seem to think that Republicans don't really exist, like all those millions of people who voted for Bush and the Republican Congress were somehow conjured out of thin air or something. The point is that the Republicans have been winning elections for quite some time now without Voter ID laws.

But allow me to present a few premises that I think everyone can agree upon. First, I think it's fair to say that voting is an important part of our system of representative democracy. Since all people are equal in America, everyone should consequently be limited to one vote per election. With me so far? In order to ensure that people only vote once, we have to be able to keep track of who has voted and who hasn't, which is why we have voter registration. It follows from that that you have to ensure that only people who are registered get to vote, and you have to be sure that the people who are voting are actually the people who are registered. It's not exactly Machiavelli, it's simple logic. Not only that, it's an end result that anyone who likes our system of representative government should support, because it helps to achieve the accurate and legitimate will of the people.

It would be nice if the two parties could get together and craft a mutually acceptable Voter ID law that would be found constitutional. I don't know what that law would look like, but I'm confident it could be done. Unfortunately, given the rhetoric on this issue we've seen from the Democrats, it seems unlikely. Their latest email with the august masthead "From the Desk of Chairman Roger Wilson" declares "Democracy Preserved in Missouri!" We can all sleep soundly knowing Roger Wilson is on the case. If the Democrats could put aside their self-congratulations for a minute or so, maybe we could get something accomplished and actually help to "preserve democracy."