If Republicans get their way America will no longer be a democracy in 2012

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On Thursday, Senate Republicans filibustered yet another jobs bill, a bill that would have kept 400,000 teachers and first responders on the job … funded by a mere half penny per dollar tax on millionaires and billionaires.

Public opinion no longer matters: Not the 75% who favor the jobs bill, not the 72% who want infrastructure investment, nor the 60% who support aid for the unemployed, nor the 59% who want an extended payroll tax holiday (due to expire resulting in an across-the-board tax increase for all wage earners), nor the 79% who favor raising taxes on those earning over $1 million.

Public opinion no longer matters because the GOP is suppressing the vote in key states, such as Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maine, Florida, and Texas. In Ohio alone, a new voter suppression bill will disenfranchise 600,000 students, 25% of all African Americans, and 18% of seniors. In the state of Maine, legislators have passed two bills that will disenfranchise 11% of total voters – concentrated in Democratic districts. And Mike Huckabee thinks voter suppression is a really funny joke: “Let the air out of their tires on election day. Tell them the election has been moved to a different date. That’s up to you how you creatively get the job done.”

Here are a few vital statistics to raise your shackles:

Incidence of individual voter fraud is negligible. In Ohio, a statewide survey of county election officials found four instances of ineligible persons voting or attempting to vote in 2002 and 2004 out of 9,078,728 votes cast – a rate of 0.00004%.

Most of the established democracies with which we usually compare the United States – such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, and Denmark – do not require photo ID as a condition to vote.

The United States ranks 139th out of 172 democracies in voter participation.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Republican war against the middle class – and a war against your right to vote. Once Republicans put their voter suppression legislation in place, they will have unchallenged power and free reign to ram their proto-fascist Koch agenda down our throats, like it or not. And if they succeed, Amerika will no longer be a democracy after 2012.

This story was written by Octopus and originally published on October 21, 2011 by Alternet

Hat tip to Shaw of Progressive Eruptions).

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Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.

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