To the Editor:
"Gov. Bob McDonnell should read the handwriting on the wall..." [Reference: "Veto Voter ID Bill," Opinion Section, Connection Newspaper, March 15-21, 2012]. There is no "handwriting on the wall," unless you mean Attorney General Eric Holder's ignoring of and interference with states' rights on everything from attempting to enforce federal immigration laws which the federal government is not enforcing (Arizona and Georgia) or attempting to ensure the validity of the vote through voter ID bills (South Carolina and most recently Texas) which are anathema to liberals in general and Democrats in particular. While Democrats have long claimed Republicans try to suppress the vote, it's also a longstanding contention that Democrats want illegal immigrants, certain ethnic minorities, dead people and cartoon characters to vote, of which, in fact, there was evidence in the 2008 election.
Despite however many registered voters in Texas (or Virginia) do not have the identification that the voter ID law would require, it is a liberal fiction to say such laws put an unbearable burden on voters, most of whom already have to show photo IDs to receive food stamps, apply for unemployment, buy alcohol or tobacco products, fly on an airline, make any major purchases (from cars to washing machines), and do countless other things, and especially when the proposed state law provides such photo IDs for free and in some cases even provides transportation to and from obtaining such IDs. Where is the burden? Where is the alleged suppression? Statistics have also shown that photo IDs actually open up the voting process and make it fairer for all (Georgia).
The majority of states, thirty-one, already have voter ID laws of one kind or another, and the handwriting that's really on the wall is that President Obama's attorney general is just trying to do his part to ensure his own job by ensuring Obama's reelection in 2012.
Colonel Chuck Fowler, JD
USA, RET
Lorton