by Ruth A. Sheets
Today I received from Sen. Pat Toomey a response to a petition I signed on voting rights. Sadly, it was the same note I have received since September, and it was just slightly modified from ones I have been receiving throughout this year. This time, I could not just respond in my head as I usually do. I included the actual note after my response.
I am frustrated with the careful cutting back of voting rights to help Republicans take and hold power they don’t actually deserve. The fact that Republican legislators across this country actively and passively participate in this voting rights encroachment is unjust and paves a road toward an autocracy in which voting is just for show.
~ ~ ~
Hello Sen. Toomey. I wish you and your family a very MERRY CHRISTMAS. (I started with this as my proof there is no “war on Christmas.”)
I am writing because I received the communication below, from you, the exact response I received from you months ago, which means you have done no additional thinking about voting rights in this country and what state legislatures have been doing lately to make voting more and more difficult for people of color and poor people, all citizens of this country. Then you say the Voting Rights bills don’t have 60 votes in the Senate. I wonder why that is when Republicans claim to be so patriotic. It is not patriotic to support legislatures that deliberately and with considerable precision work to eliminate voting rights for American citizens, to the point of gerrymandering outrageously on behalf of the Republican Party. I get it that it will never impact you because you are a wealthy white man, but that is not the case in states where voter rolls are “purged” and guess who is most often purged. Spelling errors, often made inadvertently by voter registration offices are used to cut people from rolls. Polling places are set up at significant distances so people on very limited incomes can’t make it. Then there are too few polls in those communities, so people wait in long hot lines and now, in Georgia, no food or drink are allowed to be handed out to people waiting in those lines. I can’t imagine you waiting anywhere for anything, so you don’t see this as a problem. Next, drop boxes that were made available so people could vote at home are slated to be removed in at least one state. Then after voting was permitted on Sundays, it is now proposed to be stopped, why? What has changed? Nothing except that Black voters can use their day off and their attendance at church as a means to get to voting places and Republican legislators are worried they may vote and not choose Republicans.
OK, you know as well as I do that “free speech” is not money. Just because you are rich and I am not should never mean that your voice is more important than mine. That’s not the way it is supposed to be in this country, but, alas, we have had a Supreme Court for a while now that cares as little as possible for people’s rights related to the operation of our nation. They gutted the Voting Rights Act which had nearly unanimous support in Congress as recently as 2006 and state legislatures immediately jumped in to start limiting people’s right to vote. Voter I.D. is your big whine these days too. The “voter fraud” you are crying about is just not happening, except for the rare few Republicans who just have to get that extra vote in for Mr. Trump, and a voter ID would not have had any impact on that. And, I think the latest version of the voting rights bills allow for voter ID.
Nationalizing elections! Are you kidding? That is just a phrase Republicans are tossing about these days because you all know what is going on is cheating and like a magician, you want to distract people from recognizing what your party is really doing. We’re not distracted. We know. It is your Republican constituents who don’t and who are being used for purposes they probably are unaware of. I get it that you are toing the party line, but when the party line means that people’s rights are being trampled, it might mean you need to use courage and stand up for what is right. I get it you can’t stand up for BBB because Oh well, McConnell, but you should be standing with the rights of the people to vote. The stuff you put in your note is nonsense. You truly do know that, right? You have seen what is going on in Pennsylvania right now when Republican organizations are trying to get hold of personal information to challenge our votes on behalf of a defeated candidate. OK, I am hoping you know this is wrong. You may not get it. And, if that’s the case, it is truly a good thing you are retiring because it means a lack of responsibility for serving your constituents, not just the Republican ones.
I keep wondering what you have supported during this term that actually helped anyone that is not a corporation, a military contractor, or other such wealthy entity. What rights have you stood for? Which people in need have you supported programs for? You couldn’t even get basic gun regulations which you claimed to support, passed when that kind of regulation has about a 90% approval rate among American citizens. You do still have some time to make a positive difference, though, I am not hopeful that you will.
Peace, Ruth Sheets
No comments:
Post a Comment