I lifted the following post by a Milwaukee school teacher because it is an excellent example of how Democrats think. I’m not inclined to link to him but it is easy enough to find the post with a simple technorati search for the uncommon words.
The important aspect missing from this “cheaters will cheat” school of defense is that cheaters will cheat when they believe they can get away with it. There are minor consequences in getting caught showing a fake ID to a cigarette clerk and no consequences, except to individual pride, for lying to a 20 year old nightclub bouncer. Being caught lying to the government, those people with the power to fine and jail transgressors, does make the risk of cheating to great for almost everyone. Children need to both learn risk assessment and risk aversion and they probably aren’t learning it from this teacher.
The Wisconsin Voter ID Legislation being proposed by Senator Liebham is a direct result of documented voting irregularities in Milwaukee County, and it is being written with language to guarantee all legitimate residents of Wisconsin can obtain a valid ID. I suspect the teacher would insist the election problems in Milwaukee County were from overwhelmed poll workers, and I suspect some of those poll workers had a Milwaukee Public School education.
As a follow-up to Stacie's Fighting Bob GuestBlog (if I can be so presumptuous as to follow-up someone else's post!) on the Voter Photo-ID pablum passed out of committee yesterday: Today I did a poll in my class of ninth graders. I asked if they--or any of their "friends"--had fake IDs or had ever successfully used fake IDs. Well over half raised their hands. Which makes me wonder, of course, how much more vigilant about these sorts of things septuagenarians working the polls will be than, say, bouncers at "the club" or clerks selling cigarettes.The English Teacher is making the following argument. When solicited, a large number of teenage children believe that people will fraudulently represent themselves to get what they want, ERGO, attempts to stop fraudulent representation will fail and should not be implemented. In other words, people willing to break the law will not be stopped by law, therefore, the law should not be enacted. I wonder how he feels about gun control.
Look, many other people have waxed plenty eloquent about how none of the irregularities that Republicans have gone all gasket-blown about would have been stopped by requiring a photo ID. Felons voting? That's fine, as long as they have an ID. Voters who vote without being checked off? Not solved by requiring IDs. Transcription errors in registering new voters? Not helped--since new voters need ID of some kind, anyway. People voting multiple times under multiple names? (NOTE: There is no evidence that this happened at all, just wild speculation.) Ask my students about that one.
In fact, the only thing that requiring an ID to vote prevents is votes from traditionally Democratic voters: the poor, the elderly, the transient.
The important aspect missing from this “cheaters will cheat” school of defense is that cheaters will cheat when they believe they can get away with it. There are minor consequences in getting caught showing a fake ID to a cigarette clerk and no consequences, except to individual pride, for lying to a 20 year old nightclub bouncer. Being caught lying to the government, those people with the power to fine and jail transgressors, does make the risk of cheating to great for almost everyone. Children need to both learn risk assessment and risk aversion and they probably aren’t learning it from this teacher.
The Wisconsin Voter ID Legislation being proposed by Senator Liebham is a direct result of documented voting irregularities in Milwaukee County, and it is being written with language to guarantee all legitimate residents of Wisconsin can obtain a valid ID. I suspect the teacher would insist the election problems in Milwaukee County were from overwhelmed poll workers, and I suspect some of those poll workers had a Milwaukee Public School education.
