Poor Richard: To the Democrats it still is and always will be about POWER rather than LIBERTY. They have offended and alientated Independents and Reagan Democrats within their own Party. That’s why they’re seeking Immigration “Reform” (Amnesty) and now Felony Voting Law “Reform” (Reinstatement) to FIND NEW VOTERS BEHOLDING TO THE DEMOCRATS BEFORE THE 2010 / 2012 ELECTIONS. Queen Nancy recently told us that passing healthcare “was just the beginning”. She meant it. This was and is another States Rights assault by the far left socialists.
This is a photo of the real flag that Francis Scott Key saw flying over Ft. McHenry. It has been kept since 1912 at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
The Right of Felons to Vote: The House Takes On the Constitution
by Hans A. von Spakovsky
Most of you were probably too busy with real work to have watched Roger Clegg and me on the web yesterday as we testified before the House Judiciary Committee. We spoke against a bill that would purport to force all states to restore the right of a felon to vote the moment he is released from prison. It was certainly an illuminating experience. There were five witnesses on the other side versus the two of us, so I guess it was a fair debate. The venom of the attacks on Roger, however, was quite stunning. Rep. Steve Cohen (D., Tenn.) even attacked Roger for the name of the organization he represents, the Center for Equal Opportunity, because he is apparently offended that CEO does not believe in quotas and outright racial discrimination that favors certain racial groups.
It was also a real lesson in how contemptuous liberals are of the Constitution. Roger and I both pointed out that Congress cannot override a constitutional provision through legislation. The Fourteenth Amendment specifically gives the states the power to abridge the right to vote “for participation in rebellion, or other crime.”
The 14th Amendment
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
