The Myth That America Is A Center Right Nation
Celebrating Our Independence From Another Right Wing Falsehood
There are any number of facts and arguments that can be made to refute this notion, but there really isn’t any need to argue, Republicans across the nation have made the argument for me. You see, republican controlled legislature after republican controlled legislature have been passing laws seeking to limit who can vote. Deliberate legislative voter suppression efforts have been passed or are under way in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. When you look at the legislatures and governors of these states, can you spot a trend?
So the question for our republican friends is, if we are a center right nation, why are you so afraid of people voting? Additional questions might include, if you have a great love of country as the super patriots you claim to be, why are you so afraid of we the people?
Like so many of the claims made by the modern right, there is little to no truth to the idea that we are a center right nation. In fact, the concerted effort by the republican party to ensure that as few Americans as possible vote in the next election seems to indicate that we are anything but a center right nation. Why work so hard to suppress the vote unless you know that allowing Americans to vote means they will choose anything but your right wing ideology? In 2008, the last election when Americans voted, the center left won big. Only in 2010, when Americans did NOT vote, in some demographics in nearly historically low numbers, did the right regain seats.
You don’t have to look any further than the signing of the Declaration of Independence to see that self determination through voting is a bedrock American ideal. Fourteen of the twenty-eight grievances against the king have to do with self-determination and the right to participate in and form governments that represent us.
It is clear that the right of the people to establish their own government, to participate in their government, in short, to vote is the core of our democratic system. Yet in spite of this obvious fact our history is full of efforts to limit the rights of one group or another to vote and participate in the government of the people. Similarly our history is full of valiant efforts to fight against this kind of oppression and tyranny. In every case we the people have prevailed.
One wonders why, at this point in our history, do we find yet another group of un-Americans seeking to take away the rights and freedoms of their fellow citizens? Perhaps the modern right has forgotten that what makes this country great is not fighting for the rights of people you agree with, but rather fighting the hardest to protect the rights of those you disagree with the most.
So I’ll our ask republican friends again, if we are a “center right nation” then why are you afraid of we the people voting?
