Congressman John Lewis (D – GA) became famous for his peaceful actions of protest during the Civil Right’s Movement in the 1960’s.
Lately however, he seems to have found the tactic of using loaded language and making fact-less exaggerations to be more effective in getting his voice heard.
In an appearance on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews last week, Lewis made several vicious statements in an attempt to disparage those who are trying to limit the occurrence of voter fraud.
Lewis slammed the idea of voter ID laws, saying that they were similar to a “poll tax,” and that implementation of such laws would be a “sin.”
He also gave his opinion that voting should be as easy as “getting a glass of water.”
On Tuesday night, during a book signing for his newly released autobiography, Lewis avoided such loaded language for most of his speech. Instead, he called for civility, asking, “Can we be a little more human, can we be kind to each other?”
Upon reaching the topic of voter ID laws however, he excoriated those responsible for proposing such laws, saying that such laws are, “A deliberate, systematic attempt to make it almost impossible for people to participate in the democratic process.”
Attempting to misrepresent the true intentions of the proposed laws, he warned, “We cannot afford to let people steal an election before the election takes place.”
During the question and answer session, I asked him for his take on a recent poll which reported that a majority of American’s believe voter ID laws were necessary.
Completely ignoring the issue of voter fraud, he claimed such laws “would be a step backward,” and that he had heard about elderly people and people in rural areas who may have never owned a driver’s license.
However, I brought up the examples of voter fraud occurring in multiple states, including one instance where a poll worker was willing to give U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s ballot to a young man. He simply replied, “I don’t think you’re going to see anything like that enough.”
During his speech, Congressman Lewis called upon all who were present to speak out if they believed in something, saying, “You have to insist on the truth. Nothing is stronger than the truth.”
The truth is, voter is fraud becoming a huge problem in America today.
In Florida, election officials are examining 180,000 potential cases of registered voters who are not American citizens.
In the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Colorado, nearly 5,000 votes are believed to have come from individuals who were not citizens of Colorado. In that election, Democrat Michael Bennet narrowly defeated his Republican challenger, Ken Buck.
If a young male is able to walk into a polling place today, and be offered a voter ballot belonging to the U.S. Attorney General, without so much as an ID check, isn’t that alone enough evidence to support increased voter regulation?
With millions of illegal immigrants choosing to break the law every day by residing in a country without proper citizenship, who is to say they wouldn’t go a step further by trying to influence the passage of laws through illegal voting?
Rep. John Lewis was spot on in telling individuals to “insist on the truth.”
It’s time for America to insist on truth in their election results, a goal that can only be achieved by stopping voter fraud.
