Good News

The Supreme Court has upheld, at least temporarily, Arizona's law requiring voters to present photo ID at the polls in order to be able to vote.

Frankly, that anyone would challenge such a law strikes me as absurd on its face. As citizens in a democratic society we have the obligation to participate in our own governance, and the most crucial manner in which we, the people participate in our own governance is through the exercise of the vote. To this end, voting should be as easy as is reasonably possible. However, voting should not be so easy that the vote of those responsible for determining who fills elected positions in our government can be diluted or even undermined by those who have neither the duty to determine how we are to be governed, nor the right to vote. To prevent this happening, it is only common sense to expect that those attempting to vote be able to establish that they are indeed eligible to do so. In order to do this, the state of Arizona has required all eligible voters provide photo ID proving they are who they say they are. I can see no good-faith reason to oppose this on principle.

Of course, there are nefarious reasons for opposing such a measure. Allowing people to vote without proper identification opens the door to massive voter fraud. Illegal immigrants can vote. People can vote multiple times. Those not registered to vote are able to vote.

Who has derived the most benefit from this? Those who are opposed to the measure, namely Democrats. They oppose this measure because it undermines their electoral prospects, and it's a shame. Instead of moderating their positions to better appeal to the public (without sacrifricing their principles, of course), the Democrats have tried to win elections by hook or by crook, all the while maintaining many of the far-left positions that have caused them to lose so much power has turned one the great American political parties into a joke. Given the current political climate, there is no reason the Republicans should have the slightest hope of holding either house of Congress. Yet, the Republicans are likely to hold the Senate and still have an outside shot at holding the House of Representatives. The war in Iraq is not going well (largely because we have done little to nothing to address Iranian and Syrian influence in Iraq), and the economy is perceived as being in much worse shape than it is. Republicans have been rocked with scandal after scandal, including two Representatives pleading guilty to charges of bribery. Then there's the Mark Foley mess, the issue of border security and runaway federal spending.
The Democrats should take back both houses of Congress with majorities that should take ten years for Republicans to whittle away, but the Republicans have a chance to retain control of the House and Senate. That this is the case is a testament to just how devoid of a coherent philosophy the Democrats are.