USA TODAY International Edition
Opposing View: Legislation by Democrats is not ‘ For the People’
Sponsors of H. R. 1 claim their bill is “For the People.” But it could not be more deceptively named. The real question is, which people is H. R. 1 intended to benefit? The answer, not surprisingly, is its authors.
The true purpose of H. R. 1 — better characterized as the “Illegal Voting Act” — is not to increase legal voting. It’s to increase illegal voting and crack down on criticism of the government. It’s an Alien and Sedition Act for the 21st century: partisan, unconstitutional and borderline tyrannical.
The bill would overturn effective, organically developed voting laws in all 50 states and replace them with mandates written behind closed doors by Democratic activists and politicians. It would impose on the entire country same- day and automatic voter registration, extended early voting, legalized voting for convicted felons; institute a prohibition against prosecuting illegal immigrant voters who had been automatically registered; and ban badly needed voter ID requirements. Oh, and it makes dissent from these diktats federal crimes.
The “Illegal Voting Act” would overturn centuries of free- speech rights for everyone except politicians.
Politicians sometimes act as though the First Amendment exists for them, and so they write laws restricting the political speech of “outsiders.” But understand, when they say “outsider” they mean you.
The First Amendment isn’t there to protect politicians; it’s to protect everyone else.
Restricting political speech is always and everywhere designed for one purpose: to render hardworking Americans second- class citizens in their own country. The “Illegal Voting Act” has nothing to do with democracy and everything to do with liberal intolerance of conservative criticism. The authors of this bill do not dislike Republican state voting laws; they dislike Republican states, period.
That kind of partisan aggression is exactly why the Constitution gives primary authority over voting laws to the states — to protect citizens and communities from abuse and corruption from powerful interests in Congress. The point of our Constitution is to empower the people to hold leaders accountable. This bill flips that principle on its head.
The “Illegal Voting Act” is not about strengthening democracy; it’s about strengthening Democrats. Anyone truly “for the people” — for all the American people — should oppose it.