Just Shamefull

According to the Michigan Messenger, the Republican Party of Michigan is already gearing up an organized campaign to challenge the voting rights of minorities in Michigan (their colleagues in Ohio seem to be contemplating something similar) who have had their houses foreclosed on, on the grounds that they are no longer residents of their counties. As the article points out, in addition to being "mean spirited," just because a notice of foreclosure has been sent to a house doesn't mean that its occupants no longer live there.

The idea that a central component of Republican election strategy is to attempt to deny the vote to people based on the suspicions of their paid legal representatives, who make no effort to conceal that they are essentially engaging in racial profiling as a basis for that suspicion, is appalling. Who are these people, and where have they been since the end of Jim Crow??? Why doesn't Michigan have a more stringent requirement to challenge voter eligibility? Why aren't the people of Michigan deluging Governor Jennifer Granholm's office with complaints? In my vision of America, this is the sort of thing that should have angry people in the streets, and politicians preparing to pack up their desks. Apparently, this is part of the Republican vision of good, clean electioneering, worthy of emulation in other districts, just one of the many concepts that play a part in the colorful pagent of American politics. I realize that racism is fairly prominent in the history of American political discourse, but Michigan has no tradition of anything on this scale that I have ever heard of, and in any case I really want to believe that we've moved past this and would now find it intolerable anywhere. If the people of Michigan let them do this, with aforethought, they tarnish the American dream.

Here is a another concept with some prominence in historical American political discourse the RNC might want to include in McPalin's stump speech for the remainder of the campaign:

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This tyr·an·ny Audio Help /ˈtɪrəni/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[tir-uh-nee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun, plural -nies.

1.	arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.

2.	the government or rule of a tyrant or absolute ruler.

3.	a state ruled by a tyrant or absolute ruler.

4.	oppressive or unjustly severe government on the part of any ruler.

5.	undue severity or harshness.

6.	a tyrannical act or proceeding.