"Knowledge about government is power" --GovTrack
UPDATE: I called Senator Gordon Smith's office to ask what his reasoning for voting the way he did was, and the little brown-shirted, jack-booted staffer in Smith's office slammed the phone down on me, even though I am an Oregon constituent of Smith's. Nice. This is what you get with Republican elected public servants!
Why do Republicans like Oregon's Gordon Smith want to continue to deny the residents of Washington, D.C. the right to vote? Gordo fell right in line with the rest of the Republican sheep in denying voter rights to the tax paying residents of our nation's capitol because the majority of them are Black. The GOP is the racist party, plain and simple. These are not the kind of Senators we need in a 21st-century America. Dump 'em next chance ya get.
Oh sure, they will tell you that their real reason for opposing voting rights for Washington, D.C. taxpayers is because their interpretation of the Constitution is that it is forbidden. Obviously, when a "simple majority" of 57 interpret the Constitution differently than the 47 who oppose it, that argument becomes a transparent EXCUSE for the minority to hide their real motives for their opposition. What is really a laugh is how Republicans, especially their fearless leader George W. Bush are dismissive of the U.S. Constitution, even going so far as to belittle it as nothing more than a piece of paper, but when it serves their racist, vote suppressing agenda, they trot it out to hide behind like the cowardly hypocrites that they are! Here is what Bush and the Republican GOP REALLY think of our Constitution:
“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!” [SOURCE]
And to be clear about the Constitutionality of this issue, the bill included a way for it to be quickly decided upon by the U.S. Supreme Court ... a court with a decidedly Conservative slant but GOP Republicans already realized that their "unconstitutional" argument wouldn't hold up:
[snip]
"They say their opposition has nothing to do with depriving a majority-black city of a voice that would most likely be Democratic. No doubt there are strong arguments on both sides of the constitutional question; scholars of renown are divided. But the way to resolve the question is in court. That's why the bill included a provision for expedited review to the Supreme Court. The opponents' unwillingness to go to the court suggests they weren't all that confident in their constitutional argument." --WaPo Editorial Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/18/AR2007091801745.html
[snip]
Smith, Wyden, split on D.C. voting rights
Posted by The Oregonian September 18, 2007 13:29PM
WASHINGTON -- Sen Ron Wyden, D-Ore., voted to end the filibuster on a bill that would create a voting seat in the U.S. House for the District of Columbia, while Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., voted against it. [SOURCE]
The short answer is that Washington, D.C. has a large African American population and Blacks tend to vote for Democrats in greater number than those who vote for Republicans. And God knows Republicans are gonna need any vote that they can muster soon. When GOP Republicans are fearful of losing their own core supporters, their strategy becomes one of denying the Democrats their core supporters' ability to vote. Sorta like saying: "If I can't have her, no one can". So if no one wants to vote for Republicans anymore [because folks have discovered that the GOP has been hijacked by whack-jobs], then Republicans are going to do everything in their power to prevent folks from voting at all; another form of voter suppression ... not totally unlike Tom DeLay's unusual, if not illegal redistricting in Texas. So there ya have it, when it comes to voting rights Gordon Smith = Tom DeLay. Kindda ugly group of haters those GOP Republicans. Sore losers at the very least.
GOP Republicans would rather oppress an entire American city, our nation's capitol in this case, as if this were the day and age when only white male land owners were permitted to vote, than to do the right thing. The GOP refuses to move themselves and their warped thought processes into the 21st century. Hehe, and they wonder why they are losing their core supporters in droves. Sheez.
And how about this whole matter of the Republicans FILIBUSTERING!? I recall when DEMS even threatened to filibuster ... the Republicans practically popped a vein and threatened to legislate the filibuster out of existence in favor of a simple majority vote. Gee, maybe we should have challenged them to do exactly that! I recall GOP types whining their cry-baby asses off in the media about those evil DEMS threatening to use the filibuster. You don't see DEMS trying to deny the Republican minority their right to filibuster. Remember that too when it's time to vote again.
The most sensible thing for sane folks to do is to vote to replace GOP Republican haters like Gordon Smith, who continue to place their politics ahead of "We The People", with a human life form ... like Democratic candidate: John Merkley:
I don't even need to call Merkley's campaign offices to verify his stance on whether or not the residents of our nation's capitol should be permitted to vote like the rest of us; whether Merkley thinks that the residents of Washington, D.C. should be allowed equal representation to match their equal taxation ... Merkley is a Democrat, his position on human rights can safely be assumed to be similar to Oregon's existing Democratic Senator Wyden who voted in favor of our fellow U.S. citizens in D.C.. It is only GOP Republicans who STILL seek voter suppression as their last thread of hope to hang-on to power and influence over the vast majority of Americans lives. That GOP platform plank of voter suppression is one shared by unsavory groups like KKK. If you're voting for Smith, you may as well be wearing the white sheet when you do, and lighting up a cross now and again. Factor in that Smith almost always votes in support of Bush and then tries to claim that he doesn't means Smith needs to go.
Call Gordon Smith's offices and ask him what he's got against Blacks, and why he favors voter suppression. Here is his contact info:
Washington Office:
404 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-3704
Phone: (202) 224-3753
Fax: (202) 228-3997--- OR:
Main District Office:
121 SW Salmon St., #1250
Portland, OR 97204
Phone: (503) 326-3386
Fax: (503) 326-2900
If Gordo isn't your Republican Senator, you can find yours in the roll-call voting record for this issue from here:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/18/vote-to-give-dc-voting-rights-fails/
SOURCES:
http://blog.oregonlive.com/politics/2007/09/smith_wyden_split_on_dc_voting.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/18/AR2007091801745.html
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