Thursday, December 29, 2005

Returning pants is more important than voting

The other night I headed to my local Kohl's. My parents, God love 'em, loaded me up with new dress pants for Christmas. There was one pair that I knew I would not wear very often, so I decided I'd just return them for a pair I would wear frequently. I went up to the customer service desk, receipt and pants in hand. Kohl's gladly issued me a store credit-after I showed them my drivers license and they entered my dl number into their system. Why? Not because Kohl's wants to descriminate against poor people, I assure you that. No, they require ID because they know from experience that anytime there is something of value, in their case merchandise, there are people willing to game the system. So they put checks and balances in place to greatly reduce the number of people who will rip them off. Yes, some people will still manage to do so, but they can catch a great many more who do with the drivers license requirement.

I think the right to vote is something of value, too. The last time I voted, though, all I had to do was say my last name and address. And come to think of it, that's all I had to do the time before that, too. That leads me to only two possible conclusions, given the fact that Wisconsin Republicans have tried to pass voter ID legislation. Veto Master Governor Doyle either doesn't think that the voting has much value to citizens, or he likes the fact that the system can be manipulated in its current state and wants to preserve that.

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