“The real reason the left wants to make sure that individuals without voter ID are allowed to vote is because they are expected to vote for Democrats.” — Phyllis Schlafly

THE ABOVE QUOTE BY PHYLLIS SCHLAFLY COULD BE REVERSED could be reversed, with the charge that Republicans are for voter ID laws only because of racist intent. That charge, often made, is false. In reality it would appear that the real reasons have more to do with political leanings rather than the melanin content of voters’ skin.

Two recent events on the subject were noteworthy:

In Pennsylvania a state judge declared the state’s recently enacted voter ID law to be unconstitutional. To no one’s surprise, the opposition announced they would appeal.

These laws are being fought tooth and nail on several fronts, in spite of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in the 2008 case of Crawford v. Marion County, in which the court confirmed that such laws do not impose an undue burden on voters.

The usual suspects celebrated the recent decision in Pennsylvania: “It’s just bad. It’s a bad law. It’s bad legislation. It shouldn’t happen,” said Bar Johnston of the Lehigh County Democratic Party. “What it was doing was disenfranchising people, so for example seniors that don’t have a driver’s license or photo ID, military people that don’t have photo ID.”

Wanda Mercado-Arroyo, a Republican who is part of the governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, commented to a local news channel:

“I don’t see why there’s a problem with just acting responsibly and providing ID when you go vote. It’s a common-sense law. Nowadays, for anything you do, you need ID … so I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

It is interesting that neither side in the Pennsylvania case was able to produce either a voter who would be disenfranchised or an example of a case where voter fraud cost a candidate an election.

Partisan motivation to reduce low-income voter turnout on the part of Republicans who favored the law was addressed by the court majority: the law’s neutral justifications “should not be disregarded simply because partisan interests may have provided one motivation for the votes of individual legislators.”

Meanwhile, protests against voter ID laws are being planned by the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP, as race hustlers like Al Sharpton lead the charge by comparing voter ID requirements to Jim Crow laws and poll taxes. In preparation for the protest, a flier was developed by group that included a list of 18 “Do’s and Don’ts” for protest participants. Most of them are standard guidelines and advice, but it was No. 9 that stood out:

“DO bring photo identification (driver’s license, passport or other valid photo ID) with you and keep it on your person at all times.”

This brings to mind the classic case of chutzpah as cited by James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal, of the man being tried for the murder of his parents who threw himself on the mercy of the court because he was now an orphan.

Mandating that protesters at an anti-photo ID march bring photo IDs may not quite reach that level, but the optics aren’t very good.

In last month’s State of the Union Address, President Obama stated: “Next week the world will see one expression of that commitment when Team USA marches the red, white and blue into the Olympic stadium and brings home the gold.”

As it turns out, the athletes who win medals are given a cash award from the U.S. Olympic Commission: $25,000 for gold, $15,000 for silver and $10,000 for bronze. The cash awards are considered to be “income” just like any prize money, which means that taxes will be due. Training costs are deductible, thus the tax actually paid is low.

Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, has reintroduced House Bill 3987 to exempt Olympians from taxes on such awards. Kudos to him for doing so.

Pro-union factions took it on the chin twice in recent weeks. The first was in San Bernadino, a city driven into bankruptcy through poor management and excessive pension obligations, where, as reported by Reuters, the residents “voted to complete a rout of the city’s pro-union old guard, electing business-friendly pragmatists who have pledged to try to reduce pension costs and take on vested interests.”

Unions have indeed served many positive purposes over the years, for which they are to be commended. Their power, though, went to their collectivist heads, leaving cities like Detroit as testimony to both union failures and poor management within various industries.

Second case in point is in Tennessee, where the UAW lost a unionization vote at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, 712 to 626. Two interesting quotes — first, from UAW President Bob King to CBS News:

“While we certainly would have liked a victory for workers here, we deeply respect the Volkswagen Global Group Works Council, Volkswagen management and IG Metall for doing their best to create a free and open atmosphere for workers to exercise their basic human right to form a union.”

Good for Mr. King.

Then there is this, from Reuters:

“A worker, Sean Moss, who voted against unionization, stated, “We felt like we were already being treated very well by Volkswagen in terms of pay and benefits and bonuses. We also looked at the track record of the UAW. Why buy a ticket on the Titanic?”

Ouch!

The vote must still be sanctioned the National Labor Relations Board, which may take into consideration recent actions and comments made by local anti-union politicians. Their pending vote on this issue will be interesting.

As Yogi said: “It ain’t over, ’til it’s over.”

Dennis Lund is a mechanical engineer who lived in Benicia for more than 20 years.