Friday, June 23, 2006

"GOP Rebellion Stops Voting Rights Act"

"House leaders abruptly canceled a vote to renew the 1965 Voting Rights Act yesterday after rank-and-file Republicans revolted over provisions that require bilingual ballots in many places and continued federal oversight of voting practices in Southern states.

The intensity of the complaints, raised in a closed meeting of GOP lawmakers, surprised Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and his lieutenants, who thought the path was clear to renew the act's key provisions for 25 years. The act is widely considered a civil rights landmark that helped thousands of African Americans gain access to the ballot box. Its renewal seemed assured when House and Senate Republican and Democratic leaders embraced it in a May 2 kickoff on the Capitol steps.

...nearly 80 House Republicans signed a letter by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) objecting to the Voting Rights Act's provisions that require state and local governments to print ballots in foreign languages -- or provide interpreters -- in precincts showing a need for such services. The requirement is a costly unfunded mandate for many counties and municipalities, the letter said, adding: "The multilingual ballot mandate encourages the linguistic division of our nation and contradicts the 'Melting Pot' ideal that has made us the most successful multi-ethnic nation on earth."

It's easy to understand why Democrats are in favor of catering to non-English speaking people, because that is their contituency. As someone who grew up in the biggest melting pot in the world, I learned that "interpretors" were infamous for not only explaining how to vote, but who to vote for. NYC provides assistance in 133 languages for everything from getting a drivers license to "helping" people unfamiliar with the nuances of one political decision or another.

This must end, and now. The untold millions that will be saved in eliminating the need to treat everyone as handicapped is just one of the plusses to demanding people become fluent in our language, and just ask yourself why it is that our biggest cities are always broke, and on bended knee to the Federal government for one handout after another. It's because of such "services", services that intiate people into the concept of cradle to grave nannyism's that make them nothing but sock puppets for the liberal thinkers among us who don't feel that important desicions should be left to the unwashed masses.

A level playing field for EVERYONE is what America is all about, and it's high time to begin teaching those who would be Americans that there's no free lunch just because the lefties wish to keep them barefoot and pregnant.

The Washington Post is calling it a GOP rebellion, and it's long overdue.

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