Page 4 - Dinuba Sentinel 10-25-18 E-edition

Opinion
A4 | Thursday, October 25, 2018
In My Opinion
Don't believe every poll you read
Fred Hall - Publisher Rick Curiel - Editor
The problems arising from many polls and statistics are that they
are often conflicting in information as well as counterintuitive. Take
for example the one that indicates that California is number one in
the nation in ease of registration
and availability of methods and opportunities to cast one’s ballot, while ranking dead last in percentage of population participating in the process.
Placing the Department of Motor Vehicles in charge of registering voters has already proved itself to be a bad idea. Apparently thousands of non-citizens have been placed
on voter rolls while they are being provided with driver’s licenses, which opens all kinds of doors to mischief within our system. We’ve always felt there were a large number of voters who were allowed to vote illegally in California every year.
I don’t know about you, but
my trust of our infamous DMV
is about as minimal as possible! Agencies such as this leads one to
the conclusion that government is incapable of doing anything well. That one is inarguable because our bureaucrats go out and prove us correct every working day. I use
the term “working” rather loosely.
If you’ve had them opportunity to observe their activities, you will know exactly about that of which I speak.
Think it can’t get any worse? Think again! At the time during which this is being written there is a virtual army of 7,000 migrants from Central America, which is growing every day, headed toward The United States. The scripted response which is being echoed by the main stream media
is that all of these poor people are seeking asylum from their native country. There are a couple of problems with blindly accepting that as a rationale. First of all, there are a number of countries much closer that could, and would, provide sanctuary.
Secondly, most of these appear, from photographs and T.V. Coverage, to be young men. Most parents of young children would not normally place their young families in the middle of such a dangerous trek. It appears, to us, that when one sees families featured on television they are photo-ops.
Strangely enough there is nothing about this that indicates such a gathering happened organically. Perhaps we are too cynical, but it appears there is organization and money needed to put together such an endeavor. America of today is awash in left-wing money being used to finance such disruptions.
There seems to be little doubt—at least in my mind—that, given the size, organization and timing that everything about this is supposed to impact the mid-term elections in America.
Given the fact that California
has become a virtual “candy store”
of benefits and freebies for those who choose to come to our country illegally, there can be little doubt that many of this horde will seek out the “golden state” as their new mailing address. Given the welcoming arms of the Democrat establishment
we shouldn’t be surprised when
our newest “citizens” arrive at our southern border with a greater understanding of their “entitlements” than most legal American citizens.
Fred Hall
The politicians
in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento make up one giant de facto “welcome wagon.”
Politicians of
all stripes send upahueandcry about our “broken
immigration system” but the truth
of the matter is that there are a
large number of laws on the books specifically dealing with immigration into this country. They deal, in great specificity, with the requirements for legally immigrating to and becoming a citizen of The United States. President Obama and both of his Attorney Generals chose to ignore the enforcement of those laws but that does not mitigate their existence. In our country, which is a constitutional republic, the very basis of our
living in peace and harmony is an adherence to basic law dealing with human interaction.
One can’t choose to obey those with which they agree and show total disdain for those which may offend their sensibilities. Such is not the extent of peaceful coexistence without anarchy or tyranny.
What ever happened to the
idea of becoming self-sufficient without becoming a burden for others, learning the language and assimilating. By assimilating, we mean becoming an American, loving this country and everything about
it that has made the United States the greatest and most successful of democracy known to man.
If we accept anything less with foreign flags everywhere and so many languages being spoken in the public square as to resemble the Tower of Babel we are facing the breakdown
of a great, strong nation into tribal division. Our national motto which is literally, ‘out of many, one’ truly typifies what the Founders had in mind when people came from all over the world to become American citizens and form the great, singular in purpose, American culture.
Sadly, we are now watching a
mob descend on America, intent
on joining the political mobs which have recently become the benchmark of selfish politicians. The careers and power of the political class has, without reason, become a case of the ends justify the means. Absolutely no thought is being given by the new Democrats and Socialistic Democrats as to the damage they are doing to America as a healthy, prosperous republic.
As for the caravan (that’s the officially accepted term from the mainstream press) which is growing in size every day and still headed
for the United States, I do have one final thought. If this were truly about seeking refuge from oppression
there are countries within the 500- mile range instead of the 2,500
mile trek. There’s more to this than consideration for their safety in their home country. Come to think of it,
if the country they are leaving is so repressive why are many of them carrying flags from those nations? Sorry, I don’t believe in coincidences.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Fred Hall is publisher of the Dinuba Sentinel.
Guest Column
Voter suppression is real and it's happening nationwide
Highly charged midterm elections are just around the corner, and experts are predicting record-high midterm voter turnout. But millions of U.S. citizens are being systematically inhibited — either blatantly or covertly — from casting votes this November.
Voter suppression is real, and it’s very likely happening in your state. Your fellow Americans — and maybe you — are being denied the most fundamental right citizens of
a democratic republic have: the right to elect those who govern. If that doesn’t have you up in arms, it should.
One state with a particularly expansive history of voter suppression is Florida, where one out of five African- American adults can’t vote due to disenfranchisement.
This November, Floridians will vote on whether to restore the right to vote to 1.5 million people affected by permanent felony disenfranchisement. Doing so would send a powerful message to the rest of the country, as Florida accounts for nearly half of the U.S.’s permanently disenfranchised population.
Meanwhile, a different mechanism of voter suppression threatens the legitimacy of the governor’s race in Georgia, where candidate for governor — and current secretary of state — Brian Kemp is reportedly behind the stalling of 53,000 voter applications. Among those, 70 percent belong to black voters.
Kemp is being sued by civil rights lawyers for allegedly violating voter protection laws with his “exact match” voter verification method, an excessively strict voter ID requirement that seems to disproportionately disqualify non-white voters.
Other forms of suppression are even more obvious.
For example, last year North Dakota’s state legislature passed a law blatantly targeting Native Americans. It required voter IDs containing a residential address. Native American reservations in North Dakota issue IDs with P.O. boxes rather than residential addresses, and legislators knew it.
Despite its discriminatory nature, attempts to
Robert P. Alvarez
challenge the law have failed. The Supreme Court upheld it, making voting as a Native American in North Dakota distinctly more difficult than voting as a non-Native. And while the progressive website Daily Kos was able to raise $100,000 to help cover the costs of new IDs, it shouldn’t have to come to that.
There are plenty of other examples of voter suppression as well, most of them disproportionately affecting people of
color and low-income communities. It’s high time we do away with policies and practices designed to disempower certain populations politically.
And look, it isn’t all doom and gloom.
There are innovative policies being implemented around the country that make registering to vote easier, bypassing some of the more common forms of voter suppression.
One such policy is automatic voter registration — enacted by 13 states and the District of Columbia — which automatically registers voters upon renewal of their driver’s license. In Vermont’s case, this has led to an absolutely staggering 92.5 percent voter registration rate.
Additionally, over a dozen states and D.C. authorized pre-registration for youth under 18; 36 states and D.C. authorized online voter registration; and 15 states and D.C. authorized same day registration.
Policies like these simplify the voting process and increase voter turnout. Plainly, we need more of them. In the words of the late, great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “give us the ballot.”
Robert P. Alvarez is a communications assistant at the Institute for Policy Studies. Distributed by OtherWords.org.
Letters to the editor
'Con ict of interest' seen in elected of cials campaign
Even though I do not live in
the Dinuba City Council Ward represented by Dr. Thusu, I feel compelled to comment. I cannot imagine why anyone would vote
for Dr. Thusu, since he has made
it abundantly clear he does not really want to be on the council; as evidenced by his recent unsuccessful campaign for Tulare County
Supervisor.
Additionally, the fact that he owes
the City over one hundred thousand dollars surely constitutes a conflict of interest.
Sincerely, Jack Tyler Dinuba
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