Yet Another Reason Why I Don't Agree With Republicans

I was struck by the contrast in behavior of two state legislatures that made news yesterday. The first was the completely dominated by Democrats Connecticut legislature and governor's office that worked hand-in-hand with the minority party to pass the most sweeping gun legislation that banned assault weapons, large ammo clips, and instituted mandatory gun checks for all gun purchases. Now the part of this you should notice isn't the law itself but rather how it was passed. Both parties worked together even though the Democrats didn't need input from the Republicans nor their votes to pass this legislation, they sought it anyway.

Now contrast this with the North Carolina legislature that is completely Republican dominated as well as the Governor's office. What did they do without so much as bothering to include the minority party? Well, they passed legislation that taxed parents whose college student children register and vote while in NC. It is illegal to prevent college students from voting thanks to a supreme court ruling but the Republicans found a way to tax parents whose kids register to vote. Here is part of the story:

A bill filed in the North Carolina General Assembly this week would remove the state income tax deduction for dependents who register at an address other than their parents. In other words, parents of college kids would be punished with a new tax if their kids registered to vote at school – thus pressuring the kids not to register to vote.
With this bill, it appears that we have found the one tax Republicans actually like: a poll tax.
As you’ll recall, a poll tax was legislation commonly used in southern states (as part of a larger package of racist Jim Crow laws) to stop African-Americans, among others, from voting. Poll taxes were often justified as measures for bringing in revenue, a claim also being used to justify this legislation.
The bill would also require vehicle registration to correspond with voter registration – since college students tend to keep their cars registered at home, this would also cut down on students voting – and has been incorporated into an omnibus bill that would restrict early voting and eliminate same-day voter registration.

Trying to suppress voters is the way Republicans use their unilateral power. THIS is why I try to never vote Republican even at the local level. They grab power and use government with a dictatorial zeal that is unmatched by any other party.

 

Let's see if we can equate the two.

Connecticut takes away a Constitutional right and you agree with it. North Carolina doesn't take away a Constitutional right, but makes it more profitable to send in an absentee ballot and you disagree with it.

No. No equality there.

 

I didn't expect you to agree with any gun legislation od any kind or ever see Right-wing voter suppression as bad which is why the topic of this thread has to do with the legislative process which you can't seem to be able to acknowledge. Why are Republicans so dictatorial?

 

Yes, we learned all about the "legislative process" when Democrats shoved Obamacare down our throats, didn't we? You must have really loved it when Bloomberg banned large sodas in New York. Jeez, talk about dictatorial.

Tell me, do those students in North Carolina still have the right to vote? Of course they do. Do those citizens in Connecticut still have the right to bear certain firearms? No, they don't. Now, tell me which political party is talking away more rights?

 

Ah, the usual Right-wing FOX supplied meme that has no basis in reality comes back to breathe (or suck wind) another day at least in the minds of the clueless. Besides health care reform being an issue for the entire 2008 primary season and election cycle, and Obama saying that it would be one of his top priorities if elected, and then winning election handily, the ACA was debated for nearly a year and contained 100's of Republican amendments and input from 100's of industry leaders was added to the discussion and then it was completely patterned after a Massachusetts health care law instituted by a Republican governor, the Right-wing whack-jobs still spew this "rammed down our throats" nonsense as if history didn't exist. You may have lost the political battle but you don't get to rewrite history to make yourself feel better.

I only address this because it is policy procedure. The rest of your post is nonsense and unrelated.

 

Oh I couldn't resist.

What the students of NC have is a good old fashioned poll tax. There is absolutely no rational justification for this tax except to suppress the youth vote that tends to lean towards the Democrats. Pure and simple. As far as Conn. goes, can their citizens own extended clips, assault weapons, and obtain guns like they used to be able to, no. "Certain" high-power weapons and large magazine clips and shill purchasing has been curtailed if not eliminated just like over 90% of the country wants in just about any poll out there. No one has a "right" to own any weapon they want. Figure it out.

 

Just one question. If it was so accommodating to the right, why did every Republican vote against it - Every single one of them.

 

Try thinking why a student would change his address out of his parents home and you might get a clue why they wanted to tax them. Try real hard and you might come up with a good guess.

 

They are all in the pockets of the insurance companies who openly fund them. You simply have to access campaign financing records to see this. You really have to ask this question?

 

They find it inconvenient to go all the way home to vote during the semester? Duh!

 

You said it "contained 100's of Republican amendments and input from 100's of industry leaders was added to the discussion", yet it receive zero Republican votes. If they really had "100's" of input included, someone should have voted for it. I will bet I know why even if you can't see the forest for the trees.

 

But they find it much more financially rewarding if daddy is not on their aide application. Somehow I will bet that the all mighty dollar has more to do with it than voting for some mayor who won't even be their mayor next year.

 

Apparently you haven't a clue either how financial aid works and how voting has absolutely nothing to do with it. In the 1979 case Symm v. United States, the Supreme Court affirmed a decision holding that a state cannot place unique burdens on college student voters that do not apply to others. I'm sure the fact that it was the youth vote that pushed Obama over the top in NC in 2008 had nothing to do with this strange bit of legislation. Right!

 

Really? After Republicans douchebags have voted against every single piece of legislation, even ones they themselves sponsored, when Obama was for those pieces of legislation, you seriously have to ask this question? What can I say, they are more interested in making our elected leader look bad than actually governing.

 

Please explain how a tax on parents places a burden on college student voters. I could agree with your argument if the legislature removed the tax deduction for the STUDENT and not the PARENT. But, that's not the case here. The student and the parent are two entirely separate entities and there's nothing in the legislation that prohibits the student from voting.

 

UHM!! He can't.

 

I think you were the one saying how Obama had worked so well with the Republicans. Now you are telling me they did not work together at all. Make up your mind!!! You cannot have it both ways at the same time.

 

Did tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb even bother reading the OP? Of course not because it is only through not wanting to know things that they both achieved that special level of ignorance that they seem to share. If you two would bother to read, you might not ask such dumb questions.

"In other words, parents of college kids would be punished with a new tax if their kids registered to vote at school – thus pressuring the kids not to register to vote."

A fairly effective tool of voter suppression by the masters of voter supression.

 

Really? So you have no idea how financial aid works either. Neither do you seem to know how dependents work when you file your taxes. Are you both really that clueless? Your posts seem to indicate that you are.

 

Isn't this legislation just a negation of a deduction that was previously allowed? I suppose if you want to call that a "new tax", you'll find some way of doing so. I thought you liberals liked "new taxes" anyway. It's just "revenue" to you by any other name. I'm still waiting for you to tell us how this is affecting the rights of the students to vote.