Who are You?

Voter identification has made the news and headlines yet again, thanks largely to the remarks recently made by Texas Representative Betty Brown in a hearing for voter identification legislation. During this hearing Rep Brown made a few comments suggesting that Asian-Americans change their names to a more Americanized name that makes it easier to “deal with”. Voter identification is a push by Republicans to counter voter/election fraud and a protest by Democrats who feel the legislation is an effort to disenfranchise many elderly, lower income and minority voters.
Democrats, making an effort to appear altruistic, are balking at this latest attempt to require identification when voting, by claiming that a portion of eligible voters may not have any of the required documents handy, thus lose their right to vote.
Republicans, painting themselves to be the protectors of true democracy, dispute the Dems claims and insist they are seeking to eliminate election fraud and increase voter confidence which will only serve to encourage voter turnout.
Laws written into the Constitution specify eligibility requirements for those who wish to participate in the election process by casting their vote. Some of those stipulations include being a US citizen and being 18 years of age or older. Likewise, there are laws that prohibit certain individuals from voting such as the exclusion of convicted felons. Citizens, regardless of political ideology generally agree to the laws determining voter eligibility. Isn’t about time we enforce those laws? What purpose would it serve to have stipulations and exclusions if they are not enforced? Let’s go ahead and out the pink elephant in the room. The Democrats could have a valid point in their argument that many voters may be disenfranchised by this legislation, and the Republicans could be genuine in their claims of wanting to ensure that only the eligible individuals cast ballots, however the complete truth is more involved.
There is a very likely chance that Republicans are aware of and even hopeful for the possibility of provoking the loss of some votes that would normally fall into the Democrats sphere by forcing eligible voters to carry one or more documents with them to the polls.
Just as plausible, the Democrats could be well aware of a large number of duplicate votes or votes cast by those ineligible voters and fearful of the loss of such votes.
I’ve never known either party to act out of true concern for democracy or the well being of the United States unless they felt they could gain something by it.
We have laws governing the voting process and those qualified to participate and it’s time to enforce them rather than just paying them lip service. As seen in this You Tube clip, Rep Brown’s comment, "Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese -- I understand it's a rather difficult language -- do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?" is offensive. Her suggestion that Asian-Americans toss aside their family names for the sake of convenience is reprehensible, however, it should not over shadow the fact that election fraud is an issue that needs to be addressed and the laws implemented.