No RSVP Needed

I have always thought of voter registration as an RSVP to our country's invitation to participate in the political system and perhaps join a party. From the passage of the Voter Rights act of 1965 until just recently I thought people who did not register to vote were people who did not pay enough attention to make informed decisions anyhow. I suppose my opinion was akin to the fear some of our founding fathers expressed in regard to the passions and prejudices of the great unwashed. The appeal of Donald Trump and the results of the last two mid term elections seem to justify my snobbery and the low opinion some of our founding fathers had of the masses. But not so fast!

The polls show that only around 25% of likely Republican voters favor Donald Trump, and that the voter turn out was incredibly low in the last two mid-term elections. In other words, it was not the passions of the majority (or the masses) that decided those elections; rather those elections were decided by the passion of a minority that is all too vulnerable to the fear mongering and demagoguery of someone like Trump. It is little wonder that the Republicans are passing voter suppression laws. When the turn out is high, as it was in the last two presidential elections, the Republicans lose. But that is beside the point. This is a matter of fairness and irrefutable logic. By definition, you cannot have a democracy and voter suppression at the same time. In other words, the Republicans have now changed the choice from Republicans v. Democrats to Republicans v. Democracy.

It is the gutting of the voter rights act and the voter suppression laws that now make me favor the universal and automatic registration of all U.S. Citizens as qualified voters. No RSVP necessary. All citizens should be invited and all should be encouraged to participate.  No political party should be allowed to pervert the system!