Columnist: Registering Poor To Vote 'Like Handing Out Burglary Tools To Criminals'

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Matthew Vadum of the American Spectator

Conservative columnist Matthew Vadum is just going to come right out and say it: registering the poor to vote is un-American and "like handing out burglary tools to criminals."

"It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote," Vadum, the author of a book published by World Net Daily that attacks the now-defunct community organizing group ACORN, writes in a column for the American Thinker.

"Encouraging those who burden society to participate in elections isn't about helping the poor," Vadum writes. "It's about helping the poor to help themselves to others' money. It's about raw so-called social justice. It's about moving America ever farther away from the small-government ideals of the Founding Fathers."

Most conservative criticism of voter registration drives aimed at poor and minority communities has been under the guise of worries about voter fraud. Vadum's column is notable because he isn't just pretending to be worried about the nearly non-existent threat of in-person voter fraud -- he just doesn't think poor people should be voting.

Late Update: Responding to what he says are misrepresentations of his view, Vadum writes that of course he thinks poor people have the right to vote, he just doesn't want anybody to help them since their votes "could lead to the destruction of the republic."

Vadum clarifies that it is "destructive to register welfare recipients to vote so that they can vote themselves more government benefits. It is even worse that our tax dollars are used to register welfare recipients at welfare offices. It is a policy that would cause the Founding Fathers to roll over in their graves."

But, he adds: "Of course those who are legally qualified to vote should be allowed to vote but our tax dollars shouldn't be used to underwrite the destruction of the republic."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/columnist_registering_poor_to_vote_like_handing_out_burglary_tools_to_criminals.php?ref=fpb

[Danno 1,228]

Matthew Vadum of the American Spectator

Conservative columnist Matthew Vadum is just going to come right out and say it: registering the poor to vote is un-American and "like handing out burglary tools to criminals."

"It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country -- which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote," Vadum, the author of a book published by World Net Daily that attacks the now-defunct community organizing group ACORN, writes in a column for the American Thinker.

"Encouraging those who burden society to participate in elections isn't about helping the poor," Vadum writes. "It's about helping the poor to help themselves to others' money. It's about raw so-called social justice. It's about moving America ever farther away from the small-government ideals of the Founding Fathers."

Most conservative criticism of voter registration drives aimed at poor and minority communities has been under the guise of worries about voter fraud. Vadum's column is notable because he isn't just pretending to be worried about the nearly non-existent threat of in-person voter fraud -- he just doesn't think poor people should be voting.

Late Update: Responding to what he says are misrepresentations of his view, Vadum writes that of course he thinks poor people have the right to vote, he just doesn't want anybody to help them since their votes "could lead to the destruction of the republic."

Vadum clarifies that it is "destructive to register welfare recipients to vote so that they can vote themselves more government benefits. It is even worse that our tax dollars are used to register welfare recipients at welfare offices. It is a policy that would cause the Founding Fathers to roll over in their graves."

But, he adds: "Of course those who are legally qualified to vote should be allowed to vote but our tax dollars shouldn't be used to underwrite the destruction of the republic."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/columnist_registering_poor_to_vote_like_handing_out_burglary_tools_to_criminals.php?ref=fpb

I'm not familiar with his writing... but I should be, he makes a lot of sense.

[mawilson 2,133]

"Encouraging those who burden society to participate in elections isn't about helping the poor," Vadum writes. "It's about helping the poor to help themselves to others' money."

Yep.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

noblesse oblige

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I wonder who's cost this country more? The poor including the working poor, or the CEO's for government helped companies who have giant golden umbrella's, Wall Street thieves, bankers, and sold out politicians and their wars for oil?

I don't see the poor sucking the life blood out of this country nearly as much as the rich have yet plenty of poor have lost their lives fighting the rich mans wars as the middle class has paid for said wars and government bail outs.

[james&olya 1,121]

I'm not familiar with his writing... but I should be, he makes a lot of sense.

Dan no logic!

[Danno 1,228]

Dan no logic!

No attack ever fed a hungry child.

-Clinton

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It's a strange analogy. After all, being poor is not a crime.

It's also questionable to assert that it is a destructive to empower the poor with rights that everyone regardless of income enjoys and that the president does exactly this because he wants to destroy the country he runs.

There's a lot more wrong with that than funky logic, the author is insane.

[slim 1,525]

I wonder who's cost this country more? The poor including the working poor, or the CEO's for government helped companies who have giant golden umbrella's, Wall Street thieves, bankers, and sold out politicians and their wars for oil?

I don't see the poor sucking the life blood out of this country nearly as much as the rich have yet plenty of poor have lost their lives fighting the rich mans wars as the middle class has paid for said wars and government bail outs.

Are the poor creating jobs at the same rate as CEOs and Wall Street?

Last time I checked the poor don't create tax payers through their business ventures and actually have a negative balance with the government. They don't pay for anything... they only get paid for doing nothing.

Simply put, the poor lose money. The rich add money.

Saying the middle class pays for it is a farce. The middle class is basically non-existent. The only reason we even talk about them is so we all feel better.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Let's all be completely honest.

Woodrow Wilson threw the country down the toilet in 1913. JP Morgan and his goons were handed the United States on a silver platter.

All of this 'feel good' BS that happened in the last century: women's suffrage, civil rights, welfare, government medical assistance, etc. has not been for the 'greater good,' it's been to shut you up, to keep you as the pathetic sheep that you are.

class warfare, racial warfare, etc. it's all ####### to keep everyone in 'check.'

You dare to point out the discrepencies in government; to try and look beyond the two-party system in place, you are shut up very quickly by being called a kook, a nut job, etc. You are looked at as someone who is trying to destroy the country, except the same people who have been running it into the ground for the last 60 years are the one saying this and have a media that backs them up through and through. It's sad. It's pathetic.

So are the poor given 'tools' to vote themselves more money? Perhaps they are. However at the end of the day, this is the EXACT thing that is supposed to happen to keep people bickering against one another, rather than looking at those who really own the country.

[^_^ 5,021]

All of this 'feel good' BS that happened in the last century: women's suffrage, civil rights, welfare, government medical assistance, etc. has not been for the 'greater good,' it's been to shut you up, to keep you as the pathetic sheep that you are.

Yeah, women's suffrage and civil rights have been a real nightmare for women and minorities. Baaaaaaaah.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Yeah, women's suffrage and civil rights have been a real nightmare for women and minorities. Baaaaaaaah.

and the point goes right over your head....

[The_Dude 1,142]

I'm not familiar with his writing... but I should be, he makes a lot of sense.

Of course Danno would be in support of Jim Crow style voting laws. If they allow people like you to vote, then surely they can allow the working poor to vote as well.

All of this 'feel good' BS that happened in the last century: women's suffrage, civil rights, welfare, government medical assistance, etc. has not been for the 'greater good,' it's been to shut you up, to keep you as the pathetic sheep that you are.

Paranoid delusional much?

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Paranoid delusional much?

Tell me, what was gained or lost in allowing women to vote, the civil rights act, etc?

What REALLY changed from that?

[^_^ 5,021]

Tell me, what was gained or lost in allowing women to vote, the civil rights act, etc?

What REALLY changed from that?

Women got the right to vote. That changed.