by RICHARD STONE
Guest Column

Tea Party Republicans are deft at taking an issue and twisting the argument in such a fashion that “reasonable” people might be excused for wondering why Democrats hold the beliefs and values they do.

For instance, Republicans frame the voter ID argument this way: “I gotta show an ID to cash a check (rent a backhoe or a car or a movie or whatever) and voter fraud is a horrible threat to our Way of Life so what’s the big deal? Why would Democrats want to give illegals the right to vote?”

That’s pretty much the argument, right? But, let’s turn that argument around for a second.

There’s not really any vote fraud – well, except for six cases in Texas over the last decade … and there was that debacle in Florida a few years back, but photo IDs would not have prevented any of that – so why do Republicans want to make it difficult if not impossible for more than 600,000 eligible Texas citizens to vote?

Simple. Those Texans are minorities or rural Texans or senior citizens or students or poor people who just happen to lack the kind of identification required by this law. They are eligible to vote – and many do. They just don’t drive a car or carry a concealed weapon or travel out of the country.

Republicans also want to distract us from the fact that they wrecked our economy and our public schools, they’d rather give tax breaks to the rich than feed the poor or take care of the sick … and, further, they have no intention whatsoever of addressing any of this.

So, let’s get this straight. Democrats don’t want to make it easier for illegals to vote. Republicans want to change the law to make it harder for decent, hard-working Texans to vote.