Communist Congressman Wants to Force Voting

Your right not to vote
Yet some might take that away from you
By Michael Graham

Will the crackheads who can't feed and dress their own kids in the morning receive waivers?

Has a liberal ever met a problem he didn’t throw money at?

Take U.S. Rep. Mike Capuano (D-Somerville). In a recent radio interview on 1510-AM, he addressed the problem (?) of America’s lack of civic engagement and low voter turnout.

“I think there is an obligation — not just a right, but an obligation — to vote,” Capuano said.

His solution? Money. Your money.

Capuano wants to “require people to vote,” but acknowledged that “we aren’t going to put people in jail.” So instead he came up with this idea:

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to say everybody pays $10 and if you go to vote you get your $10 back. And if you don’t vote that money goes to support the election process.”

So you’re going to confiscate my 10 bucks and hold it hostage unless I show up at the polls? Congressman Capuano, I’ve got an even better idea. How about if we pay your supporters $10 not to vote? Then maybe we can keep this insanity out of Congress.

I’m not worried about this craziness becoming law . . . yet. While Capuano’s proposal is similar to the compulsory voting system in Australia (where the fine for not voting is around $20), fortunately for us, it’s unlikely to come to the United States.

For one thing, attorney Christian Adams, who runs the Election Law Center blog, assures me a scheme like this is almost certainly illegal.

“Vote buying is against the law,” Adams says, and “the definition of vote buying is ‘giving something of value for someone to vote.’ People have gone to jail for stuff like this.”

He recounted the story of Appalachia, Va., where the mayor, a town councilman and two cops were indicted for offering potential voters bags of pork rinds, packs of cigarettes and six packs of beer if they would turn out to vote.

“At least the politicians were the ones buying the pork rinds,” Adams said. “Capuano wants to steal your beer then make you come to the polls to get it back.”

As dumb as this dopey “I Didn’t Go To The” poll tax scheme is, my real problem is with the premise that more people voting is a good thing.

You want to know who loved mandatory voting? The late Saddam Hussein. He got 100 percent of the vote from the 11,445,638 eligible voters in 2002. Voting mandates are the tactic of a bullying, overbearing government. Which may explain why some liberal politician brings the idea back up every few years.

The left loves mandates. They love the idea of the government ordering you to vote, forcing you to buy government-approved health insurance, making you buy lousy CFL light bulbs and demanding that you stop smoking in your own car.

The left knows what you ought to be doing, whether you know it or not. So charging you your own money and using it to coerce you into doing what they say is, for a liberal, like achieving nirvana.

Meanwhile, has anyone considered the quality of voter you’re likely to get when the polling places are full of people in desperate need of $10? People with jobs, with careers, with responsibilities — they’re more likely to write off Mr. Hamilton as a cost of doing business (or trying to).

But for the people with nothing to do on a Tuesday, they’ll have plenty of time to hang out at their local polling place and collect their cash.

And assuming we still won’t require an ID, maybe their dead aunt’s and uncle’s cash, too.

Michael Graham hosts a talk show on 96.9 WTKK.