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I’m Packing Upby
Peary Perry | |
Wonderful,
wonderful…..this column should be the one this week to warm the cockles of your
heart. After you read it, let me know if you can think of any other country in
the world that we could pack up and move to….I want to go with you.
Here
in our wonderful state of Texas, the current legislature has proposed and voted
on a bill to allow twenty (20)…that’s twenty different forms of identification
to be used for proof of citizenship in order to vote in our beautiful state.
Obviously,
your photo drivers license or passport is accepted as well as a military identification
card. So is a certified copy of a birth certificate. But how about these?
Valid
employee identification card with the persons photograph? I’ve owned companies
where we made such cards for our employees, you can buy the camera and lamination
machine at any large office supply store. So, what’s to prevent Acme Widget Manufacturing
Co. Inc from making these up at a flea market and selling them for $5.00 to any
bozo who walks in off the street? Who checks to see if Acme is a real company
and if this guy is an actual, real, living, breathing United States citizen? No
one, that’s who.
How about ‘Official mail from a government entity’? Does
a letter from the IRS show who you are? Does it identify you as a citizen? If
you write to the Food and Drug Administration about some health concerns over
a food product and they write you a letter back, does that qualify you to be a
United States citizen? I don’t think so.
Copy of a current utility bill,
bank statement, paycheck showing the voters name and address. I wonder if the
terrorists who took over the planes on September 11th 2001 ever had any of these?
Seems to me they lived here for some months, so they could have had some utility
bills and if they worked at any job, they could produce a payroll check or check
stub. So, Mr. Legislature Person, please explain to me how the production of any
of these documents will prove that I am a United States citizen? Looks to me like
there is room for another booth at the flea market to crank out payroll stubs.
A current drivers license- now here is where we get sticky…in our state you need
a social security card in order to apply for a drivers license. But here is the
rule for getting a social security card if you are not a United States citizen:
(from the Social Security office)…..
“To prove your U.S. immigration
status, you must show us the current U.S. immigration document, I-94, Arrival/Departure
Record, issued to you when you arrived in the United States. If you are an
F-1 or M-1 student, you also must show us your I-20, Certificate of Eligibility
for Nonimmigrant Student Status. If you are a J-1 or J-2 exchange visitor,
you must show us your DS-2019, Certificate of Eligibility for Exchange Visitor
Status.”
So, if you give the government the above requested documentation,
then you can get a social security card issued to you, then you can get a drivers
license and then guess what? You can vote. Simple.
So,
how many total non-citizens do we have in this country at this time? I mean those
who could vote if they wanted to do so?…Twenty million…? Thirty million? Well
it might interest you to know that in the 2004 Presidential election, there were
126 million votes cast. If we took the lower figure of twenty million and made
the supposition that they might be able to vote and since we can’t tell if they
are eligible or not…then they can or could potentially control 15% of the total
votes cast. Trust me; they would be a force to be reckoned with.
Oh, I
almost forgot….the one that really got under my skin….You can obtain a voter registration
certificate if you have a current library card. A LIBRARY CARD…those are so secure
and not just anyone can get one can they? Have you ever had a librarian ask you
to prove you are a US citizen before checking out “Bambi” or “Alice In Wonderland”?
The Mad Hatter is alive and well in this country. What in the world are we thinking?
Now I feel so much better….don’t you?
Let me know where we want
to move….I’m packing up as we speak. |
©
Peary Perry
Letters
From North America
June 1, 2007 column
Syndicated weekly in 80 newspapers
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