The American experience is a collective experience. Our often nebulous, yet passionate conception of freedom has become a universal rallying cry. As historian Gunnar Myrdal pointed out in his book, “Black and African-American Studies: American Dilemma, the Negro Problem and Modern Democracy,” “Americans of all…origins, classes, regions, creeds and colors have something in common: a political creed. It is difficult to avoid the judgment that this ‘American Creed’ is the cement in the structure of this great and disparate nation.”
Yet Myrdal, along with many Americans throughout our history, saw more paradox than triumph in our expressed love of freedom and equality. To Myrdal, “The popular explanation of the disparity in America between ideals and actual behavior is that Americans do not have the slightest intention of living up to the ideals which they talk about.”
The stark contrast between America as an idea and America as a reality has driven some to pessimism and violence. Yet often our greatest triumphs have come out of faith in our ideas and systems rather than a rejection of their value. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for America to “rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed,” not to reject it altogether.
There is a persistent passion in American society for the ideas and principles we can all believe in, even if we don’t expect them to become realities in our lives. One collective act that Americans will always embrace and defend passionately is voting. Some historians claim John Wilkes Booth decided to kill Abraham Lincoln when he heard that Lincoln intended to give former slaves the right to vote. Further strengthening the passion of American people to vote, we got eight years of George W. Bush — not Al Gore — after the Florida vote recount in 2000.
There are also shared reasons why we choose to vote, whether we admit it or not. If November 2014 has an overarching reason for voter turnout, my hunch would be that collective dissatisfaction with our Congress would be it. So it is ironic that this Nov. 4 election, potentially millions of Americans could be deprived of the right to vote as a result of the inaction of the very Congress we hope to reshape.
Several key provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a landmark bill that limited racial and economic discrimination in voting, were nullified in 2013 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Shelby County v. Holder. The most notable is the requirement that states and local governments that had discriminatory voting procedures — such as poll taxes or literacy tests — in the past needed to consult federal and judicial authorities if they wished to initiate new voting laws.
The court left reassessment of which districts, states and counties were to be labeled as “discriminatory” to the most unreliable decision making body in American politics, Congress, just as states such as Texas and South Carolina wished to drastically rearrange their voting laws to restrict voters without certain forms of ID to vote. Not surprisingly, Congress has yet to debate extensively on the issue.
The changes in voting laws will have several alarming effects. Most notable of all is the disenfranchisement of thousands of poor, mostly black and Latino, voters due to their lack of proper forms of ID, birth certificates or drivers licenses. In Texas alone, about 600,000 voters will be unable to vote, restricted under the banner of combating voter fraud when, according to a Monday article in The Guardian, “20 million votes have been cast” in Texas within the last decade, “yet only two cases of voter impersonation have been prosecuted to conviction.”
The overarching implications of the Texas voting restriction law are incalculable. Not only will it restrict a huge amount of mostly minority voters (who are, not coincidentally, prone to vote Democrat) from voting, but it restricts the parts of our population who often believe the most in the impact of their democratic rights just as they are reminded of the failure of America to live up to its creed.
In an interview with The Guardian, a Texan man who will be deprived of the right to vote next Tuesday — due to bureaucratic hang-ups that have stalled the issuing of a new ID that would allow him to vote — expressed his belief in the power of his vote.
“I do need to vote, I really do. It’s too late for me, but this is for the next generation,” Eric Kennie said. “They need us to get out the people who harm us and bring in folk who will make things a little better. So I’m going to keep on. I’m going to stay focused, roll with the punches and do what I got to do.”
Though Kennie sounds optimistic, it is hard to share his outlook. As polls open next Tuesday, it’s hard to think about how much we can value a system that constantly deprives those who have the greatest faith in its ideals.
