Dear Editors: Kudos to the Daily Sentinel for its timely editorial – “Vote early, vote often”. The editorial’s reference to “unsubstantiated claims” propounded nationally on Fox News last week exemplifies why a recent academic study found that partakers of “FoxNoise” test less well-informed than those who consume no news whatsoever. The study cited three reasons for that phenomenon (which, based on letters published in the Sentinel, seems rampant locally). First, ideologically-driven partisans are inclined to gravitate toward news sources that reinforce what they are already predisposed to believe. Second, “conservatives” are psychologically resistant to assimilating factual information that contradicts their preconceived convictions. Third, consequently, such individuals are inclined to rely exclusively on “news” sources that minimize their cognitive dissonance. Also of note is the editorial’s recollection of Colorado’s Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler’s false testimony to Congress in 2010 regarding non-existent “voter fraud”. Gessler has been a willing “foot soldier” in Republicans’ “vast right-wing conspiracy” to gain and retain political power by suppressing voting. That un-democratic strategy first proved successful in 2000, after Florida purged some 57,700 purported “ex-felons” from its voter registration roles (with no verification) – only 5% of whom were not entitled to vote. The effect was to suppress the “White vote” by 1%, but the “Black vote” by 3%. While Republicans – with the collusion of an unprecedentedly partisan Supreme Court -- justify ever-more-restrictive voter identification laws based on a mere potential for “voter fraud”, the documented incidence of such “identity fraud” is statistically near zero. The intended effect is to actually abridge minorities’ fundamental constitutional right to vote. Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Sheila Reiner – albeit a Republican – was one of the first Colorado officials to responsibly challenge Gessler’s bogus “fraud” assertions, but “Tea Partiers” Scott Tipton and Cory Gardner remain devious pawns in a much bigger game. Bill Hugenberg
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 14:43:21 +0000
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