Free Republic

Although the tea party's influence is "undeniable," it is not inevitable -- and it must be crushed for the good of the nation, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) argued in a long political speech on Thursday. "They've won elections, stymied Democratic priorities and taken a sledgehammer to programs that are important to tens of millions of Americans," he complained.

On Monday, a bipartisan commission headed by former President Jimmy Carter and ex-Secretary of State James Baker surprised most observers and agreed that Americans should be required to have photo IDs to vote. In fact, though the American debate over this is vitriolic, photo IDs are commonly used to prevent voter fraud across the world. Democrats often don't buy it. Howard Dean recently claimed that the Republican push for voter IDs is "a new Southern strategy and a new Jim Crow." Others have claimed that the requirement would victimize Hispanics, African-Americans and the poor. (Proponents answer that the IDs will...

Leaders back electoral reform Lindsay Kines and Jeff Rud Times Colonist Thursday, May 19, 2005 The leaders of B.C.'s three main political parties have got the message: Voters want changes to the province's electoral system. In a rare show of harmony, Premier Gordon Campbell, NDP Leader Carole James and Green party Leader Adriane Carr agreed Wednesday that B.C. needs to keep working on the issue, even though a referendum on one suggested change failed to pass Tuesday. "There's a real hunger to move and look at ways of improving our system," Campbell said. "I've been a clear advocate of that...

ELECTION MONITORING [Jonah Goldberg] Obviously I think there's a lot of silliness in the election-monitoring of Florida stuff. But in generaln I don't understand why Republicans and the Bush White House ran away from the issue of electoral reform. Democrats have this myth that if elections were run more honestly and accurately in this country that Democrats would gain. One can see why they'd think that in the wake of Florida (let's not start that argument again). But the obvious fact, it seems to me, is that if every vote was counted -- and counted only once -- Democrats would...