Today, President Bush addressed the NAACP for the first time in his presidency, narrowly avoiding becoming the first president since Warren G. Harding not to speak to the organization. At the same time the Senate was preparing to pass the extenstion for 25 years of the 1965 voting act. Among other things, this act prohibits literacy tests for voting, places voting procedures in certain states and counties, mostly in the South, under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Justice Department, and requires that these regions provide bilingual ballots to those who have trouble speaking English. The Act was set to expire next year. With Jesse Jackson looking on from a gallery, it passed last week in the House of Representatives by a vote of 390-33. After it had passed there were efforts to amend the extension to only ten years, which were also defeated by a healthy margin. Yesterday, over 1000 NAACP delegates boarded buses for the Capitol. As he prepared to board a bus, NAACP President Bruce Gordon said, “This is our day. We are going to the hill today. They are going to know the NAACP is in the house.” Once the delegates arrived, they were addressed by Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Edward Kennedy, all of whom expressed support for the bill, but cautioned that the work for civil rights did not end with the passage of the bill. But it wasn’t just Democrats who were quick to show support. As soon as the delegates arrived, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist met with Gordon and Chairman Julian Bond and announced that the Senate would vote as early as today. In the House, the movement to pass the bill was spearheaded by the head of the House Judiciary Committee, Republican Jim Sensenbrenner from Wisconsin. Sensenbrenner, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “received lavish praise throughout the day from Democrats…, while trading barbs with conservative Republicans.” Sensenbrenner also explicitly said that he wanted to pass the bill before his chairmanship ends in ‘07, because two leading contenders for his spot are from states affected by the VRA’s imposition of federal oversight over voting. Arlen Specter, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee called the effects of the Act, “profound” and his panel unanimously approved the extension. And today, President Bush told the NAACP, “I understand that many African-Americans distrust my political party. I look forward to the Senate passing this bill promptly, without amendment,” he paused for cheers, “so I can sign it into law.” More cheers.

In the media, the push for the bill has been labeled as a drive improve the Republican party’s credibility with minorities. In other words, the Republicans are shamelessly grovelling before the modern political titan, political correctness. Not all, mind you. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland from Georgia, one of the few brave souls who voted agains the VRA extension in the house, said “By passing this rewrite of the Voting Rights Act, Congress is declaring from on high that states with voting problems 40 years ago can simply never be forgiven” and called the bill, “outdated, unfair, and unconstitutional.” He also said that the bill shows, “lingering prejudice against southerners.” But even he took his turn on the stool of political correctness, declaring “We have repented”, assumedly referring to the Southern states who are singled out by the VRA.

Now I’ve explained the facts, time for opinion. I am utterly disgusted by this political pandering, shamefully exhibited by the vast majority of Republicans to the shrill demands of a dispicable special interest group. Not only is the bill unfair today, it was unconstitutional when it was first enacted. Just as Rep. Westmoreland said, it is a contintuation of the central government’s measures to keep the South under its thumb, and its contempt for states’ rights. The states have always had the authority to decide who is eligible to vote. What is so bad about requiring voters to be able to read and speak the English language? And if this intrusive measure establishing the rule of the central government over the state is necessary, should it not apply to the entire nation? Furthermore, when did we forget that this sacred ‘right to vote’ is completely fictitious? All of the founding fathers of this country understood that voting was a privilege, not a natural right. These question beg answers, but apparently our politicians of both parties care more about appeasing supposedly disenfranchised ‘minorities’ than upholding the Constitution. Am I the only one outraged over this?