Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

“I’d like to give a drink of water while you wait to vote, but I can’t”, could be a quote from many of us. But, in Georgia, a law, passed by Republicans, says you can’t. This is when you have no shame in your game. That reference was about what Republicans recently did to Black/brown people in an all out effort to prevent them from voting in large numbers in Georgia. And Georgia will not be alone. In a scene behind closed, locked doors, Gov. Brian Kemp signed a law that went through the Georgia legislature faster than the Enterprise traveling at Warp 13, making it even more difficult for minorities to vote in future elections, all designed to keep Republicans in control, not only in Georgia, but also in Washington D.C. Even as Donald Trump is out of the White House, he is in every Republican governor’s house, as Republicans continue to cede “their power” to him. Whatever power they may have to get things done for all Americans, they have willingly surrendered it to Trump. But, what Republicans are doing in Georgia and in states around the nation, is to ensure that any elections that pertains to who goes to Washington, will be won by Republicans. When the Voting Rights Bill was gutted years ago by a right wing Supreme Court, Black Americans were warned that it would be more difficult for them to vote and the last four years has been exactly that. Republicans were incensed and perhaps embarrassed when Stacy Abrams was able to get thousands of Georgians to register to vote, despite then Secretary of State (Now Gov.) Brian Kemp’s attempts to purge voters from the rolls. Kemp won the governor’s race, but Republicans lost the White House and both of their senate seats in Washington. That was a pill that will taste bitter no matter how many peaches will be eaten to kill the taste. So what will Republicans all across the nation do? They will attempt to make sure that even if they can’t stop/prevent all minorities from voting, they will make sure that enough of them don’t. The laws that the Republicans are hastily passing may be legal, but are they moral ones? Are they done “with the right intentions” in mind? Just because “something is legal”, does not necessarily make it right. Right, as in the eyes of God. Have you noticed that when Republicans pass these kinds of legislation that is supposed to “right a wrong” that doesn’t exist, God is no where in the equation. But these are the men/women who put their hands on the words of God and swear to do “what is right”. This is supposed to be a nation “founded” on Christian principles, except when it comes to taking away their basic fundamental rights as citizens of these United States. As this writer has consistently said, that it is all about power and who controls, but not shares it. Republicans know this and as long as there are “friends” in high places(the courts), they feel emboldened to write any/pass any kind of legislation that they desire, in order to suit their purpose. What we see happening in Georgia and other Republican led states, will not affect the well off voting precincts. You may see white voters standing in those long lines for hours, but that is the price that they will pay “for being” in the wrong precinct. We know that Republicans will want to make it even harder to vote by reducing hours, access to ballot boxes and absentee voting. They keep saying that their goal is to “reduce” voter fraud and “protect the integrity” of the voting process. If that were true, even they would believe that. A just judicial system would make Republicans prove widespread voter fraud and explain why their own elected secretaries of state, stake their reputations that the elections in their states, were “fair and honest”. It gets back to what is morally right and what is legally wrong. One has to wonder what would happen if Jesus gave someone water to drink while that person was exercising his fundamental right as a citizen. If this was two thousand years ago, with the power in the hands of the rich, I think that we know the