Editorials & Other Articles

Let me get this straight:

1957: President Eisenhower federalizes the Arkansas National Guard, sends 1,000 troops to Little Rock...so that some African American children can walk safely to school.

2012: Ohio politicians conspire to violate the federal Voting Rights Act, less than 100 days before a national Presidential election, in partisan ways that can quite possibly swing the entire result and, for thousands of legally registered voters, suppress their Constitutional right to cast a ballot. Washington appears surprised, paralyzed, self-doubting, and silent.

Our President took an oath to protect and defend our Constitution. This is a crisis that has to be dealt with decisively, and NOW. Obama should already be directing the Pentagon to make contingency plans, should judicial efforts prove too slow or unworkable, to federalize the Ohio National Guard and order them to keep the polls open for early voting across Ohio, at identical hours, so that all legal votes can be cast and counted honestly in this election.

Afterwards, a thorough investigation can find and hold publicly accountable the officials who organized this criminal conspiracy to violate civil rights. But the sanctity of the election and the ballot must be preserved at all costs.

If we want to continue to have a democracy in this country, the people and our leaders must have the will to put their lives on the line and fight for it.