Republicans rely on fear to spur votes, and it obviously works. Fear is a great motivator. Republicans seem proud of how terrified they are. The most fearful demonstrate that fear is like a badge of honor, as if fear equals patriotism. It doesn’t.
Let’s take voter ID laws for one example. No Republican I know can point to an example where in-person voter fraud would have been thwarted had voter ID laws been in place. But that doesn’t matter to them, because they’re still afraid it might happen.
The actual intent behind the laws demonstrably has little to do with solving the problem of in-person voter fraud because that problem doesn’t actually exist. The blatant intent of the laws is to suppress the vote of the opposition, which is truly unjust and undemocratic. Downright un-American. Nonetheless, that fear has motivated good people to turn a blind eye toward injustice.
What are they really afraid of? Losing an election? Losing control? Losing the financial backing of a party that is increasingly beholden to special interests?
