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ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS HERALD |
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GETTING OUT THE VOTE IN MARYLAND Politicians in Maryland are working hard to increase voter turnout. They want every citizen to exercise his precious voting rights. These public-spirited politicians are Democrats who hold a 2-1 voter-advantage over Republicans. Since they lost the governorship to Robert Ehrlich in 2002 by 66,000 votes, winning it back is their most urgent task for 2006. This means they need to get their people to the polls – something that didn’t happen enough in ’02. So far, this just sounds like ordinary politics (although losing the governorship, despite such a large voter-advantage, is worth a closer look). But the get-out-the-vote plan goes beyond phone calls, door-to-door canvassing and busing to polling places. Maryland Democrats plan to enact legislation that would restore the franchise to 150,000 convicted felons. Of these, 85,000 are blacks expected to register as Democrats, providing more than enough new votes to defeat Mr. Ehrlich. The governor has already announced that he will veto the legislation, if it passes. While spouting the pious language of enfranchisement and good citizenship, Democrats are quite frank about their willingness to draw varlets, thieves, murderers and rapists into the party just to put a Democrat back in the governor’s chair. Delegates and state senators make no bones about throwing in the kitchen sink to return the Free State to its “natural” condition of Democratic rule. This explains the crazed racist responses to Lt. Governor Steele’s U. S. Senate candidacy. (“Are We There Yet?” http://www.ahherald.com/atlarge/2006/060119_there_yet.htm) Marylanders might want to consider a new state motto: “Maryland – we’re probably worse than you think”. Of course, the question that begs to be answered is this: with a 2-1 majority in the voting population, why are Democrats trolling for votes among ex-cons? After all, in 2002 their political future in Maryland seemed unlimited. Marvin Mandell, governor from 1969-‘79, resigned after being convicted of criminal charges. Yet Maryland kept right on electing Democrats. William D. Schaeffer – a far-out character who liked to visit critics at their homes around breakfast-time to lecture them personally – won two terms (1987-‘95). Parris Glendening almost certainly stole the 1994 election from Ellen Sauerbrey, late on election night, via the classic “late-reporting precincts” gambit. Voters gave Mr. Glendening a second term in 1998, although they seemed to tire of him around the time he suspended executions to make sure they were “racially balanced”. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend – oldest of Robert Kennedy’s children and Mr. Glendening’s Lt. Governor – seemed on a sure track to become the state’s first female governor in 2002. Wasn’t she the perfect candidate for one of the bluest of the blue states? A Kennedy woman with solid liberal credentials, she seemed destined to carry the liberal torch on into the 21st century. Despite these advantages, Miss Townsend fumbled a near-certain win by running a weak campaign (vote-for-me-I’m-a-Kennedy), choosing a white retired admiral as her running mate, and raising most of her funds from out-of-state donors. Maryland voters finally got the hook. Mr. Ehrlich and Mr. Steele won with 51% of the vote to Mrs. Townsend’s 48%. Maryland had elected its first Republican governor since Spiro T. Agnew in 1966. With their formidable coalition of blacks, white liberals, unionists, and academics, Democrats don’t seem in any danger of losing real power in Maryland. Solid Democratic majorities in both the House of Delegates and the Senate stubbornly oppose most of Governor Ehrlich’s legislative agenda initiatives and regularly push their own legislation past his vetoes. Mr. Ehrlich’s attempts to move the state away from its fixation on liberal, welfare/victimization politics has been a long, discouraging uphill battle featuring few victories and many defeats. A true political sea-change will require more than the election of one Republican governor every third of a century. The wild card in this game, however, is a political factor that has no official name. For our purposes, let’s call it the “point of no return” factor. An airplane won’t have enough fuel to get home if it flies past the PONR on its flight plan. This is true in politics, too. A country, state, or other electoral region can’t go back to an earlier status or position if it goes beyond a certain point. I believe some voters sense when their jurisdiction is nearing that point. There is no guarantee that voters will turn back before the critical point is reached, but sometimes they do. I believe Maryland voters did this in 2002, and it is possible they might do so again in 2006. Democrats’ impatience to regain the Maryland governorship might actually be their undoing. They have always had a soft spot for the lower echelons of society, including criminals. Going after the jailbird vote could be seen as another point of no return by enough Maryland voters to give Mr. Ehrlich a second term. The ex-con recruitment effort reminds “normal culture” folks that the Party of Jefferson is moving farther and farther away from them. If voters don’t act, their state might change in fundamental ways that make a return to normalcy impossible. Same-sex marriage could also be an issue in Maryland that will energize voters to turn the state back to normalcy before it’s too late. Liberal legislators have stubbornly kept a marriage constitutional amendment proposal off the November ballot – obviously hoping to discourage conservative voters from coming to the polls, where they will probably vote for Mr. Ehrlich. Yet this strategy might backfire. If voters sense they are being denied a voice in a possible redefinition of marriage, they might flock to the polls to turn the Maryland ship of state around. Maryland will soon approach points of no return on numerous issues that are products of its long run of monolithic Democratic rule. Some of the highest state taxes in the nation, worsening racial polarization, and the out-of-touch governmental arrogance that derives from long-term rule continue to retard the progress and prosperity of the Free State. If ever a state was ripe for change, Maryland is it. Democrats’ desperate efforts to put ex-cons in voting booths might have more far-reaching effects in Maryland than anyone imagines. Stay tuned.
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