For years we've heard from Democrats, liberals and progressives that the federal government is the solution.
Regardless of the need or issue, they've supported a one-size-fits-all approach to everything from Obamacare to seat belts to gun laws, convinced that their perceived 'disparity' in local rules was unequal and a problem that only a large bureaucracy in Washington could properly address.
'Experts' in the federal government (and non-experts in the White House) think everyone should cut down on their salt intake. But what if you have a salt deficiency?
The federal food pyramid says everyone should have six or more servings of carbohydrates every day. If I ate that many, I'd be a blimp!
New ADA pool mandates say that all public pools must have two handicap accesses, including an electronic lift that a handicapped person can use without having to ask for help. This applies even to hospital pools used for therapy - where people are incapable of entering a pool without help - and campgrounds, even when their pools and facilities don't have access to electricity.
And then there's education - which is so much a one-size-fits-all that I don't know where to begin.
In all these examples, and others too numerous to list, liberals insist the federal government has to step in to make things even for all, disregarding that the actual results are usually very uneven and certainly less than 'equal.'
In the ongoing dispute over early voting hours in Ohio, Democrats complained that having different hours in different counties would disenfranchise some voters - specifically those they consider their own: minority, low income, urban.
They were angry that some of the county Boards of Elections (all comprised of two Republicans and two Democrats) voted to have different hours than others - and they argued that the Republican-leaning counties were the ones with longer times than the Democrat-leaning ones.
Clearly, despite the equal and bi-partisan nature of the BOEs, this was a GOP effort to suppress the Democrat vote.
Secretary of State Jon Husted warned the BOEs ahead of time that if they ended up with a tie vote on hours of operation for the early voting centers, he would break the tie in favor of regular BOE office hours, saying that he was not going to be responsible for mandating the costs of additional hours and overtime upon counties, especially on those without the fiscal flexibility to pay for it.
Whether coincidence or intention, certain urban areas ended up with tie votes and Husted kept his word.
But Democrats were right about unequal access and Kasich agreed: local control meant voting hours were not uniform across the state.
So Kasich, after consulting with the Ohio Attorney General to ensure he had the authority, issued a directive setting standard early voting hours for all of Ohio.
In Montgomery County, the two Democrat BOE members refused to vote for the mandated hours, arguing that since the directive was silent about any additional hours, they could follow the times set out and add others to it. Consistent with action taken by Democrat Jennifer Brunner when she was Secretary of State, Husted began the process to remove them for failing to follow his directive.
As Husted said, "While they are free to disagree with my decision, they are not free to disobey the law."
You'd think the Dems would be happy that their demands for uniformity were met. However, it wasn't their uniformity, so they continued to complain.
Yes, after demanding uniformity, they're now claiming uniformity is wrong.
Despite a history and record of supporting one-size-fits-all approaches, they're actually staying that setting standard hours for all of Ohio is going to create disparities.
Huh?
During a Wednesday press conference, House Minority Leader Armond Budish said each county has its own specific needs and voter demographics, so uniform hours are unworkable and could lead to delays. Talking of Husted's directive he said:
"He said he's leveling the playing field for voters by requiring all county boards to have the same early vote hours. Sadly, that is just not true. Setting uniform hours treats all county boards the same, but it treats voters unequally and unfairly. Secretary Husted's edicts will result in disparities, bringing back long lines in large urban counties."
Budish said having the same early vote hours for Cuyahoga County with 1.2 million residents and Morgan County with only 15,000 residents didn't make sense.
He may be right, but he and his fellow Dems certainly didn't consider that point when making their earlier demands for uniformity.
Budish said:
"Yet those same two counties each have one polling place open for early in-person voting. Treating election boards equally treats voters unequally and unfairly. And who suffers? It's minorities. It's the working poor. They'll face much longer lines. All voters will face longer lines, especially in those large urban counties. It's those folks whose votes are being suppressed."
I've previously questioned why Democrats think so little of their own supporters (they don't know how to get an ID, they can't feed their children or find housing or jobs without the government, they can't manage to vote either absentee or in-person with over 230 hours to do so and they don't have time to get to the polls on election day despite having 13 hours in which to do so)...I guess Budish shares the same perspective of his fellow Democrats who serve on the BOEs.
First, there is nothing in the directive to say that counties can have only one early voting center, so Budish makes a fallacious argument and starts with an incorrect premise which gives him an incorrect conclusion.
But, for the sake of his argument, even if they have only one early vote location, they would, by necessity, need more voting machines in Cuyahoga than in Morgan. Unless Budish doesn't trust his Democrat BOE members to properly plan the right amount of machines for the voters they expect, there shouldn't be any long lines.
In a statement, ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson said of Husted that "he has rolled back access for Ohio voters, specifically in racially diverse urban areas like Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton."
But in Lucas, Summit, Cuyahog and Franklin counties, the BOEs had tie votes on the voting hours and when Husted broke the ties, he did so in favor of regular office hours. So the directive actually increases early voting hours Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Akron.
How can Robinson make such a claim - and how was he not challenged on the fact by the regular media?
So after getting their way on uniform hours, they're now saying that treating everyone equally is unequal.
Sadly, the hypocrisy is lost on them.
