Show will willby I It II I II t I rank I by Aaron I The Federal Goliath Golia The Federal governments government's Involvement In In the tho question of ot voter voter vot er qualifications is b just one more blow to the states rights tights system which was cst established ay JY the constitution There Is no doubt that discrimination discrimination urination against Negro voters m III southern states has given justification justification jus Jus- for tor allowing Washington Washing ton to determine voter qualification lion tion standards But the tragedy is 19 th that t in order to rectify injustice lice tice in one portion of ot the country country coun try the entire nation has to suffer suf sut ter fer the tightening tent tentacles cles of ot a Federal bureaucracy meddling in affairs which were entrusted to the states when our n nation was founded rounded Since the inception of ot this Republic voter qualifications qualification have served a twofold purpose of ot assimilating millions of oC immigrants immigrants grants into the mainstream of oC American life lite and insuring mini mini- minimum minimum mum standards of ot literacy and Intelligence nce those granted grant ed cd the right t tb to vote The Immigrant had to learn English h and amt he had halt to get a reasonable rea rea- reasonable education if It he wanted to enjoy citizens citizen's rights The fact tad that most Immigrants met the challenge of oC voter qualifications Is an undisputable indisputable fact tact V Voter o 0 t e r qualifications also meant that illiterates and other undesirables could not swell the rolls of ot registered voters One result of oC this system was that demagogues could not rely on illiterates and isolated Ignorant ignorant ignorant igno igno- rant minorities for Cor votes to win elective offices ortices The idea was that n It democracy needed qualified qualified quail fied voters If it hoped to be bea a success It has been argued that badly badly- qu qualified voters do not represent that much of oC a danger to a democracy democracy de de- since they can only be bea a small minority But Dut it should be remembered that the Fascist parties in Italy and Germany legally legally le le- gally came to power while they were small minorities Anyone would have to be a d simpleton not to know that the Federal governments government's operations operations operations opera opera- cannot be divorced from the reality of ot party politics Inthis in inthis inthis this eo country un try And we have soon some pretty good Indications Indication of ot how the party In power will be chic to determine the question of ot voter voter vot er u qualification for tor It Its own purposes pur poses posu Prior to the 1964 presidential Campaign the New York city government go which is controlled by Democrats staged a voter registration drive aimed at getting get gett ting Negroes to register Voters in white neighborhoods were ere largely ignored but this was not the only unfortunate aspect of oC the registration drive When it was found Cound that many perspective Negro voters could not meet the requirements of ot li literacy 1 i intelligence or residence rest resi dence dente these requirements were in many cases illegally discard ed No one protested because to todo todo todo do so would have been Interpreted Interpret ed as an anti Negro anti Negro manifestation manifesta tion and anyway the city Democrats Demo knew that the illegal Negro Ne No gro voters would vote Democrat Demo Demo- crat Another example in New York city which throws light on the problem is the recent demand by speaking Spanish Puerto Rio cans eans to have the English literacy litera cy requirement thrown out Every Ev ery cry other minority coming to this country has had to learn English English- but because the Puerto Ricans vote vole Democratic city officials of oC are arc looking kindly toward the idea of ot dropping the English literacy test test- Developments in New York City throw a special light on the Johnson Administrations Administration's plan to change our immigration laws so that more non-English non speakIng speaking speaking speak speak- ing immigrants will be allowed to come to this country One can see these immigrants demandIng demand demand- Ing log the same special privileges that are being granted in New NewYork NewYork NewYork York city A political pundit once remarked remarked re re- re marked that the problem in Alabama Alabama Alabama Ala Ala- bama w was s not only that of oC a few lew qualified Negroes being prevented prevent prevent- ed from Crom voting but of too many unqualified whites being given voting privileges This outlook underplays the racial injustice in the deep South but it does have an element of truth in it Weekly Features Feature Syndicate |