Response to recent editorial

To the editor:

I am writing in response to your recent editorial entitled, “Green Light NY a victory for liberty.” I believe the title belies a certain unfamiliarity with the Constitution, and the concepts of Liberty and causality.

The failure by resistant county clerks to recognize that 1) the 15th, 19th, and 26th amendments of the United States Constitution spell out quite clearly who has the right to vote and 2) a bevy of Federal and state laws subscribe penalties for those who register to vote, and cannot, is rhetoric for the sake of party-politics-as-usual.

Whether or not these non-citizens are in our country legally is a separate matter, not under the jurisdiction of these county clerks.

The real question is for the Boards of Elections, and whether non-citizens are knowingly being registered, or encouraged to register, as voters. For the sake of calling out the elephant in the room, it is far easier to call out a brown skinned person for registering to vote than it is a white skinned illegal immigrant from Europe.

The concept of “Liberty” does not espouse the supposed “benefits” of tens of millions of dollars in revenue collection by the government, as the author states.

It espouses the actual benefits of allowing a person to live their life, free of government meddling, intervention and de facto taxation.

Although I recognize the legitimate public safety interest of requiring driving tests and licensing, I would argue that there are plenty of people who have passed drivers tests, received their license, and are still terrible drivers.

I challenge the causality between the decrease in traffic fatalities and uninsured drivers and issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants. A separate New York Times article from December 4, 2005 discusses stricter DWI measures implemented in New Mexico during the same timeframe, which had an impact in drastically decreasing repeat DWI offenses.

With respect to the decrease in uninsured drivers: car insurance is first connected to vehicle registration, not a driver’s license.

The license and driving record impacts the rate paid for insurance, but vehicle registration is the first requirement.

Cody Anderson

Chatham Center