Dear editor,
During my lifetime the United States has fought World War II, the Korean War, Cold War (Berlin blockade, 1949), Berlin Crisis, 1961, Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, Vietnam War, Panama, Grenada, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait (Desert Storm), War on Terrorism, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
In most of these wars the mission was to defend democracy and to ensure the rights of the people to hold free and open elections.
Think of Iraq, where the symbol of a free and open election was the purple fingers the people so proudly displayed after casting their votes with their fingerprints.
The United States now has millions of veterans, over 2 million from Vietnam alone.
In my lifetime hundreds of thousands of U.S. armed forces have died defending democracy and ensuring the rights of others to have free and open elections. I believe an honorable discharge or a DD-214 declaring honorable service should be adequate ID to vote in any state.
Kansas and several other states have passed laws requiring photo ID to vote. I believe restricting the voting rights of any veteran is at minimum un-American and possibly unconstitutional.
For various reasons many veterans do not have a photo ID.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in the Citizens United case that it is legal for a wealthy individual or a corporation to make unlimited anonymous political contributions to influence the results of an election. These donors are not required to register with the state or furnish a photo ID.
I understand that to mean the Koch brothers, Koch Industries, Inc., and other corporations or individuals can legally make unlimited, undisclosed anonymous political contributions to influence the results of an election, yet it is illegal for a veteran with an honorable discharge and no photo ID to cast one vote to influence the results of an election.
Just call me old-fashioned, but that seems un-American to me. During the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the U.S. armed forces were called the guardians of democracy. It must have been the German democracy we were defending. It doesn’t feel like it was mine 51 years later.
William Frank Schomaker, Sr.,
Humboldt, Kan.
P.S.
If you served in the armed forces during the period of 2-28-1961 to 5-7-1975, you can send a photo copy of your DD-214 or honorable discharge to the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs and Gov. Brownback will send you a Vietnam War Medallion, a medal and a certificate thanking you for your service. No photo ID required.
