Voter ID causes problems

The national League of Women Voters objections to the Supreme Court decision that upheld Voter ID laws appeared to be at least partially justified in Indiana yesterday when some nuns who had been voting for many years were denied ballots. According to a news story these elderly nuns no longer had drivers' licenses and despite having voted from the same convent for many years, the poll workers informed them they would have to cast provisional ballots. Also denied a ballot was an 18-year-old California student who attends college in Indiana. She had a California driver's license, but that is not considered acceptable ID in Indiana, so she too had to vote provisionally. Is this any way to prevent voter fraud? Over-zealous lawmakers should not be allowed to deny legitimate citizens their right to vote.

Another voice for veterans

More media reports are calling attention to the debt we owe veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bob Herbert in the NY Times describes the bill, sponsored by Senators Webb and Lugar (both veterans of other wars) which expands the opportunities offered to veterans. It is a renewal of the kind of G.I. Bill that served this country so well after World War II and Korea. The bill has not received much publicity, but perhaps it's time for ordinary citizens to let legislators know how we want them to vote on this issue.

What do we owe the troops?

Although candidates and ordinary citizens complain about how the high price of gasoline and food is affecting Americans, most people go about their daily lives without much sacrificing many comforts. There is one group that does suffer and that is the men and women who are fighting, or have fought, in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are returning to a country that is more difficult and expensive to live in than it was when they left, and the benefits they get don't help a great deal. In today's S.F. Chronicle, veteran Patrick Campbell describes how the weakened G.I. Bill is failing to follow through on the promises made to people who enlisted in the services. Sixty years ago, when veterans were returning from World War II, society was transformed by the rush to education. A whole generation of new leaders were formed in the technical schools and universities that opened paths to new careers and a secure place in society. Now veterans, many of them from low-income families, are unable to get the college educations they have been promised because of the stingy benefits being offered. While the country concentrates on cutting taxes for the well-to-do, we are sacrificing our futures by not educating these young people for their proper roles as leaders in tomorrow's America. For every dollar spent on veteran's education, the economy benefits and society benefits. It's about time for taxpayers to demand that Congress bring the G.I. Bill back to somewhere close to where it was half a century ago. We owe our veterans that much!

Does caring work?

San Francisco's Care Not Cash program for the homeless was one of the most innovative programs introduced by Mayor Gavin Newsom. Now, four years after it began, a city audit indicates the program has been successful. According to a story in the S.F. Chronicle, the number of homeless people in the city receiving cash payments has dropped from 2,632 to 642. Instead of cash the recipients now receive housing and services. There is still controversy, of course, about whether the money the city now spends on housing provides as much help as the previous cash payments did, and the question of whether all homeless people in the city can be helped by housing and services is still open. Many of the homeless people on our streets have multiple problems and require intensive services which are not easy to provide. It appears that Care Not Cash has been a step in the right direction, but concerned citizens will still have to be watchful.

Learning from a neighbor

Our friendly neighbor across the bay--Berkeley--has been more of an innovator than many of us realized. An exhibit at the Berkeley History Center showcases some of Berkeley's firsts--

• first bicycle patrols by police officers, started in 1910;
• first radios in police cars, 1911;
• first city to use lie detectors for police investigations 1923;
• first city to ban Styrofoam in 1989;
• first to use biofuels in city cars in 2003.

Not all of Berkeley's experiments have worked out well or been accepted either locally or nationally, but it's good to know that some city governments are will to try new things. That's the only way the rest of the country will move ahead. And it's well worth a trip across the Bay to visit this new exhibit.

How long will it take?

As everyone who shops downtown on Market Street knows, something changes as you walk past Sixth Street toward Seventh. Suddenly there are vacant stores and graffiti. C.W. Nevius in his column today points out how long it is taking for a comprehensive plan for the area to be put into motion. As the good economic times are fading away, we need to encourage, not discourage more viable business opportunities in the center of the city. Although there has been an advisory committee studying issues in the area for more than ten years, agreement is hard to reach. Conflicting forces of business developers and housing advocates have created gridlock. It's time for ordinary citizens to put more pressure on city government to insist that something be done to revitalize the "dead zone" as Nevius calls it and insist that all parties compromise to develop a feasible plan.

Young people voting

Despite all the media coverage of young voters flocking out to support candidates for the presidential election, an article in today's SF Chronicle points out that people over 60 are still far more likely to vote than those under 30. In June's presidential primary in California, 43% of eligible voters over 60 cast their ballots, while only 17% of those under 30 did. That's no way to change the world! It's true that older voters tend to be more settled, not changing residences as frequently as younger people and therefore not needing to re-register to vote, but that doesn't seem to explain all of the difference. Campaign workers speculate that young potential voters are more easily turned off from voting because they become disillusioned with the process. Older people know that elections are never perfect and that the whole system of democracy is built on a shaky structure in which private interests war against public good. Still, democracy is the best way we've found to allow people to participate in running their government. Stepping out of the fray is no solution, so veteran voters must keep up the effort to persuade young people to vote and participate. Change will come slowly, but it can come if people are willing to fight for it step by weary step.