There is a strange little story today out of the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin has created a requirement that voters present a picture ID before they can vote. This is designed to deal with a serious even catastrophic outbreak of voter fraud, of which there is no evidence save in the legislature’s imagination. Nevertheless, the legislators of the state feel any sacrifice on the part of the voters is worthwhile. That sacrifice is being placed upon those without picture ID’s, the elderly and the poor. The legislature feels that these people cannot be counted on to vote in their best interest.
But the legislature has a problem. If it comes out and says that the poor and elderly are voting the wrong way and that they will stop them by requiring a picture ID, the feds will suspect that the state is violating the Voting Rights Act. So, the legislature made the ID’s free, so that anyone who wanted to vote could go and get one.
Now that is fair to everyone, isn’t it? All you have to do is go to a Department of Transportation Office and ask for your free ID. There is a little hitch, the Department issued instructions not to tell anyone the ID’s were free and to collect the regular $28 when possible.
So, Chris Larson sent an e-mail of his own to fellow employees reminding them that the ID’s were supposed to be free. He was a whistleblower letting people know what the state was doing.
He has been fired.
I tell my students that the greatest lie they learn in high school is that virtue is rewarded, that if you do the right things, the expected things, and keep your head down – you will be alright, rewarded, worthy, etc.
No, you will not be rewarded. You will not be considered worthy and, in fact, doing the right thing is most likely to cause you pain.
This is a case in point.
James Pilant
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