Religious Right activist Richard Land guest-hosted yesterday’s edition of “Washington Watch” where he expressed outrage about President Obama’s remarks on the need for more people to vote, in which he pointed to Australia as an example of a country with compulsory voting.
Land, a former Southern Baptist Convention official who left following a scandal involving plagiarism and racial remarks, brought on Kenneth Blackwell of the Family Research Council to discuss this latest “scandal,” agreeing that it was a sign that Obama seeks to vastly grow the size of government and divide Americans.
“I’m going to use an extreme analogy: he could’ve been Mandela and instead he chose to be Mugabe,” Land said, referring to late South African leader Nelson Mandela and Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe, who is notorious for his use of violence against political opponents and white farmers. “He chose Mugabe over Mandela and we’re all paying the price.”
Blackwell, who helped stifle voting during the 2004 election when he served as Ohio Secretary of State, suggested that the government under Obama may soon “order you to have mandatory political party membership.”
After criticizing Obama for “doing away with Election Day” by supporting early-voting, Blackwell claimed Obama is pushing a “devilish plan” to encourage people who are “dependent” on government to vote.
“We now have a president that’s padding the books with illegal immigrants and aliens, giving them drivers’ licenses, saying that they must vote and he’s growing government at the same time,” Blackwell said. “So what do you do? You create bigger and bigger government, more and more dependency and then you tell people they have to vote. Well, if people are dependent on government handouts, who are they going to vote for? They’re going to vote for the party of big government. They’re not going to vote for the party of free markets and liberty. They will sacrifice their liberty to feed their babies. This is part of a devilish plan.”
