According to Reuters, lawyers showed former President George W. Bush’s name on a list of Texas residents who would supposedly be ineligible to vote in the state under a law requiring voters to show photo identification. They also found lawyers told the court they also found the names of two members of the state legislature on the list.

I’m sorry Mr. President Bush we’ve been having problems confirming presidents of the United States are American citizens. You got a birth certificate? Wait, forget it. That didn’t help guy after you a whole lot.

But this is an example of how the current Voter I.D. laws create more of the damage they are supposedly trying to prevent. Stopping voter fraud if it exists by throwing out people who can vote also off is like trying to remove a mole by cutting off the arm. Or saying everyone who goes to court is guilty so we make sure the get the guy in the group who really is.

I think there can be voter I.D. laws. But the ones being put in place clearly haven’t been thought out–except for in terms of political expedience. And that’s what makes them more dangerous to democracy than the threat to democracy they are supposed to be tying to fix.