"Vote Early--Vote Often"

Most agree it was infamous criminal Al Capone who first used the phrase in Chicago: "Vote Early, Vote Often."

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has taken Capone's concept to a new level.

By executive order, he has restored voting rights for over 200,000 felons in his state---effective for the upcoming November presidential election.

He says his act is "the essence of our democracy."

Others are saying it is a "bald-faced political move" to help elect Hillary. And get Terry a job in a Clinton administration.


McAuliffe says he is certain he has the authority to do this. He has consulted with legal and constitutional experts, including the Virginia Attorney General.

ABC reports that "Nationwide, nearly 6 million Americans are barred from voting because of laws disenfranchising felons."

ABC also notes, "Such policies make black Americans of voting age four times more likely to lose their voting rights than the rest of the population, disenfranchising one of every 13 African-American adults nationwide."

"Virginia," they say, "is even more punishing," because it's "among three states where more than 1 in 5 black adults have lost their voting rights."

When McAuliffe made the announcement at a press conference, there were far left advocacy organizations present handing out voter registration cards to the many felons in attendance---offering to help them.

State House Speaker William Howell (R) says, "I am stunned yet not surprised by the governor's action. This office has always been a stepping stone to a job in Hillary Clinton's cabinet" for McAuliffe.

State Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ryan T. McDougle says, "Terry McAuliffe wants to ensure that convicted pedophiles, rapists, and domestic abusers can vote for Hillary Clinton."

McAuliffe says, "Well, I would tell the Republicans, 'Quit complaining and go out and earn these folks' right to vote for you. Go out and talk to them'."

The Governor says, "second chances matter"---"everybody deserves a second chance."

He says, "And that's why I stood in front of our Capitol and erased 115 years. We have had some very horrible disenfranchisement of voters in Virginia. And I stood right in front of the capitol, where we had a poll tax, literacy (test), disenfranchisement of voters."

He said with lifting voice, "I stood not 20 yards from where Abraham Lincoln met with freed slaves 151 years ago in April."

Wow! Abraham Lincoln.

Who are the people who would stand against such a man and a mission?

Well, it happens, they are the Republicans---the Party of Lincoln.

Gov. McAuliffe, former Democrat Party Chairman and close ally with Hillary, says the people who are trying to stop him from being Lincoln are the "same legislators that, just, in this session, sent me a bill that would have been very similar to North Carolina, religious freedom bill, that would have rolled back the rights and given protections of LGBT people. They sent me a bill that would have defunded parts of Planned Parenthood. This is the same group of individuals several years ago passed the transvaginal ultrasound against women."

I agree. If you are a far Left secular progressive, these would be "bad" people.

Robert Knight with the American Civil Rights Union, says, "You have to remember that Terry McAuliffe was the bagman for the Clintons. He raised tons of money for Bill Clinton. He's worked with Bill and Hillary for years."

He notes that Terry was also the chairman of Hillary's 2008 White House campaign.

And Virginia is considered a swing state in the upcoming presidential campaign. Out of 3.7 million votes cast in the 2012 election, Obama won by only 115,910 votes.

The vast majority of felons who will be eligible to vote this November are black.

Blacks traditionally vote for Democratic candidates.

Knight says there are a number of inconsistencies in McAuliffe's new found Lincoln persona.

He says McAuliffe vetoed a common-sense voter ID bill last year, which would require voter registrants to declare they are US citizens and are at least 18 years old.

Knight says, "He wants felons to vote but doesn't want legislation to protect the integrity of the vote on the books."

Al Capone comes to mind again. He also said: "A crook is a crook, and there's something healthy about his frankness in the matter. But any guy who pretends he is enforcing the law and steals on his authority is a swell snake. The worst type of these punks is the big politician."

More importantly, our American Founders spoke not only to their times but to ours as well.

It was Patrick Henry who said, "The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."

Samuel Adams, another one of our Founders, said: "Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual---but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country."

This presidential election is, without a doubt, the most important one in our lifetime. So very, very much hangs in the balance.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful. Be Engaged. Be Bold.