Republicans don't want you to vote.

When I was growing up, it was considered an assumption of decent citizenship that voting was good. And it was believed that every decent American had a vested interest in getting as many people to vote as possible. Because voting is synonymous with Democracy, itself. Public Service announcements would say things like, "If you can't vote my way, at least VOTE." And civic groups formed with one, non-partisan purpose: to increase voter turnout, whoever those voters would actually choose. That was what it meant to be a good citizen: encouraging voting.

Which makes you wonder how these right-wingers actually justify, even to themselves, their attempts to depress voter turnout.

State Rep. John Pappageorge, R-Troy was quoted in July 16 editions of the Detroit Free Press as saying, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election."

"I'm extremely disappointed in my colleague," state Sen. Buzz Thomas, D-Detroit, told reporters Wednesday during a conference call. "That's quite clearly code that they don't want black people to vote in this election."

Blacks comprise 83 percent of Detroit's population, and the city routinely gives Democratic candidates a substantial majority of its votes.

Pappageorge's remark reflected the GOP's failure to send black voters a persuasive message, said Rep. Alexander Lipsey, D-Kalamazoo.

"This is the endgame strategy the Republican Party has decided to utilize, rather than positive strategies," he said. "They are strategizing, "How can we get those folks we don't care about from going to the polls?"'

It honestly makes me wonder. The Republicans consciously know that the fewer Americans who vote, the better it is for their party. How can any decent human being not recognize that that means there is obviously something radically wrong with what they stand for?