According to Merriam-Webster's current definition, ignorance means the state of being ignorant; lack of education, awareness, or knowledge. When I was in the 7th grade I remember a sign on the wall of one of our classrooms that said, "if ignorance is bliss why isn't everyone smiling?" I did not understand what that meant for a long time. Simply I thought we weren't ignorant but I can tell you this, there should be a whole lot more people smiling today. Ignorance is rampant. Unfortunately our politicians take advantage of that fact and companies act upon their own ignorance.

The recent passage of election reform in Georgia has brought this to light. Joe Biden has outright lied about what is in that bill claiming that polls will close at 5:00 o'clock or that this is the new 'Jim Crow.' others have claimed that people cannot get food or water or will be denied the ability to vote because they can't get a picture ID. CEOs of major companies that are headquartered or do a lot of business in Atlanta GA have spoken out against the bill. Major League Baseball moved the All Star game from Georgia to Colorado despite the fact that Colorado requires picture ID in order to vote and has less time allotted for vote by mail. The ignorance is literally dripping off of their words. Some of those CEOs must be the luckiest people in the world because they clearly did not do their research and if they run their businesses the way they form opinions, they should have run the businesses into the ground.

Unlike many of these people , I have actually read the 98 pages. Some of it I skimmed because it deals with things like the creation of oversight boards and because I particularly wanted to look at some of the more high profile provisions of the legislation. Rather than limiting voting hours, the law expands voting hours. Early voting will be done during normal business hours , 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, but regular voting hours must remain open from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM and there must be Saturday voting as well. Some counties did not allow voting on the weekends.

The new law does not change requirements for proving eligibility by requiring a photo identification card. In fact the new law references the requirements that have been in place for quite some time which give preference to a state issued driver's license or identification card but provides a laundry list of options if the individual does not have aforementioned identification. An individual can use a paycheck, a check issued by a governmental body, an employment identification badge issued by a governmental body, a utility bill, and several other similar documents. If the individual has none of this they can fill out a provisional ballot which will then be reviewed by state employees to see if they can determine if the individual is a resident of the jurisdiction in which they are trying to vote.

According to many that want anyone to be able to vote without challenge, the state also wants people to die of starvation or dehydration while they stand in line waiting to vote. What the bill actually says is that water and other benefits may not be provided by anyone other than poll workers or County employees if the individual is it within 150 feet of the polling place. It reaffirms the fact that you cannot campaign within 150 feet of a polling place, a law which is almost universal in our country, nor can you provide anything that could be deemed to coerce or influence someone to vote for a specific candidate. It's hard to believe that someone would have their vote swayed by a bottle of water but it is a reality with which we must deal.

It's interesting to note that in Delaware when it is your turn to vote your name is called out and people can challenge your right to vote. Colorado has more restrictive laws than Georgia but it's run by a Democrat governor not a Republican. Major League Baseball says that if you purchase your tickets online and want to pick them up at will call on the day of the game you must provide a photo ID. I guess it's OK to discriminate against minorities that want to attend a baseball game.

And of course discrimination is at the heart of the complaints. Once again the progressive wing believes that minorities are incapable of doing something as simple as getting a photo identification or providing a utility bill or paycheck in order to vote. That somehow , simply because of their ethnicity or color of their skin they are less capable of accomplishing anything than other ethnic groups. That is bigotry in one of its worst forms.

Atlanta's population is majority African American. Because Major League Baseball will move their All Star game, many minority owned businesses and the minorities that work for those businesses will lose out on a significant source of income. It will be one of the weekends where they make more money than any other weekend in the year or it would have been. I guess it doesn't matter that you are hurting them economically as long as you can say in the public square that you are one of the 'woke' companies or politicians or celebrities. Appearances are more important than action to them. Unintended consequences are of no relevance to them.

In fact the truth is of no relevance to them. Many of these people have been in political office or positions of influence for decades and have promised to fix things that are truly discriminatory or oppressive yet, according to them no progress has been made. If you listen to Joe Biden we are moving backwards to the days when he supported Jim Crow laws. it's because they don't want to fix the real problems that might be the result of discrimination or oppression. They just want to do whatever it takes to keep themselves in power. Dividing us and creating victims are the most effective tools they have at their disposal. It is when we stand up and say enough and point out not only their lies but their failures and the real problems that we will make progress that is comparable to what we have done over the last 200 plus years. That is when we limit the ignorance.