I hope that some group or another can start a protest of sorts on this ID issue. I don't live in one of those states, but if I did I would go out of my way to refuse to present ID at the polls.

I think a concerted effort of voters going to the polls who when asked for ID would politely refuse - just one after another. We need ads and bill boards advocating a plan of refusal. If done well it would not only be a clear protest it would be standing in solidarity with the voters who do not have ID and fear the confrontation at the polls. That's what they still have - fear of confrontation. In all of these states democrats should stand together and refuse.

I continue to be concerned that the Republican candidates get away with implying that 47% or 30% of the American population are either givers or takers: portraying that it is a zero sum game and that people are fixed in one camp or another. The reality is that people struggle to make it in society and often find themselves being caught by the safety net programs that have been devised to soften the blows of unbridled capitalism on families and individuals. The idea that people are permanently in one camp or the other is ludicrous.

I worked 30+ years as a career counselor in Indiana, helping people to make career and educational decisions. I remember people typically receiving public assistance as a last resort in their lives. I remember needing to convince hard working people, down on their luck and agonizing over the fears they had for their families' futures, that getting food stamps or help for child care or educational help to retrain after technological change ended their original careers, was a good thing and something they had already paid for in their taxes. These programs exist to do what tribes did for their members in less sophisticated economies.

The vast majority of Americans have believed in the American social contract: work hard and do your part and you will be likely to reap the rewards for yourself and your family. But since the 1980s, that social compact has been eroded steadily and people's mental health has taken a hit each time they have worked for the dream and come up temporarily short, only to told they are moochers for having faltered on the way toward their dreams.

On the other hand, the conservatives typically don't mention that the financial system is rigged and 'government programs' give billions of dollars to business people, implying that you aren't a 'real' American, deserving of help, if you don't actually run a business. For that, you will be praised even when you are one of the large majority who have failed and needed help from your old boys network at the banks or guaranteed government loans or subsidies for your business at taxpayer expense.

Conservatives are all about dividing Americans into winners and losers by only their definition of those states. They talk of themselves as above others because of the particular set of skills and their need to run a business. And the corporate elites (and also-rans) talk endlessly about how everyone should be good at making money, should be interested in it, spend time grasping for money and chasing more than they need as a way to keep score and demonstrate their superiority.

I wish I had a dollar for every time some conservative sat in my office and initiated a conversation with the line: "I've worked all my life, unlike most people today. I didn't get help from anyone. And I'm only taking unemployment or food stamps or whatever it was because I'm desperate. I'm not lazy like those other people, you know what I mean?" Sadly, it was clear what they meant, whether they understood it or not.

There is a reason greed and arrogance are sins and particularly railed against by Jesus.

Vivian, welcome and thank you for your well-thought out and compassionate message. There's a lot to chew on here, which I can't even begin to add to tonight.

If economics were a zero sum game, we'd all still be living in huts eating berries.

One of the key things in this "takers and givers" discussion is the fact that THE BLUE STATES SUPPORT THE RED STATES in terms of our Federal government's "redistribution" of wealth!

Mitt Romney believes that corporations are people. Does Romney believe that those corporations paying zero corporate income tax are "takers?" Are they unwilling to "take responsibility for their existence?"

You should completely have Joe Scarborough on the panel for one (Or more) of the debates. That would be Hilarious to watch.

Well now since I am a 47 per-center AND a member of the 99 per-cent my choice is obvious. I must vote for democrats since the republican party is totally against me.

Hmmm...if you are running a campaign against the majority of the voters how can you win??(this could get nasty)