The poor have access to free cell phones courtesy of our government, which does not have enough money to keep the White House open for tours.

Just one reference with regard to the free phones:  http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/18/government-welfare-cell-phones-for-the-poor/     What I just remembered is that the President sends out messages to let his constituents know what he has been accomplishing.  Getting a personal message from the President is quite powerful, especially if you are a low information voter. It may be only by request, such as https://my.barackobama.com/page/s/firsttoknow or, hot off the press where the President is standing by to personally answer your student loan questions: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/06/24/president-obama-waiting-your-text-message .

Do you know someone who has a free cell phone and whether they “benefit” from the President’s messages?  An enterprising social worker handing out the phones would very likely be inclined to help with requests for those messages. What I am indirectly wondering is whether this might be a clever program to recruit/insure votes, i.e., whether it might be subject to considerable political abuse.

The political messages appear to be by request, but some changes are coming for nonpolitical messages: http://www.informationweek.com/security/privacy/presidential-alerts-soon-mandatory-on-yo/229403203

These changes actually have merit if only we could completely trust the government to not abuse the system.

 

***Gary A. Howie MSc, PhD*** is a business owner/rancher and a Life & Liberty News contributor