Imagine if the Republicans passed a voting reform that did the following things:
1. Required all voting to occur on Election Day at a physical polling station, and all absentee votes to be postmarked on Election Day.
2. Made stringent requirements for absentee voting, including a signed affidavit explaining why in-person voting is not possible, accompanied by criminal penalties for perjury.
3. Made it a crime to transport a non-family member to the polling station.
4. Made signature matches a national requirement, and empowered poll workers to unilaterally reject signatures.
5. Outlawed all online voter registration, and all state government programs to facilitate or encourage voter registration.
6. Stripped all voters who don’t respond to a snail-mailed inquiry of their voter registration.
7. Disallowed college students from voting in a state other than their primary residence.
8. Required female voters to register their maiden names and any other names they may have used in the past to register to vote. Insist their registration name match the name on their state-issued ID.
9. Made a state-issued ID a requirement of both registering and voting.
Naturally, the Democrats would be outraged as these measures would clearly disadvantage them. But they also go against the spirit that voting is a fundamental right and responsibility of every citizen.
As the Washington Post reports, the Democrats’ voting reform bill cuts in the opposite direction, and also introduces campaign finance and ethics reforms.
The bill’s voting provisions would guarantee no-excuse mail voting and at least 15 days of early voting for federal elections; require states to use their existing government records to automatically register citizens to vote; restore voting rights to felons who have completed their prison sentences; and mandate the use of paper ballots.
Other provisions would create new disclosure requirements for “dark money” donations to political groups; require states to appoint independent commissions to draw congressional districts; and create new federal standards for election equipment vendors.
The bill also would require tech platforms to disclose political advertising information; establish a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices for the first time; restructure the Federal Election Commission to an odd number of members to break partisan deadlocks; and require presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns.
The Republicans consider these reforms to be the equivalent of a death sentence and argue that their sole intent is to gain a permanent political advantage for the Democrats. But, notice, these reforms make it easier for Republicans to vote too. There are no voters who are singled out for harassment or disenfranchisement. No one is stripped off the voter rolls. If this hurts Republicans it’s only because currently the Republicans have an advantage that would disappear. If nearly everyone can register and voting is easy and accessible, that’s an even playing field.
By looking at what the Republicans could do to reform elections, we can see that their ideas all cut in the direction of making the playing field even more lop-sided in their favor, and it’s all done by preventing people from voting.
So, while each set of reforms would really hurt the other side politically, only one set is nakedly partisan.
All of the voting reforms by the Democratic Party are good, and indicates that they are clearly the only option if you’re a serious voter who doesn’t want to watch this country burn down.
The problem is that even if they make voting much easier, they need to give people reasons to vote, and I’m looking at younger voters here. They are almost literally begging for Sanders/AOC/Warren types of legislation and reforms, but are apparently going to get none of it. Yes, I understand the Democratic Party is still very centrist, and has a Manchin and Sinema who are deadset on losing the Senate in 2022 so they can go back being Mavericks™, but it’s depressing.
My nightmare scenario is the Democratic Party, which might as well be just Manchin and Sinema, are going to shit all over any decent reforms and legislation, giving younger voters all the excuse they need to stay home in 2022, regardless of how much easier voting is. And then the Republicans win back the House and Senate, and now 2024 is a literal do-or-die election with Republican sharks smelling the blood of this country in the water. I don’t know where Arthur Gilroy is, but you can believe that, to steal his line.
Even with Manchin and Sinema and the filibuster rule, Dems are on the verge of passing a $1.85 trillion-with-a-T COVID relief and recovery law that includes: $1,400 relief checks, $400/week supplemental UI benefits through August, funding for schools, state & local governments, restaurants & bars, increased rental assistance & SNAP benefits, etc. All of this is on top of the over $3 trillion-with-a-T in COVID relief funding Dems previously embarrassed and strong-armed Republicans into passing previously.
Part of winning victories in politics is *claiming* the victories. If your side starts out with a $1.9 trillion bill and the other side starts out wanting nothing, and the “compromise” that gets passed is a $1.85 trillion bill, that’s win for your side by any reasonable measure in the world as it is…especially when you’ve got a one vote margin in one house of Congress. The only way it’s *not* a big win is if too many people on your side downplay it and/or focus on the $0.05 trillion that got cut.
I guess you can try to blame me for describing reality, but luckily enough, I’m nobody with any voice so it doesn’t matter that I’m “downplaying” the bill.
Also, I don’t shit on the Democratic Party in public, unlike, you know, Manchin and Sinema, the people who might as well be given 25 Senate votes each so the other 46+2 Democrats can go knock out constituent service or whatever.
Manchin and Simema are going to get this country murdered by proper fascists. All of the “well, this was as close as we could get to something decent” because the Democratic Party wasn’t willing to actually stand up to the Republicans because of the need to satiate Manchin and Sinema is going to be absolutely meaningless when the Republicans control everything in 2028, or even 2024 if half-measures turn out to be counterproductive.
Schumer should have already gone to Manchin and Sinema, told them that they can get some pork for their states if they stop helping the Republicans murder the country. Vote with the party, then go home and tell all your constituents about how the communist Democrats are all terrible but that you needed to help out WV/AZ TrueAmericans™.
And let me tell you why.
If the Democratic Party generally, and Manchin/Sinema particularly, are afraid to actually pass strong Democratic policies, then it’s all pointless in the long-term, because the Republicans are going to get that populist non-hysterical clown with a female running mate of color, and finally finish the country off. Manchin will puff out his chest about how much of a fucking real hero he is, while the Republicans who learned from the Trump Clown show go about their very planned out and meticulous work.
All because we have to give Manchin and Sinema whatever they want, otherwise they’re going to be Republicans, I guess.
Great. Expect great things in 2022 after the Democratic Party again shows Americans that it is afraid of its own shadow.
I do not understand your position, N1ck. I don’t want to blame you for describing reality – I am trying to understand reality as you see it.
I assume that Manchin will prevent every Democratic initiative beyond this Covid package, so all Democrats will provide for Americans over the next two years is an end to the pandemic, a roaring recovery, and honesty, decency and competence in the White House. Anything more will be great but everything else in the election is turnout anyway. I’m optimistic. We win in 2022 and 2024 and the Republican party as we know it will die. That makes the long term bright, not bleak.
Why do you think this approach will lead to losses in the mid-terms or disaster in the long term? Why do you think we need to do more? What is your formula for beating back the fascists?
For a Democratic Party that stands up and passes legislation that helps everyone and shows people that they will pass legislation that helps everyone.
We’re going to end up with Republicans pretending to be “populists”, and even though they’ll still be corporate stooges, they’ll scream it up and down and convince the Trump Cult and the working/middle class to vote for them.
I don’t see how you or anyone else can look at 2020 and think that the Democratic Party is just about to destroy the Republican Party. Here we are, unable to pass needed legislation, like a $15 minimum wage, or a measly, pissant $1400.00 stimulus bill for EVERYONE.
Did you watch Princess Sinema, One of Two Democratic Senators that controls the entire Senate, give her vote on the $15 minimum wage bill? If not, go watch that video, and tell me that you believe the Democratic Party is going to be scooping up the working class and middle class.
Also, you’re assuming that the Covid Bill is going to supercharge the economy, and that most voters give a shit about a truthful and boring White House administration. Trump picked up 11m voters after his clownshow performance between 2017-2021, and was able to instigate insurrection. Those 75m voters are just itching to murder liberals.
Or, everything is great, the Democratic Party maybe passing a bill or two is going to get them some full bore sweep in 2022, and we can all go back to binge watching Storage Wars, since young voters will see a Democratic Party that has yet again done very little because the Republican Party and 2 Republican Party Senators d/b/a Democrats said they weren’t allowed to do anything, but they’ll go out and vote like Trump is President.
I’m going to go with the pessimistic view, because my pessimistic view was way more accurate than the 400+ EC 2020 throat stomping that was 43,0000 votes away from Trump winning re-election.
Thank you for the reply. First, everything is definitely not great. It is a desperate time. If the Republicans win again, particularly in 2024, I doubt if they will ever give up power.
Correct me if I am wrong, but you seem to believe that unless the Democrats find a way to appeal to the white working class, they will lose. (I am obliged to point out that the working class actually votes heavily Democratic.) They have to find some policy to pass that will appeal to the Trump base. They must be bold. In my view there is no such policy. Certainly not anything where the impact will actually be felt in the next two years. And boldness may backfire.
It was you that posted the link to the Altmeyer book on Authoritarianism. If there is one takeaway from that book, it is that we have zero chance of changing their views and winning their votes. They have to be defeated. The white working class is going to get a whack of cash thanks to Democrats but Trump supporters will eventually be made to believe some nonsense that credits Trump or Republicans for it. After all, this is the party of “Keep the government out of Medicare” placards.
I do not believe the Republicans will ever turn out 74 million votes again, but if they do, we have to turn out 81 million again. Our campaign? Democrats stand for Democracy. Republicans stand for Trump, corruption and authoritarianism. We care about voting rights, they care about Dr. Seuss. Rinse and repeat.
Democrats are not going to destroy the Republican party. Americans will. Defeat Trumpism and repudiate authoritarianism and then where does the Republican party go? They will have nowhere to go. At that point, a new conservative party may emerge. Or because we have absorbed too many Republicans – a lot more Manchins – who think democracy is a good thing to favour, Democrats may split. A new left wing party could pair with a more conservative Democratic party.
Either way, America wins. .
I disagree entirely. There is only one issue in 2022 and in 2024. Democrats are for democracy, Republicans are against it
If that is not enough to bring out every American who is not an authoritarian to vote Democratic, then the American democracy is going down and Americans will deserve their fate.
If a young voter literally begged me for Sanders type legislation I would not tell him Sanders is a clown who couldn’t deliver a snowball in a snowstorm even though I think he is an irresponsible gadfly. I would not tell him that I think most of the things he wants are the wrong things to want even though I believe that to be true. I do not want to debate policy. All that can do is divide the anti-Republican vote. One issue: democracy. If we lose that, we lose the chance to argue about health care policy. First things first.
What I would tell him is that the party that makes everything he wants impossible is the Republican party and the Republican party wants you to give up and stay home. Their strategy is discourage you and make it hard to vote because they are afraid of your ideas and your collective power. They are counting on your cynicism. Your choice is to stay home and give the Republicans the chance to silence you and me forever or to get off your ass and vote for democracy.
.
Yes, we all know that already. We know it’s the Republican Party that is to blame.
And yet, here we are, half-measures that aren’t designed to help EVERYONE and save the country, but beholden to Republicans pretending to be Democrats in WV.
I’m not unaware of the importance of Manchin and Sinema, or how the 50+1 vote reconciliation works.
I’m lamenting that while this is better than before short-term, it’s going to get the country and many liberals killed, long-term.
Because the civil war that the fascists want isn’t behind us just because the incompetent fascist clown barely lost in 2020.
The Covid package is not a half measure. The Manchin demands are peanuts in the big picture. It is a 98% measure. And the biggest boost to the middle class is in the upgrades to Obamacare. Getting this package through is going to be an enormous boon for Americans.
The only thing that matters right now is short term – the next five years. If the Republicans win either of the next two elections, well, it was a nice democracy Americans had.
Does worrying about the power Joe Manchin has due to the fact he is the 50th vote advance our case against Republicans? It does not. Will passing a 1.8 trillion dollar package advance the cause? Immeasurably. I think it will ensure that the United States will come roaring out of the pandemic and the pandemic recession. I’m not sure what else you think is required right now to “save the country”
The answer to getting more from the Senate is to make sure Manchin is the 54th or 55th vote after 2022. In the meantime, he will do what he has to do to win his seat.
“Peanuts” is $1400.00, an amount that was supposed to be given to all Americans months ago, not going out to 17 million people.
Your language shows contempt for middle class workers who, you know, also have bills or whatever, and won’t be getting a measly $1400 because Manchin and Sinema think that poor people are already being given way too much money.
Nevermind the $15 minimum wage. A Climate Change bill that has teeth. Student Loan forgiveness. A public option in addition to the ACA. Marijuana decriminalization. Etc, down the line.
You believe young voters are going to be turning out like they did in 2018 and 2020 without Trump in office, and with amazing heroic Democrats like Manchin and Sinema going out of their way to prevent the Democratic Party from doing, uh, Democratic Party things?
$1400 isn’t peanuts to 17 million people. Sinema, apparently holder of half the Democratic Senate votes, mocking a $15 minimum wage. Manchin going out of his way to fuck over his own constituents so he could play a Very Serious Maverick?
The Democratic Party is playing defense with a bare majority. All it will take is for the current stock market bubble to pop to give the Republicans the Senate and House back. And this Covid bill, along with the bills the Democratic Party failed to pass because they were concerned about not upsetting Republican Voters, will be how the Republican Party gets a window to finish the kill.
I do not think it is possible for me to show contempt for someone who earns about four times my income. I would prefer the original bill, but I am delighted with what did pass. (I have no actual dog in the fight as a retired Canadian.)
Yes, I do expect young people to come out in heroic numbers because both Republicans and Democrats are going to keep Trump on the ballot in 2022. Our challenge is to make sure we sustain our rage through the next two years. I have faith in young people. If they came out in 2020 because they understood the stakes, they won’t forget in 2022. As long as Democrats favor science and Republicans preach fiction…
Absolutely we are playing defense with a bare majority. A bare majority forces us to play defense. Plenty of pitfalls lay ahead. My personal number one priority is climate change, but a good climate bill is going to involve unpopular sacrifices. Democrats are going to have to pass one eventually, but it will be a terribly messy process and I want to wait until I can live with losing a couple of elections after passing it. There is a lot that can be done without legislation.
I’ve wondered where Arthur Gilroy is, as well. His input on the Capitol riot would have been informative and entertaining.
Indeed.
There were others I enjoyed reading who are now gone, perhaps passed from this existence.
In the past few years we have had a tax cut and now two stimulus packages. They add up to more than $6 T (that’s trillions). There was a time this was unheard of. Hell Obama couldn’t even get to a trillion in 2009. So it appears Stephanie Kelton’s book has had a heck of a payoff. We now know that our currency belongs to us and not to some mysterious and evil debt gods, despite what some told us. And given the destruction from the virus we needed it despite what one of our political parties thought of it. If one factors into it other things like child and other poverty and debts and climate changes, still more is needed. None of this, of course, will deal with the minimum wage, voting rights and other civil needs. And given the need for 60 votes those will be hard to come by.
That brings us to our now current problem, the filibuster. I have always wondered why or how the democrats let this go for so many years even after losing congress in 2009 and maybe even next year. People have short memories and those who wish for bi -partisanship might as well wish for doses of fairy dust. So we will need to motivate our base to hold on to power or face heaven knows what.
Sure Sanders is a gadfly. But in the end he brings the issues forward. Best we pay attention to the old fool.