Stalin said itâŚ
I believe Stalin said that elections were determined by those who counted the votes, no? The thrust of this article is that itâs actually the people who write the voting rules.
We need two very important amendments to the Constitution: An amendment to establish a right to vote, and another amendment to protect citizenship from being revoked from anyone, and possibly protecting a right of birthright citizenship.
Writing the voting rules is (to my mind) just another way of deciding which votes to count. Nope, not you, youâre black. Nope, not you, youâre poor. White and retired? Let us get you an absentee ballot and help you fill it outâŚ
Iâd like to see any unlawful prevention of people from voting pursed with the same zeal as supposed unauthorized voting, instead of âyour punishment, after several years and extensive appeals, is that you have to obey the law.â
One of the most crucial omissions in our educational system is the subject of Civics. When Civics was dropped from the curriculum, it led the way for generations of apathetic and uninformed citizens. This was no accident.
Once your population becomes ignorant of those vital pieces of information that make him/her a knowledgeable citizen, they automatically become fodder for those who want to keep them ignorant and pliable. It is so much easier to mold folks into bots who donât want to think for themselves.
It is going to be a tough road to hoe, but it is still doable. Those who want to manipulate the masses would like nothing better than for citizens to ânotâ care about why their vote is important. Yes, we have a two-party system. Is it perfect? No. But it can function if people stop and take the time to think about what they are doing. As a coming of age Civil Rights and Vietnam era black person, I donât take it lightly why voting is important.
My family tree is mixed with Democrats and Republicans, but the one thing they had in common despite views on what issues were important to them, was that voting is something you do regardless. You donât make excuses. You pull up your big boy/girl panties and do it. Actions have consequences. Not voting or wasting your vote on a useless third party - for now - effort, will have repercussions for a long time to come.
Great intro. Looking forward to the rest.
Read⌠and watchingâŚ
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~OGD~
Thank you. I look forward to reading and sharing this series.
Although your introduction addresses African-American, Hispanic and Asian voters, western states also have issues with Native voting rights.
Last year In San Juan County UT, the Navajo Nation won 2 voting-rights lawsuits against the county. One targeting gerrymandering: District boundaries were drawn so that, despite being more than 50% of the population, Natives could win only one of 3 County Commissioner seats. The other suit targeted suppression tactics including the closure of all polling locations on the Navajo Nation (parts of which are a 4 hour drive from the county seat), and no provision for English-to Navajo translation.
Despite these wins, suppression continues, as a popular Navajo leader is being disqualified from running for Commissioner because he cannot produce a utility bill with an address despite having been a registered voter for years.
Why would this matter? County Commissioners are the foundation of Utah politics and they tend to be anti-federal government. San Juan County is the site of the (recently reduced and currently under litigation) Bears Ears National Monument and was the site of an illegal Bundy-inspired ATV ride led by one of the County Commissioners. A Native-majority Commission may still be somewhat anti-federal government, but may be more pro-public lands.
Weâre watching to see how this plays out.
âvoting rights are more under siege than at any time in most of our lifetimesâ
Thereâs the BEST reason for all of this.
It started long before Trump, but add that orange slime to the story and the picture gets even worse.
One sure fact that we can all take great consolation in is that the only place Republicans actually have a practical majority outside state legislatures and our Congress is in the daily obituaries.
But that adds a desperate edge to their antics, they know this even better than we do. To protect their 1960âs delusions from the change that has already occurred, they will break every rule of law and logic possible to maintain that artificial majority in our halls of governance.
They are trapped by their own ponderous intransigence and stubborn conservatism in a cycle of futility, and the Democratic Socialists are coming for them with the future they dispossessed because FOX News convinced the angry mob among them that their fellow Americans are their enemies.
But that being said, we are learning the hardest of ways with the Trump Tribulation, BEWARE THE CORNERED BEAST!
Watch the House Republican Conspiracy to Obstruct the Investigation into the Cover-up of Trump Campaign Collusion with Russia morph into one of those historic moments of desperation.
They will exact their revenge any way they can before they go, they would rather see the nation collapse into Putinesque Trumpism than let it change with the kind of grace and dignity the Obamas provided.
There IS a simple answer to all this, Bradblog has covered it exhaustively for a decade.
COUNT THE VOTE!
Just reinstate the old fashioned way we used to hand count as a shadow count to the electronic systems, and keep a running tally from ballot box to final results to make certain the electronic numbers never flip in comparison to the hand count.
The Canadians still do it, we can do it too.
Someday, we need to make voting so easy, it can be mandatory without being invasive or oppressive. If thereâs one right we need to surrender if we want The People to actually rule themselves, it is the right NOT to vote.
Surrender that single ârightâ and all the rest are protected for posterity.