Voting Rights Must Be A Priority In 2020 Race | Talking Points Memo

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This piece is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1258791
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From my reading it seems most leading Democratic candidates want to end voter suppression. Notably. however,

Joe Biden did not return a request for comment. His campaign website is currently vague on how he would use federal powers to regulate elections.

That isn’t a shock when you realize Biden wants to take us back to 2016 and thinks he can get along with Republicans.

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Brilliant move.

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I love how the author describes those pursuing these electoral reforms as “pro-democracy forces,” a term usually employed by our government when American troops are deployed on aggressive military adventures abroad.

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Yes voting rights in 2020. Particularly the chance to get to the polls next year, and to have your vote actually counted.

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“if they are able to win back the White House and the Senate, the party must be prepared to take advantage of their progressive majority and pass these policies immediately”

This. Over the last several years it has become obvious that smash mouth tactics have become the new political template. I wish it was otherwise, but it is not, and it is not our side’s fault. If the Dems can win both houses of congress and the presidency, they need to use them to enact legislation that the majority of Americans want. The opportunity must not be squandered chasing the white whale of bipartisanship.

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Tell that to Joe Biden. He is the Captain Ahab of bipartisanship

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The problem is that progressive, or pro-democracy forces, don’t speak with one voice. Medicare for All, or Medicare for All Who Want It? Universal background checks or limits on size of magazines? Outlaw assault weapons, or repeal the gun-show loophole? Easy to say enact the progressive program, but a lot harder to do, not least because no one agrees on what, exactly, that program is.

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Candidates who aren’t willing to be out-front, today, about their plans to repair and protect our democracy and aren’t willing to say so plainly on their websites, will prove to be completely useless to reformers when they are elected and push comes to shove.