#this election cycle will DETERMINE what legislation gets passed | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cyarskaren52 · 8 months

Text

https://web.archive.org/web/20210106235601/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/05/us/politics/raphael-warnock-georgia-senate.html

Raphael Warnock’s Win Is One for the History Books

A Baptist preacher born and raised in Georgia, he will become his state’s first Black senator, breaking a barrier with distinct meaning in American politics.

GARDEN CITY, Ga. — There have been so few Black Democrats elected to the Senate that when Vice President-elect Kamala Harris campaigned for the Rev. Raphael Warnock in Savannah this week the pairing spoke volumes, even if unintentionally, about racial representation in statewide office.

In purely partisan terms, a leader of the Democratic Party was seeking to rally voters in an important Senate runoff election, the results of which will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the chamber. But it was also a rare chance for one Senate barrier breaker to pass the torch to another. Ms. Harris was the first Black woman and woman of color to serve as a senator from California. Mr. Warnock will become the first Black senator from Georgia.

During his speech at the event with Ms. Harris, Mr. Warnock described being arrested by police officers at the U.S. Capitol during protests and political action over the years.

“I wasn’t mad at them. They were doing their job and I was doing my job,” Mr. Warnock said. “But in a few days I’m going to meet those Capitol Hill police officers again and this time they will not be taking me to central booking. They can help me find my new office.”

Mr. Warnock’s victory over Senator Kelly Loeffler early Wednesday is a fitting culmination to an election cycle in which, hours after Joseph R. Biden Jr. was declared the president-elect, he told Black voters, “You’ve always had my back, and I’ll have yours.”

It is also a generational breakthrough for Southern Black Democrats.

Mr. Warnock, 51, the pastor who took the pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once preached, spoke on the campaign trail about his life experiences as a Black man born and raised in the South. He ran for office in a state where people in predominantly Black neighborhoods waited in disproportionately long lines to vote last year, and where one study found that more than 80 percent of the residents hospitalized for coronavirus in the state were Black — vestiges of systemic racism in the democratic and health care systems.

Political power in the former Jim Crow South, where few Black Americans have been elected to statewide office, is inextricably linked to race. And Mr. Warnock’s place in the political universe is distinct from the election of Ms. Harris, or Northerners like former President Barack Obama, previously a senator from Illinois, and Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Together, Mr. Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the other Democratic candidate, have the chance to expand the legislative agenda of Mr. Biden. But Mr. Warnock alone was seeking to overcome a barrier reinforced in the South over and over again, crystallized in a saying that became popular during the civil rights movement: “The South doesn’t care how close a Negro gets, just so he doesn’t get too high.”

On Tuesday, Black Democrats in Georgia said such history was not lost on them. Neither was how long it took the party to seriously pursue the possibility of success in Georgia.

“It took Democrats forever to invest in Georgia,” said Frazier Lively, a 71-year-old who lives in Macon and attended a recent rally. “Now you would hope what’s happening here is a message to what’s possible going forward.”

Felicia Davis, an organizer who has worked for years in Clayton County, said it was important to think about the coalition that is supporting Democrats as the next iteration of organizers who worked in the civil rights movement. She drew a direct line from their work to the current push to register and turn out Black voters for a Black candidate.

“You have to know the names: Joseph Lowery, Reverend James Orange, Rita Samuels, everybody knows these names,” Ms. Davis said. “All of them are dead now. But people have come together to continue that work. We register. We travel around the state, and we’ve gotten our voices heard.”

Throughout the presidential primary and general election, Democrats have had to wrestle with questions of racial representation, electability and how to balance a rising multicultural coalition with those who are more focused on transformational policy. In the primary, older Black voters balked at Black candidates like Mr. Booker and Ms. Harris in favor of Mr. Biden, on the belief that he was best suited to defeat Mr. Trump. Progressives — and particularly younger voters — supported more liberal candidates like Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

The Rev. William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, said all politicians, including Black ones, are in the end judged on policy even if they are barrier-breaking figures.

“Policy, Policy, Policy, that’s the only reason you elect people in the office is to push policy,” he said, repeating the word to emphasize the point. “A Black person is not elected just to hold the position. And the truth of the matter is Black politicians, from the state, to the Congress, to the Senate, they have to ask themselves the question, have we put these issues at the center?”

One urgent issue for all candidates in 2020, especially Democrats, was the summer of racial reckoning. In Georgia, the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020 ignited protests, isolated instances of property damage, and put intense pressure on public officials — including Black ones.

Mr. Warnock, then in the early stages of his Senate race, navigated the social justice movement for the first time as a candidate for public office rather than solely from behind the pulpit. The words were more measured, the indictments of White America less stinging, as he and other Democrats tried to channel the anger of the community into an electoral purpose.Supporters of Mr. Warnock at an event in Hephzibah, Ga., on Monday.Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

This week, during a campaign stop in Brunswick, Ga., Mr. Warnock spoke with Mr. Arbery’s father.

He did not mention the killing in his speech, but talked about his own family’s history as sharecroppers and victims of racial injustice.

“That’s why I love America because you always have a path to make a great country even greater,” Mr. Warnock said.

But no amount of careful word choice — or television advertisements with hopeful slogans and puppies — could stop his candidacy from becoming a lightning rod in an era defined by race, racial grievance and those who seek to capitalize on its backlash. After the general election was over, and it was clear there would be a runoff against Ms. Loeffler, Mr. Warnock became the subject of an all-out conservative assault, which sought to define him as an out-of-touch radical who was against Georgia’s values. Ms. Loeffler, a Republican, seized on snippets from his sermons from his pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church, presenting out-of-context statements on the military and Israel as ammunition.

While Republicans largely ignored Mr. Ossoff’s candidacy at their rallies, they took aim at Mr. Warnock repeatedly.

“Warnock is the most radical and dangerous left-wing candidate ever to seek this office, and certainly in the state of Georgia, and he does not have your values,” Mr. Trump said at his rally in Dalton, Ga., on Monday.

Mr. Trump does not get to define Georgia’s values, however. Voters made that clear in November, when Mr. Biden won the state — a result the president is baselessly continuing to question. Georgia’s population, and with it, perhaps, its values, is changing. The state’s Latino and Asian-American populations are growing, and the suburbs are drawing younger voters and college-educated moderates as well.

That is perhaps why Mr. Warnock the candidate sounded less like Mr. Warnock the preacher and more like Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat whose strategy of voter turnout specifically emphasizes multiculturalism rather than Blackness.

Ms. Abrams, in a recent interview, said she tries not to focus on one group over another when talking about how Georgia became a Democratic bright spot.

“I want us to be really clear that this requires the investment and support of multiple communities,” Ms. Abrams said. “This is a multiracial, multiethnic, multigenerational coalition. And the extent to which we give primacy to one group at the exclusion of the other, I become nervous.”

Nevertheless, Mr. Warnock’s journey from Black pastor to Black senator is an exercise of a different type of faith: It’s a belief that American politics can change from the inside, that the Democratic Party’s most loyal voters can see themselves represented in Congress. That there is room to push the country forward within its institutions, rather than diagnosing its problems from outside.

The latter is something Black pastors, who by tradition often tell uncomfortable truths, have done for centuries. The Black senator is a singular road, occupied by few people in American history, and none from Georgia at all.

Sent from my iPhone

0 notes

msclaritea · 1 year

Text

A Betsy DeVos-backed group helps fuel a rapid expansion of public money for private schools

The American Federation for Children has found success amid a 20-year low in support for K-12 education and protests over lessons involving race and identity.

A growing number of states have enacted laws that offer families money for private education, which could significantly upend how K-12 schools are funded.NBC News / Getty Images

March 30, 2023, 4:00 AM MST

By Tyler Kingkade

DES MOINES, Iowa — A conservative nonprofit group founded by former Trump administration Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said it poured about $9 million into state elections last year, backing nearly 200 candidates. Now, some of those candidates are pushing a wave of legislation boosting DeVos’ longtime goal: subsidizing private schools with public dollars.

Using at least $2.5 million from DeVos and her husband, the American Federation for Children has played a pivotal role in getting what supporters call “school choice” policies passed into law in at least three states and introduced in several more, according to current and former GOP legislators, lobbyists for teachers unions and academics.

Republican lawmakers in over a dozen states have recently cited complaints about liberal ideology in public schools as a reason to support helping parents pay for private education. That shift in strategy has been hailed by organizations like the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that helped spur parent protests over lessons about racism. And it has helped cement funding for private schooling as a benchmark of Republican governance.

The nonprofit group has found success amid a 20-year low in approval for the K-12 education system and after two years of protests over lessons involving race and LGBTQ identity. It is now on the verge of ushering in a transformation in how large swaths of the country fund schools.

“They’ve been quite strategic,” Patrick Wolf, an education policy professor at the University of Arkansas, said of the group. “They’ve particularly targeted rural Republicans who are opposed to school choice. They just had to take out a few marginal incumbents, and thereby put the fear of God into the rest of them.”

It’s difficult to determine whether the laws would have been enacted without the American Federation for Children’s involvement; other groups supporting the same “school choice” policies also targeted lawmakers with campaign ads last year. Each state’s political landscape is unique and subject to myriad factors. But the federation’s spending preceded a marked increase in both the scale of private school subsidies on the table at the state level and the rate at which the laws have been enacted.

In Florida, where the American Federation for Children’s state political action committee spent $1.7 million during last year’s elections, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law Monday that will allow more families to receive public funds to pay for private education, regardless of their financial need.

In Iowa and Arkansas, where the organization’s PAC put money into ousting incumbent Republicans who had resisted past proposals to subsidize private education, GOP governors signed sweeping legislation this winter to offer money for school tuition for every child in their states.

And in Texas, where the American Federation for Children’s PAC spent $1 million during last year’s election cycle, and in Georgia, where it spent $380,000, bills recently advanced in the GOP-controlled legislatures to create programs to fund private schooling.

“We’re doing a lot of winning — I’m almost getting tired of winning so much because we’re winning all across the country,” Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the federation, said in a Twitter Space on Sunday.

DeVos and other conservatives have long advocated for financially supporting families who want to move their children from public schools to private ones, calling these policies “school choice,” and arguing that they would help poor children get a better education. Opponents, including teachers unions, educators and Democrats, have pushed back, arguing that such policies would siphon students and money away from public schools.

DeVos, a billionaire philanthropist, was unsuccessful in pushing for “school choice” bills in Congress during her time in the Trump administration and was stymied in attempts to reroute federal dollars toward private education, but the political winds among the GOP base have changed since then.

DeVos said in a June 2022 C-SPAN interview that parent protests had driven increased interest in “education freedom” policies, and that this was having an electoral impact.

“Importantly, we’ve seen this issue really inform many of the primary races this year in states where there haven’t been programs and where there’s been legislation introduced in the past but there simply hasn’t been enough support,” she said. “But this issue has really popped to the top of the list for many states. And so I think in this next year or two, we’re going to see some major gains.”

Tommy Schultz, CEO of the American Federation for Children, said the group targeted 69 incumbents in state legislatures last year and ousted 40 of them.

The group is “willing to beat opponents of either party who oppose the desires of parents who want these educational options,” Schultz said in a statement.

“Especially after 2020 and the chaos created for parents by the teachers’ unions and the education establishment,” he added, “parents are now winning one of the most important domestic policy issues of our time: school choice.”

Removing incumbents is a move that sends a strong signal, said Maurice Cunningham, a University of Massachusetts-Boston professor who studies the impact of dark money groups: “Get in our way, and you’ll be gone.”

“Politicians are rational,” Cunningham said. “It intimidates people. Who wants to be next after that?”

DeVos left her role as chairman of the American Federation for Children when she joined the Trump administration, but she remains one of its largest financial backers. She and her husband, Dick, gave at least $2.25 million to the nonprofit group’s national PAC and $250,000 to its Texas PAC last year. The organization’s national political arm also drew $1 million from Cleveland Browns co-owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam for its national election efforts. Jim Walton, a billionaire banker and son of the Walmart founder, put in $100,000 toward the group’s work in Arizona last year.

The American Federation for Children “helps make sure what’s best for students comes first by ensuring parents, not just the unions, have a seat at the table when it comes to education policy,” Nate Bailey, DeVos’ chief of staff, said in an email.

The Haslams said in a statement that they support the American Federation for Children’s efforts “to help students from all different areas and backgrounds have a chance for a quality education and a brighter future.”

You know what comes next, after the DeVos family and the Catholic Church succeed in destroying public schools? Our children under the control of an organization that historically are known as extreme abusers.

0 notes

disillusioned41 · 3 years

Link

Since the Civil War, midterm elections have enabled the president’s party to gain ground in the House of Representatives only three times, and those were in single digits. The last few midterms have been typical: In 2006, with Republican George W. Bush in the White House, his party lost 31 House seats. Under Democrat Barack Obama, his party lost 63 seats in 2010 and then 13 seats in 2014. Under Donald Trump, in 2018, Republicans lost 41 seats. Overall, since World War II, losses have averaged 27 seats in the House.

Next year, if Republicans gain just five House seats, Rep. Kevin McCarthy or some other right-wing ideologue will become the House speaker, giving the GOP control over all committees and legislation. In the Senate, where the historic midterm pattern has been similar, a Republican gain of just one seat will reinstall Mitch McConnell as Senate majority leader.

"Truly bold political actions—culminating in landmark legislation to improve the economic and social well-being of vast numbers of Americans—will be essential to improve the slim chances that Biden's presidency won't lead to a Republican takeover of Congress midway through his term."

To prevent such disastrous results, Democrats would need to replicate what happened the last time the president’s party didn’t lose House or Senate seats in a midterm election—two years after Bush entered the White House. The odds are steeply against it, as elections analyst Nathaniel Rakich points out: "Bush was very popular in 2002 in the aftermath of 9/11. According to a retrospective FiveThirtyEight average of polls at the time, he had a 62 percent approval rating and 29 percent disapproval rating on Election Day 2002. And in this era of polarization—where presidential approval ratings are stuck in a very narrow band—it's hard to imagine (President) Biden ever reaching that level of popularity."

It's not just history that foreshadows a return to Capitol power for the likes of McCarthy and McConnell. All year, Republican officeholders have been methodically doing all they can to asphyxiate democracy. And they can do a lot more.

With new census data, the once-in-a-decade chance to redistrict means that Republican-dominated state legislatures can do maximal gerrymandering. "Because Democrats fell short of their 2020 expectations in state legislative races," FiveThirtyEight politics reporter Alex Samuels says, "Republicans have the opportunity to redraw congressional maps that are much more clearly in their favor." All this year, awaiting census figures to manipulate, Republican legislatures have been enacting outrageous new voter-suppression laws, many of the sort recently greenlighted by the Supreme Court and calculated to destroy voting rights.

Related Content

In Leaked Video, GOP Congressman Admits His Party Wants 'Chaos and Inability to Get Stuff Done'

Jake Johnson

In the face of impending election disasters in 2022 and beyond, denial might be a natural coping mechanism, but it only makes matters worse. Reality should now spur a sustained all-out effort—in courts, legislatures, Congress and public venues—to safeguard as many democratic processes as possible for next year's elections, while organizing against the dozens of major voter-suppression tactics of recent years.

At the same time, truly bold political actions—culminating in landmark legislation to improve the economic and social well-being of vast numbers of Americans—will be essential to improve the slim chances that Biden's presidency won't lead to a Republican takeover of Congress midway through his term. Though largely drowned out by the din of mainstream punditry urging "bipartisan" approaches, many astute voices are urgently calling for measures that could transform political dynamics before the 2022 general elections.

"We've got to go big, and take it to another level," first-term Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman said in an email to supporters this week. "We've got to deliver and get this done for our communities. So why on earth are we wasting time trying to compromise with Republicans?" Bowman added: "If we do not fight for our communities and put them in the center of the work we do—if we continue to prioritize the myth of 'bipartisanship' over the people we were elected to fight for and represent in Washington—we will lose elections. If we want to maintain control and the opportunity to do great work beyond 2022, Democrats need to deliver in this very moment."

Nina Turner, who's likely to become a member of Congress in November after a special election for a vacant seat in a northeast Ohio district, said recently: "When are we going to learn? Republicans plan for the long term. What can we do right now before the next election cycle and get it done and go big? Because power is fleeting. You've got to use it while you’ve got it."

Days ago, in a Washington Post column, The Nation's editorial director Katrina vanden Heuvel posed "the critical question" as Congress reconvened after a holiday break: "Are Democrats ready to act?" She wrote: "While President Biden is selling the bipartisan infrastructure deal as a 'generational investment,' the real effort will come from using the budget reconciliation process to pass vitally needed public investments with Democratic votes only. For all the focus on Biden's ability to work across the aisle, the true challenge is whether he and the congressional leadership can work with all Democrats. That test will do much to determine whether the party can retain or increase its majorities in the next election—and whether the country will begin to address the cascading crises that it faces."'

What remains to be determined is whether such warnings will end up being the tragically prophetic voices of Cassandras—or clarion calls for action that are heeded in time to prevent an unhinged Republican Party from taking control of Congress when 2023 begins.

#Common Dreams #us politics #2022 midterms #voting #elections #democrats #2022

1 note · View note

disembodiedapparition · 3 years

Text

The American Political System: explained

The results of the United States’ high-stakes 2020 election have immeasurable impacts on the rest of the globe, thereby thrusting itself onto the world’s growing list of anxieties. The next president would determine the foreign policy, priorities, and values that the world’s most powerful country would hold for the next four years, and regardless of the victor, the results will undoubtedly deepen the divide between the supporters of America’s two largest political parties.

The United States is the third largest country in the world, home to a population of about 330 million people. The population of the United States is incredibly diverse in terms of ethnicity, culture, age groups, education levels, incomes, genders, and backgrounds, and these factors usually play a large part in affecting the way certain demographics vote. The political system in America is called a representative democracy, which means that each of the 330 million US citizens have a role in electing officials who represent their interests and views to positions in all three levels of government: local, state, and federal.

America’s election process is hazy, especially when it comes to voting for a president, one of the most influential governmental positions. In the American system, each state is assigned a number of electoral votes depending on its population size. In its entirety, the United States has 538 electoral votes up for grabs, and whoever manages to get the largest majority of them wins. When ballots are being counted, they’re separated by state. Once they determine the candidate with the most votes in that particular state, all of its electoral votes are assigned to that candidate (with the exceptions of Maine and Nebraska). For example, considering Florida with its 29 electoral votes: if the vote was split 47.4% to 48.6%, all 29 of its votes would go to the leading candidate.

This system’s relevance and efficacy has been the subject to vigorous debate ever since Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Electoral College loss. Though she won the popular vote by over 3 million, she didn’t win enough states to be awarded the presidency. A common concern with the Electoral College is that it invalidates the key promise of democracy – every vote counts. The situation in Florida (which is what happened in 2016’s race) showed that 47.4% of the population’s vote was technically ignored. Evidently, it’s possible for a candidate to win the majority of the country’s votes and still lose the presidency.

Although America isn’t officially a two-party democracy, its Electoral College inherently prohibits the entry of a third. Given the strong pull of partisanship and the winner-take-all nature of the Electoral College, it’s extremely unlikely for a third party to garner much support. Americans are heavily divided over several core issues, like the economy, reproductive rights, sustainability, immigration, and racial justice. Political parties consistently take advantage of this divide by demonizing each other and aligning themselves with either liberal or conservative takes, thus ensuring a solid voting base that they can count on regardless of who their candidate is or how unsuitable they might be for office.

This system seems to have worked out for politicians so far. Over the years, voters’ belief that the victory of the opposition would mean utter devastation has only strengthened, encouraging Americans to forget about third parties and vote either blue or red. The media has been increasingly emphasizing the importance of each successive election cycle over the years: “This election could break America”; “This is the most important election of our lives”; “This is the test to determine who we really are as a nation”. It’s only gotten more apocalyptic over the years, and this narrative only serves to keep America in the throes of the two-party system.

Many Americans believe that voting for a third party, no matter how good their policies are, is a lost cause and would only increase the risk of the other party winning. Citizens whose political beliefs overlap more with a third party candidate often choose to vote for either a Democratic or Republican candidate to ensure their votes are used on a candidate who actually has a chance of winning. A good example of this mindset is the mayhem following the announcement of Kanye’s 2020 presidential run. The minute he declared it, millions of Democrats all over the country began warning against voting for him: “It’s an attempt to divide the Democratic base”, “He’s colluding with Trump”, “Whatever you do, please don’t vote Kanye West.” Despite not knowing what he stood for, his chances were immediately blown because it was “the most important election of their lives” and they couldn’t afford to “waste their votes” on a third-party candidate. Instead of voting for the greater good, US elections have become a battle to determine the lesser evil; and choosing candidates has become less about who has better policies and more about who has a better chance of winning the vote of the majority of the country.

George Washington, America’s first president, warned the nation of the ills of hyper-partisanship in his 1796 farewell address: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.” Similarly, John Adams, one of America’s founding fathers and Washington’s successor, worried that “a division of the republic into two great parties… is to be dreaded as the great political evil.” Although America’s two-party system does ensure that whoever wins must cultivate support from a wide majority of the country, it demands cooperation post victory. The two-party system may have worked centuries ago, but America today faces a new series of challenges. Back then, the two parties contained enough overlapping beliefs within them that the sort of bargaining and coalition-building natural to multiparty democracy could work inside the two-party system. Today, the two parties are so far apart that the government has been rendered ineffective; if the House has a democratic majority and the Senate is Republican led, it’s likely that they’ll be incapable of working together to pass new legislation or bills even when their interests align.

The American multiparty democracy may not be perfect, but it’s the most efficient form of government when partisanship doesn’t take over. The answers to the problems of America’s political system don’t lie in abolishment of all political institutions or even doing our best to keep the ones we have up and running. America needs to build a new set of establishments that take the views and interests of the broadly diverse set of people in America into account, and work on bridging the gap between the left and the right so our government can rebuild the coalition that multiparty democracy stands on.

#united states #usa #america #united states of america #politics #political system #political theory #donald trump #kanye #elections #democracy #article #writing #analysis #writers on tumblr #george washington #biden #voting #two party system

2 notes · View notes

bustedbernie · 4 years

Link

Oh hai. Lately there have been a slew of think pieces about Bernie Sanders being the front-runner, discussing how his movement has threatened to withhold their votes from Democrats if Bernie isn’t the nominee. Hidden between the lines is the idea that Democrats, in general, owe their votes to Sanders if he is the nominee, regardless of the fact that his voters do NOT owe Dems their votes if he is not. So, rather than call them out for using the same tactics that lost the 2016 election, there is a faction in the media that is growing more and more permissive to the idea that Bernie and his Revolution are somehow the victims in all this, and that mainstream Dems have done them wrong time and time again when picking a candidate that appeals to the Dems masses.

Let me let you in on a little secret.

I don’t owe Bernie Sanders or his fucked off revolution of stanerific emo-marxist cyber-terrorists a goddamn bit of shit the fuck all. When these utter fucking geniuses in the media reflect on how energized and dedicated his enthusiastic fans are when engaging in their harassment of the average Dem, they seem to think the people who have been abused don’t fucking matter. These Dems are people who have never done anything whatsoever to deserve the constant bullying, cyber-stalking, targeting, threats, or in my case, being falsely reported to the FBI by fans of Bernie who seek to silence dissent. What these media personalities don’t understand is that the abuse by Bernie fans, in his name, actually causes the gap between MAGA and Berners to shrink to the point where it is non-existent. There is no real difference between the abuse from either side, and since Sanders isn’t the warm and fuzzy type that reaches out to the people who have been abused, often there appears to be no real difference between Sanders and Trump.

Slate:

Still, the Bernie-or-Busters, small as they may be, have spun their position into an argument for why others should vote for Bernie Sanders too, regardless of the platform they prefer. As efforts in political persuasion go, this contingent puts forward an openly hostile argument. Sanders is the only electable candidate, they suggest, not just because of his policies, but because of the single-mindedness of his followers. The reason you should vote for Sanders is that we won’t vote for anyone else. You don’t want Trump to win again, do you?

No. But I also don’t want Bernie Sanders to win. In a case of one not liking either candidate, people look to see which movement they feel most comfortable with, Bernie’s or Trump’s. If it turns out that both movements engage in racist behavior, sexism, and homophobia, it really doesn’t matter what they profess to be in favor of as far as policy is concerned, what matters is how they treat their fellow citizens by and large. We all know that unless we take back the Senate with a large majority that can defeat Republican attempts to stop legislation from hitting Sanders’ desk, nothing will pass anyway. So, if you’re not in favor of Bernie’s policies in the first place, and do not like him or his movement, why would you be enthusiastic about showing up for the guy who leads the movement that engages in attacks on you?

Yes, it sounds like ugly hostage taking—not a brilliant persuasive strategy but a crude ego-boosting exercise for a group of leftists who can’t resist the impulse to lord some power over an electorate that doesn’t normally consider them relevant. But that’s exactly what makes it so normal, even understandable, in a depressing “we’re all human” sort of way. [NO.] Because the truth is this: Every threat these Sanders stans are explicitly making is one the venerated Centrist Swing Voter makes implicitly—and isn’t judged for. The centrist never even has to articulate his threat.

Excuse me, it IS ugly hostage taking, it is NOT normal, and no, it doesn’t make me see them as more human.

Another thing is this: not everyone opposed to Bernie Sanders is a Centrist, Moderate, or a Swing voter. Many of us are as far left or to the left of Sanders, I for one am definately to his left, and had supported him in 2015. That was until his racist abusive Bern Mafia targeted me for expressing concern about his lack of outreach to black voters. I noticed his lack of history in hiring black people (D.C. is Chocolate City, we could not find one black staffer in 2015; I am open to correction on this point; if he had black staffers prior to 2015, please send me receipts because I have been looking for them.), lamented and mocked his poor showing at Netroots, fumed over his constant MLK appropriation, jeered at his white ass crowds, and felt humiliated by his inability to discuss black people in ways that were not centered on Poverty or Prisons. It is HIS FAULT that his voters have no clue how to engage Black people without resorting to stereotypes and outright bigotry, because he does the same thing.

Buzzfeed:

Sanders, seated across the table, a yellow legal pad at hand, responded with a question of his own, according to two people present: “Aren’t most of the people who sell the drugs African American?” The candidate, whose aides froze in the moment, was quickly rebuffed: The answer, the activists told him, was no. Even confronted with figures and data to the contrary, Sanders appeared to have still struggled to grasp that he had made an error, the two people present said.

No. He did not apologize for spreading this stereotype, and yes, it shows how he views black people in general.

Slate:

One of many disorienting factors in this election cycle is the fact that the left is more popular and more viable than it has been in a long, long time. They have not one but two exciting candidates, and both are offering policies closer to what leftists actually want than most presidential contenders in U.S. history have.

I wanted the party to move to the Left towards the direction of where I stood too. I can’t really name my ideology because it’s so far left I am almost hitting the wall. Additionally, I am more Libertarian than Sanders, who trends more authoritarian. Yet, I instinctively know that playing a game of “my way or the highway” won’t lead to a place where poverty programs are expanded up and out, ensuring all necessities of life are provided. It will lead to gridlock and we will make zero progress.

Because folks at the center tend to be wooed by multiple candidates, they’re used to having options, and they’re used to the experience of their vote determining who ends up with the nomination. This means that they usually like the candidate they vote for, in the primary and in the general. Not so for leftists, who get to merely tolerate the candidates they end up having to vote for in order to mitigate the damage from a worse result.

Here’s the rub… I’m Black. None of this shit applies to me, because as a Black person, I rarely even LIKE or TRUST any of the candidates I have been voting for over the years. I also usually, especially in State and Locally, don’t have any say so in determining the nominee of any race. I am always stuck voting for whoever White People choose as the candidate, and as such, am merely tolerating whoever is chosen to prevent a worse outcome, which usually means preventing a racist shitmonger from winning a race.

Speaking of race… Progressives refuse to address race as a factor in anything; they like to ignore race in everything they do and allow Prison Policy to stand in for Racial Policy, so it’s impossible to get them to see my reality. They get this shit from Bernie.

From Buzzfeed:

“The real issue is not whether you’re black or white, whether you’re a woman or a man,” he said in a 1988 interview. “The real issue is whose side are you on? Are you on the side of workers and poor people or are you on the side of big money and the corporations?”

Not much has changed with Bernie, as you know, Bernie never changes, because he was born as a 72 year old yelly man, just like Benjamin Button, but louder and not as cute.

“It’s not good enough for someone to say, ‘I’m a woman! Vote for me!’” No, that’s not good enough. What we need is a woman who has the guts to stand up to Wall Street, to the insurance companies, to the drug companies, to the fossil fuel industry,” the Vermont independent senator and former Democratic presidential candidate said in a not-so-subtle rebuke to Hillary Clinton”

Bernie’s attacks on Identity Politics filtered down to his base, causing them to feel confident in their attacks on Blacks, LGBTQ, and Women who brought up issues of race, sexuality, and gender over the past few years. They love to say shit to black people online that they would never say to an actual Black person IN PERSON, because they are scared as fuck of Black people. Kinda like Bernie. The refrain of “that’s identity politics, not real policy’ rang out constantly on social media the past few years to the point where pointing out racism, homophobia, and sexism was met with swarms of white men attacking Black people, All Women Who Dared To Be THAT Bitch, LGBTQ, and really, anyone worried about social justice issues that focused on identity. The attacks were and ARE bigoted in the extreme.

This is racist as fuck and is one of the ways the Bernie Titty-Babies managed to marginalize Kamala Harris and drive a wedge between her and Black Voters. Somehow they thought keeping it going would make us like dusty ass Bernie more, but they’re stupid, because we don’t even like that geriatric Bernadook now.

This is homophobic.

Bernie’s supporters are engaging in a hate campaign against Mayor Pete and are trying to convince the world that they are not being homophobic, they are just saying Pete is suppressing his dangerous serial killer nature by being so straight laced. This is fucked up because they are attacking a gay man for being “straight appearing” in spite of the fact that his seeming straightness is how he interacts with a world that hates gay people, and has at times (and Still Does) MURDERED men and women who are gay for not assimilating or conforming to hetero-normative stereotypes. Bernie ignores this behavior from his fans like he ignores all of their nasty hate campaigns. I blame him.

This is misogynistic. No explanation needed.

Racist and fat shaming. Black hair is not your fucking business, bitch. Back the fuck up.

This is just blatantly false and caused people to harass Kamala Harris supporters until they stopped using the Yellow Circles she asked supporters to wear, it stems from the misogynoir his fans engaged in towards Kamala. Bernie has never said shit, so I blame him.

Bigotry. Also erasure of Biden’s Black support in a effort to make it seem as if Bernie is the candidate of diversity. Bernie is at fault, he also erases minorities.

Sexist. Also, damn near all of his fans seem to hate Obama on the same level and with as much heat as MAGA. Why the fuck would we want to join in unity with this man when his fans HATE the first black President. Oh, you think Bernie has nothing to do with setting the tone?

“The business model, if you like, of the Democratic Party for the last 15 years or so has been a failure,” Sanders started, responding to a question about the young voters who supported his campaign. “People sometimes don’t see that because there was a charismatic individual named Barack Obama, who won the presidency in 2008 and 2012.

“He was obviously an extraordinary candidate, brilliant guy. But behind that reality, over the last 10 years, Democrats have lost about 1,000 seats in state legislatures all across this country.”

Bernie doesn’t fucking like Obama either.

Sexism. Racism. Bernie does the worst with Black Women, and is often dismissive when asked a question by one of us. So, his fans see nothing to lose by targeting us in particular, and we in turn are likely the largest group of people willing to sit this one out if Bernie manages to come out on top. The media is no help whatsoever to marginalized people, because they ultimately weave a narrative where Bernie comes out the victim.

We can already see it happening amongst the Children of the Bern, where they have taken to labeling K-Hive, a movement started by a Black Woman (Me) for a Black Woman (Kamala Harris), “Liberal ISIS” for our resistance to Bernie and willingness to defend the other candidates from the attacks levied by the Berner Swarm.

Oh, cry me a fucking river! We don’t dox, cyberstalk, harass, abuse, try to get people fired, engage in bigotry, we learn from our mistakes, and we never make it our mission to ruin someone’s life.

We simply turn the tables on the bros and ask tough questions, like Kamala Harris. If that breaks you down, you were already broken before you found us. Oh, yeah. That’s another thing. We don’t go looking for Berners to abuse; we wait until they come to abuse US and refuse to play along.

Regardless of what poor Peter Daou says, there is no “Unadulterated Hatred” in asking if someone has checked on him.

So, yes, I can blame Bernie for the nastiness of his movement and choose not to ever join it no matter what. Progressives love to play forever victims, even while they engage in their vile abuse, but I do not have to empower their movement or help them elect Bernie. Maybe if enough people sound the alarm and let him know we will not be helping him in November while suffering constantly at the hands of his Branch Bernidians, then he will have no choice but to be a leader and fucking lead these assholes into being decent people. I don’t expect the abuse to magically end if Bernie becomes President or loses to Trump, and I also don’t expect him to do shit about it, so I guess I’m just Never Bernie. What I am now stuck with is the same as always; White States get to vote first and create the narrative that Dem voters are in favor of whoever these powerful white voters choose, and I am sick of it and sick of Sanders. I didn’t become a Democrat to not only be marginalized by the White Moderate, but to also suffer abuse from the punk ass White leftist bitchmade humdinger of a Revolution. I’m not here to empower shitfucks that search me out no matter where I am just to heap abuse on me, threaten me, or report me to the FBI as a possible MASS SHOOTER, all because I think Bernie is an old bigot who minimizes Black oppression to appease the white voters he thinks he’ll need to win the General.

I’m just Never Bernie, deal with it or die mad about it. I don’t care which.

#neverbernie #bernie #berniesanders #bernie sanders #berniebros #bernie bros #notmeus #feelthebern #long post #longpost #faq

34 notes · View notes

mitigatedchaos · 4 years

Text

Quick Concept: Public re-election funding based on political policy “contracts.”

On running for election, the candidate supplies a public list of which policies they’ll get signed into law, and what % of the total re-election fund (with estimated $ amount) they’ll receive if it’s determined that legislation is passed. The list is sorted by amount ‘wagered.’ A copy of each politician’s list is sent out to all registered voters in the area.

Compliance is determined by a 60% supermajority of a bipartisan commission of lawyers selected at random from party lawyer pools.

Hmn, to prevent completely shutting down the opposition party, perhaps whenever any wager from a politician from a party is completed, the same amount of funding is divided equally among all politicians of the opposing party.

Probably results in a bunch of small centrist feel-good legislation, but currently parties have incentive to completely shut out the opposition even on issues they agree on, to get a partisan win.

For @the-grey-tribe ‘s previously mentioned problem of “sure, everyone likes $POLICY, but because of that it doesn’t differentiate us from the other party,” so popular $POLICY never goes into law - in this system a popular policy is an easy way for all the politicians to get lots of re-election money.

Also part of the reason we’re in this situation is parties using issues to ‘bait’ groups to get them to show up on election day, then not following through, then baiting them again for the next election cycle. Well, if it’s not on The List, then you know they’re not serious about passing the legislation - and if it is on The List, then it’s tempting to find a way to pass it.

Need to chew on this concept more.

#politics

4 notes · View notes

jadejedi · 4 years

Text

The Young Queen

Padmé Amidala, as seen through the eyes of media across the galaxy, from her election as Queen until after her death.

This fic came out of my deep, enduring love of Padmé Amidala, Naboo, and also third party POV fics. I used a conglomeration of Legends and new canon, as well as a lot of my own world building. Most of the Nubian politicians are some version of canon, except for Padmé’s successor as Princess of Theed, who I made up. Unbeta’d.

Find it here on AO3

THEED TIMES

Princess Amidala of Theed Wins Election Against Veruna

By Suballé Tanvoll

The current Princess of Theed, Amidala, was elected the third youngest ever monarch of Naboo last night. While a fourteen year old political prodigy, who has only served as an elected official for a little over a year, beating an older, more experienced fourth term incumbent, might be surprising to off-worlders, it comes as no surprise to the Naboo. Amidala’s ani-corruption, pro-arts, and pro-social programs platform has become extremely popular in the wake of King Veruna’s recently discovered corruption in the dealings with the Trade Federation.

Amidala was elected as Princess of Theed last year, having served previously in both the Refugee Relief Movement and the Legislative Youth Program. After one year in office as Princess, Amidala had an approval rating of 89%, and is seen as a thoughtful, compassionate leader. For the Age Exception Political Aptitude Test (AEPAT), Amidala scored amongst the 90th percentile. Her intelligence was made obvious to the public in her time as Princess of Theed, where she spearheaded improvements to the capital’s infrastructure, and helped Theed as it continues to transition to a more industrial based economy by passing laws that strengthened unions, imposed stricter regulations on landlords, and ensured the health and safety of industrial workers in and out of the workplace. Amidala won the election against King Veruna with 67% of the votes, a very comfortable majority. The Queen- Elect had the support of Governor Bibble as well as Senator Palpatine.

While she gained popularity as Princess of Theed through her social programs and focus on infrastructure, her campaign largely rested on her harsh criticism of King Veruna and the corruption of his administration. King Veruna, now in the fourth term of his rule, is the longest serving Nubian monarch in over a hundred years. While he is popular with some for his expanding Naboo’s galactic influence by exporting plasma through the Trade Federation, and his founding of the state-of-the-art Naboo starfighter corps, he has lost much of that popularity in recent months. Recent revelations about his involvement with Damask Holdings involving side deals with the Trade Federation have caused outrage both amongst several of his elected advisors and the public at large.

Amidala will step down as Princess of Theed at the end of the galactic month, and then two weeks later will be crowned as Her Royal Highness, Queen Amidala of the Naboo, in the Palace of Theed. In her victory speech last night, Amidala emphasized her desire to fight corruption and move Naboo forward into prosperity.

“For too long our politicians have forgotten that we serve the Naboo. It is the duty of politicians to always seek the best interests of their people. Today, you have spoken. You have told this corrupt government that the Naboo will no longer tolerate a leader who thinks of himself before he thinks of his constituents, and who involved Naboo in risky deals at the cost of our precious ecosystem. I promise you that I will defend Naboo’s honor in rooting out all corruption, and that this will once again be a government for the people.”

“Welcome back to the Planetary Broadcasting Network, Alderaan’s most trusted news source. I’m Cair Pash, and I’m here with my co-host, Yvonne Utelu.” Both hosts smile serenely at the camera.

“Before we get to our main story of the afternoon, Yvonne has some interesting news from the Mid Rim this afternoon.” The good looking, olive toned news anchor turned to the brunette sitting next to him. “Isn’t that right, Yvonne?”

The woman smiled blindly at the camera. “Absolutely, Cair. Today, the planet Naboo, a small Mid Rim world with relatively small galactic significance just shocked the galaxy by choosing a fourteen year old girl in favor of the incumbent, King Veruna. The Queen Elect is a young woman by the name of Amidala, currently the Princess of Theed, their capital city. Despite Naboo having a long history of youth involvement in politics, Amidala’s election is unusual even for them, by being their third youngest ever monarch!”

Cair shakes his head. “Truly amazing that the entire planet would trust a mere teenager to rule them! I understand that this might happen in a hereditary system, such as ours here on Alderaan, but to willingly hand over a planet to someone so young? What seems to be behind this?”

“Well, there has been much dissatisfaction with the current King lately, as he has become mired in several corruption scandals involving Damask Holdings, loosely associated with the Banking Clan, the Trade Federation, and Naboo’s rare natural plasma deposits. Not to mention, Naboo is a very small, peaceful planet, with a heavy focus on art and education. The Naboo place a lot of emphasis on intelligence and purity of heart, rather than age or experience.

“While it is an entire planet, there is still relatively little at stake for the newly elected Queen Amidala, as Naboo has little galactic significance.”

“Hm,” Cair hummed thoughtfully. “Still, a very interesting story. Thanks, Yvonne for that look out into the Mid-Rim.” He turned and faced the center camera. “Now, let’s turn to our main story for the day, also involving a corruption scandal, and this time with Chancellor Valorum…”

“Hello, and welcome to everyone joining us for the coronation of Queen Amidala,” greeted a dark skinned human woman in her forties. Rather than being in a newsroom, as per usual, she was standing in the courtyard of Theed Palace. “I am Nira Strellan, your host, and I am here with NPBC’s Palace correspondent Iarás Thal, as well as the Coruscant Daily’s Mid Rim correspondent, Jak Rils.”

The younger woman and the thirty-something Zabrak man both smiled at the camera. Both women wore elegant, yet reserved Nubian gowns and hairstyles, while Jak wore more typical Coruscanti business wear.

“We are here to bring you coverage of the day’s festivities live from Theed, eventually culminating in the coronation of our new Queen,” continued Nira Strellan. “The mood here in Theed is one of both hope and relief, as Amidala’s election a month and a half ago was seen by many as a sharp turn away from the corruption that mired the previous administration.”

Iarás nodded in agreement. “Absolutely. I think that those can both be used to describe the mood of the whole planet right now. In Theed, I would say there is also a sense of excitement surrounding this coronation. Amidala was Theed’s Princess for over a year before her election, after all.”

Nira nodded and turned to her co-host. “Irás, why don’t you tell Jak and the viewers at home not familiar with our culture what we can expect from today?”

“Well, right now we are about an hour away from the start of the coronation ceremony,” Iarás began with explaining with a smile and a smooth voice. “Amidala is currently in Theed’s temple of Yena with her advisors that were also elected and re elected this election cycle, including Senator Palpatine and Governor Bibble. Yena is one of Naboo’s four deities; she is the goddess of politics and governance. It is this deity that Amdiala, like all monarchs, will associate most heavily with during her reign.”

“Now, what does it mean that she will “associate” with Yena?” interjected Jak.

“Generally, in our culture, people choose one of the four dieties based on their life at the time, and honor that god or goddess in the way they dress, worship, and in the way they conduct themselves,” Iarás explained. She motioned to the green gown that she was wearing, and to the tan and gold gown that Nira wore. “We both associate with Civ, the god of industry, and so we favor greens, golds, and neutral tones, especially for formal occasions such as this.”

Nira nodded in agreement. “Exactly. So Amidala will most likely be wearing either blue or possibly black or white, all colors associated with Yena, as blue represents the pure waters of Naboo, and therefore a purity of heart, and white represents transparency and integrity, and black represents determination and honor. All attributes that Amidala will certainly want to project, considering whose administration she is following.”

Jak nodded in understanding, and Iarás continued with her explanation of the day’s festivities. “So, while Amidala is in Yena’s temple, King Veruna and other members of his administration not re elected await inside the palace for the exchanging of power.” Iarás motioned out of the courtyard to the street that extended in front of them and into Theed. “Until the beginning of Amidala’s procession from the Temple to the Palace, street vendors have lined the streets and people have gathered for food, art, and games.”

“From what I understand, Amidala is extremely popular here in Theed, isn’t that right?” asked Jak to the two Naboo hosts.

“She certainly is,” Nira agreed with a bit of a grin, clearly proud of the new monarch, despite her professionalism. “She has served as Princess of Theed for over a year, and very effectively at that. But, it isn’t just in Theed. No matter where you go in Naboo, from Varykino to Dee’ja Peak to Moenia, Amidala won every major settlement. We here on Naboo value, above everything else, intelligence and purity of heart in our leaders. The people no longer saw King Veruna as representing those values.”

“Here on Naboo, we see politicians as intermediaries between two parties,” Iarás explained, both to Jak and to the camera. “Our Senator intercedes on behalf of the monarch to the Galactic Senate. The Governor intercedes on behalf of the people to the monarch. The role of the Monarch is to intercede on behalf of the people of Naboo to the Galaxy at large. She is who will represent us and be the face of our planet to the galaxy. That is why royals on Naboo choose regal names, because they no longer belong just to their family, but to all of Naboo, and why they wear ceremonial make-up, to present not their own face, but the face of Naboo and our traditions.”

Jak shook his head. “That is truly fascinating.” He turned back to the camera. “ I’m Jak Rils from Coruscant Daily, here with Nira Strellan and Iarás Thal here covering Queen Amidala’s corunation. There much more to come in this ceremony, after the break.”

YOUNG NABOO

Amidala Coronated- The Young Will Lead Us

By Jorvol Brinn

Yesterday at the Theed Palace in a ceremony full of pomp and circumstance, Amidala, former Princess of Theed, was coronated as the third youngest ever Queen of Naboo. The citizens of Theed lined the streets from Yena’s Temple to the Palace, eagerly awaiting their new monarch.

Beyond just the planning for the ceremonial coronation and exchange of power, there is a lot that goes into the arrival of a new administration. From the handmaidens, chosen from both the Royal Guard academy as well as scouted for specific talents, these individuals are chosen the moment the new monarch is elected and trained intensively the six weeks leading up to the coronation. There is also an entire royal wardrobe to create individually for the incoming monarch, which has to incorporate artistic beauty, Nubian tradition, and practicality, as every outfit that the monarch wears is not only for looks, but for safety. The most important part of this six week transition period, however, is of course the change over of power, as yesterday’s ceremony was largely symbolic. Amidala has been in constant meetings with both the newly elected Princess of Theed, Modlora, as well as now-former King Veruna and the advisory council, both new and old.

Many outside of Naboo question how someone as young as Amidala, who is only fourteen, could possibly be trusted with so much responsibility. We here on Naboo know that age is not what matters, but it is what is one’s heart and in one’s mind that truly counts. In the process of running for Princess of Theed almost a year and a half ago, Amidala gave up her birth name in favor of a new regal name. She has claimed all of us as her family and as her priority. In her speech announcing her candidacy for Queen last year, she said,

“When I first entered public service, I believed that everyone who served did so for the same reasons that I did: to make Naboo a better place for not just its citizens, but for the planet as a whole. Since then, I have learned that I was wrong. But that does not make me naive. It means that we have not held our leaders to high enough standards. Our leaders cannot put personal gain above the good of the people. When I ran for Princess of Theed, I chose this name, Amidala, to show that I choose all of Naboo as my family and as my duty, and King Veruna did the same when he ran for King. He has forgotten this. I will not. Together, we will make a government for the people.”

She has shown again and again that she is a leader of wisdom and integrity. Her youth is not a hindrance to her leadership, but an advantage. She is not bogged down by the same cynicism that poisons so many politicians. She has proven that she doesn’t see what can’t be done, rather she sees what hasn’t been done yet.

As young people here on Naboo, we are fortunate to live in a society that encourages us to reach as high as we can from an early age. Queen Amidala is an example of the best of our society, and proof that our age is not something that can stop us from making our world a better place.

#god i have so many wips rn #star wars #star wars fanfic #padmè amidala #my fic

5 notes · View notes

blogsills · 5 years

Text

After Democrats Surged In 2018, Republican-Run States Eye New Curbs On Voting

April 22, 20195:00 AM ET

ASHLEY LOPEZ

BRET JASPERS

SERGIO MARTÍNEZ-BELTRÁN

A sign directs voters to a polling station on Nov. 8, 2016, in Cave Creek, Arizona. The state is one of several considering new voting laws that could make it more complicated to vote in 2020.

Ralph Freso/Getty Images

After high turnout in last year's midterm elections propelled Democrats to a new House majority and big gains in the states, several Republican-controlled state legislatures are attempting to change voting-related rules in ways that might reduce future voter turnout.

In Texas, state lawmakers are considering adding criminal penalties for people who improperly fill out voter registration forms. Arizona Republicans are proposing new voting rules that could make it more complicated to cast an early ballot. In Tennessee, GOP lawmakers are considering a bill that would fine groups involved in voter registration drives that submit incomplete forms.

POLITICS

Georgia Governor Signs Law Addressing Some Criticisms Of Contested 2018 Election

Republican lawmakers in those states say new laws are needed to maintain the integrity of voter rolls and prevent fraud. Voting rights advocates and Democrats dismiss those claims and argue that the policies are designed to dampen turnout among younger, nonwhite and poorer voters, who are less likely to back Republicans.

If enacted, these proposals could have an impact on future elections, especially in Arizona and Texas, where demographic and political trends are making both states more competitive on the national level for the first time in decades.

Last fall, Arizona Republicans saw their total control of all statewide offices shattered by surging Democratic turnout, losing four of nine statewide races — including a U.S. Senate seat. Democrats view the state's other Senate seat as one of their best pickup opportunities in 2020. In Texas, record turnout helped Democrats flip two congressional and 12 state legislative seats — not to mention come closer than they have in decades in the Senate race. While Tennessee wasn't ultimately competitive in 2018, there was a surge of newly registered voters in the Democratic strongholds of Memphis and Nashville.

House Passes Extensive Election And Campaign Finance Overhaul Bill

The bills in Republican-controlled states that could curb voting come as many Democratic-run states are heading further in the opposite direction by expanding access to early and absentee voting and adopting automatic voter registration (several traditionally Republican states have also adopted automatic voter registration).

"We are seeing both the good and bad side of the fallout of the 2018 election," said Danielle Lang, co-director of the voting rights and redistricting program at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.

Democrats saw a major increase in voter turnout in Texas last year. Now, in the name of combating voter fraud, the Republican-controlled state legislature is looking at a new law that could increase criminal penalties for those who don't fill out voter registration forms properly.

Texas: from misdemeanor to felony

Texas Senate Bill 9 — which was recently approved by the state Senate and is under consideration by the legislature — would make it a felony, punishable by jail time, for anyone who provides false information on a voter registration form or casts a ballot when they are ineligible, even if it's by mistake.

Ahead Of The 2018 Election, Texas AG Ramps Up Voter Fraud Prosecutions

Voting groups in the state say they are concerned this effort could result in jail time for people who don't properly fill out their voter registration forms. Currently, providing false information on an application is a misdemeanor.

"If Senate Bill 9 passes, a person who makes a simple mistake — puts the wrong ZIP code on a voter registration card — could be prosecuted, fined and even put in jail," said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which registers young voters, among other things.

She described the bill as "one of the most strict voter suppression laws in the country," noting that Texas is already one of the most difficult states in which to register voters and that the proposed new penalties could make it even harder.

Texas Officials Begin Walking Back Allegations About Noncitizen Voters

This latest push to tighten Texas' voting laws comes months after Texas election officials launched a troubled effort to remove alleged noncitizens from the state's voter rolls.

The bill's sponsor, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Republican from rural east Texas, says the point of the bill is not to crack down on people who "inadvertently check a wrong box." He says the point is to make sure local prosecutors "are prioritizing these crimes."

"This bill is aimed at people who are intentionally cheating," Hughes says. "This is not to catch people who make an honest mistake."

Cases of intentional voter fraud are rare in Texas — in many instances in which authorities have prosecuted someone, the people being prosecuted said they did not realize they were ineligible to vote.

Voting rights lawyers are also concerned about the bill's increased criminal penalties for those who cast a ballot — including a provisional ballot — when they are ineligible to vote.

Provisional ballots were created by federal law to allow people to vote if they aren't sure they can, and a provisional ballot is counted only once election officials determine that the voter who submitted it is eligible. Provisional ballots are often used when eligible voters are erroneously not included in their state's voter roll.

Senate Bill 9 undermines that federal protection, said James Slattery, a staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project.

"It would assume that if you knew the facts that made you ineligible to vote, even if you didn't know the law, casting that provisional ballot would essentially make you a criminal," he said.

A polling station in Franklin, Tenn., on Election Day 2018. Tennessee's legislature is considering a bill that would impose hefty financial penalties on groups that register voters if they submit too many improperly filled out forms.

Alex Wong/Getty Images

Tennessee: "We have never seen a bill like this"

In Tennessee, Republican lawmakers point to a surge of incomplete voter registration forms submitted in Memphis and Nashville during the run-up to the 2018 midterms as the motivation behind that state's legislation.

Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins said that under the state's current law, county election commissions are obligated to track down and verify incomplete registration forms.

"This is only going after folks that create chaos intentionally or knowingly," Goins told member station WPLN.

Voters Approve Major Changes To Redistricting And Other Voting Laws

The measure, which already passed in the state's House, is backed by Goins. It proposes fines of up to $10,000 for groups that pay people and that submit more than 500 incomplete forms, with lower penalties for fewer incomplete registration forms.

But for people who "intentionally and knowingly" submit incomplete forms, the bill suggests they could face misdemeanor charges.

The legislation would also require groups to turn in the forms within 10 days of the registration drive and would require training for people conducting voter registrations of over 100 people. Groups also wouldn't be allowed to pay campaign workers per registration form.

The risk of fines could deter people from organizing registration drives, said Tequila Johnson, the co-founder of the Equity Alliance, who said the bill is an attack on organizations like hers that focus on registering people of color.

"We have never seen a bill like this on the floor, until we dared to register 86,000 black and brown people to vote," Johnson said at a news conference in Nashville. "This screams racism."

Arizona voters at a Phoenix polling place on Nov. 6, 2018. Arizona is considering major changes to popular early voting rules, which could affect some 200,000 voters.

Arizona: "This is a service — it's a convenience"

The changes that Arizona Republicans are considering would focus on registered voters who have signed up to cast mail-in ballots but don't use them.

The bill would remove some people from what's called the Permanent Early Voting List. People on the PEVL get ballots mailed to them so they can mail the ballots back or drop them off on Election Day.

But Republican state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita wants counties to purge people from that list if they don't vote using an early ballot in two consecutive election cycles.

"We want to make sure that the lists are up to date. That's just good practice. That makes sense on, frankly, any kind of database that you have," she told a House committee. "That you're really communicating with those who want to be communicated with and that are using the service. This is a service — it's a convenience."

Partisan Election Officials Are 'Inherently Unfair' But Probably Here To Stay

Local election officials say that they already have ways to maintain clean voting rolls and that the proposed legislation will simply confuse voters. The Arizona secretary of state's office estimates that 200,000 voters currently on the early voting list did not vote in both 2016 and 2018. But the office also said the bill's language is unclear, making it hard to assess its potential impact.

Democratic Rep. Athena Salman called it voter suppression to purge the PEVL.

"There is a great debate around whether or not it is 'peh-vl' or 'pee-vl.' But I find it fitting that if this bill passes, the list will no longer be 'permanent,' and so one might call it 'evil,' " she said.

Republicans dispute that this is an attempt to make voting more difficult. The bill doesn't remove people from the registration rolls, just the mailing list for early ballots.

Republican lawmakers have proposed other bills this legislative session that have drawn criticism from voting rights groups, including one that bans paying workers for each voter registration form they turn in.

"All Americans care about election integrity"

This latest round of legislation lands after a decade-long push by state-level Republicans for strict voter ID laws around the United States. Those laws were criticized by voting rights advocates for adding obstacles to casting a ballot that would particularly harm nonwhite and poor voters, although a recent academic study suggests the laws have had "no negative impact on registration or turnout."

Georgia Set To Remain A Battleground For Voting Rights Ahead Of 2020

The stated basis that Republican lawmakers gave for many of those laws was to reduce the incidence of in-person voter fraud. Repeated research has unveiled scant evidence of anything more than a small number of instances of voters attempting to cast multiple ballots. But the repeated message that voter fraud was rampant has become a powerful motivator for Republican campaigns to turn out their own voters. Likewise, Democrats have also used potential threats to voting access to mobilize their own supporters. But the impact of that push has been to increase partisanship and conflict around voting, the centerpiece of a democratic system. Lawmakers often reexamine voting laws after an election, said Lang, of the Campaign Legal Center. For example, there was a bipartisan push from Iowa's Republican governor to make it easier for felons to restore their right to vote after release, although it ultimately failed. And Kansas, which had been ground zero for fights about election laws for years, recently passed a bipartisan voting law that will make it more convenient to cast a ballot. "All Americans care about election integrity, and yet these issues get framed in very unhelpful partisan ways," Lang said. Ashley Lopez reports for member station KUT in Austin, Texas. Bret Jaspers reports for KJZZ in Phoenix. Sergio Martínez-Beltrán reports for WPLN in Nashville, Tenn.

#typical Republican response to loosing CHEAT. come out and say it if we do not vote for the Party we are criminals just like any communist #county

39 notes · View notes

theliberaltony · 5 years

Link

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

The Supreme Court will not end extreme partisan gerrymandering. In a 5-4 decision along ideological lines, the court ruled Thursday that partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts cannot be limited by federal courts. Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, writing that “what the appellees and dissent seek is an unprecedented expansion of judicial power.”

Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent was scathing. “For the first time ever, this Court refuses to remedy a constitutional violation because it thinks the task beyond judicial capabilities,” she wrote in her opening sentence. She argued that imposing limits on gerrymandered districts is not beyond the scope of the court: “The partisan gerrymanders here debased and dishonored our democracy, turning upside-down the core American idea that all governmental power derives from the people.”

The ruling almost certainly would have been different if Anthony Kennedy were still on the court. Before retiring last year, Kennedy had been the swing justice on previous gerrymandering cases. He had said that partisan gerrymandering was within the purview of the court but that the justices should hold off on ruling any particular gerrymander unconstitutional until a manageable standard for measuring gerrymandering emerged. Since he took that position in 2004, reformers had been attempting to find such a standard. Legal scholars and statisticians developed various measurements to try to win over the court, but without Kennedy, those efforts turned out to be futile.

The most obvious consequence of Thursday’s ruling is that, come the 2021 redistricting cycle, state legislatures will be free to draw maps that boldly favor one party over the other, without concern of having their maps struck down in federal court. (State courts are another matter, as we’ll get to.) That is not all that different from the status quo, as few — if any — states showed restraint in drawing partisan gerrymanders during the last redistricting process, in 2011.

Uninhibited partisan gerrymandering can have major implications for how our representative democracy works. In 2018, FiveThirtyEight simulated what an extreme partisan gerrymander would look like if it happened to congressional districts in every state, based on past voting records. Here’s what a Republican gerrymandered map would do to Congress:

And compare that to what a Democratic gerrymandered map looks like:

Those are extreme examples, of course, and Thursday’s ruling will not result in such a breakdown. The degree to which the next round of maps — drawn in 2021 — are gerrymandered will largely rely on the number of states under one-party control, since they can more easily pass uncompromising partisan maps. In 2011, 31 state governments were under one-party control, with almost twice as many under Republican control as Democratic. The 2020 election will determine how those numbers change during the next redistricting cycle.

Despite the ruling, reformers have a few other avenues still open to them, which Roberts himself acknowledged. The first is ballot initiatives, passed by a state’s voters, that give the power of redistricting to independent commissions. Eight states currently use such commissions to draw both their state legislative and congressional maps. However, ballot initiatives or referenda are available to voters in only 26 states, largely west of the Mississippi. Another option is to pass laws limiting gerrymandering. That’s an uphill climb, though. State legislative action is rare, and congressional action on the national level is highly unlikely in the nearterm.

A final avenue is for reformers to bring complaints in state courts, based on state constitutions. This model was first successful in Pennsylvania in 2018, when the state Supreme Court threw out Pennsylvania’s congressional map as an unlawful partisan gerrymander and ordered a redraw. In bringing these cases, reformers would likely rely on provisions in state constitutions that are more specific than anything in the U.S. constitution. For example, 26 states include language in their constitutions stating that elections shall be “free,” “free and equal,” or “free and open.” This strategy also relies heavily on state Supreme Courts having liberal majorities.

Even if the Supreme Court had ruled that partisan gerrymandering were unconstitutional, it would not have been the end of the argument. It would likely have taken years, decades, or longer for the court to settle on where exactly the line sits between legal redistricting and unconstitutional partisan gerrymandering. On the issue of racial gerrymandering, which can be unconstitutional, the court has spent decades trying to discern what exactly is legal.

In ruling that partisan gerrymandering is not an issue for the courts, the court avoided all that. A majority of Americans may take issue with extreme partisan gerrymandering, but now it’s up to somebody else to do something about it.

Read more: The Gerrymandering Project

Check out the polls we’ve been collecting ahead of the 2020 elections, including all the Democratic primary polls.

#IFTTT #Politics – FiveThirtyEight #politics #538 #Galen Druke

3 notes · View notes

robertfsmith · 5 years

Text

Robert F. Smith Commencement Address to Morehouse College on May 19, 2019

youtube

President Thomas, board of Trustees. Faculty, staff, and Morehouse alumni.

The extraordinary Angela Bassett, and the distinguished Professor Doctor Edmund Gordon.

Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, family, and friends.

And most of all, Morehouse College Class of 2019: Congratulations!

Earning a college degree is one of the greatest and most impressive of life’s accomplishments.

But success has many parents -- and as hard as each of you has worked to achieve what you all have achieved today, you’ve had a lot of help along the way. We are the products of a community, a village, a team. And many of those who have made contributions for you to arrive at this very moment are here with you today.

So, first and foremost, graduates of the class of 2019, please stand and join me in recognizing the love and commitment of those who have been with you on this long and hard journey!

Graduates, standing here before you is one of the great honors of my life. And I am so proud to share it with my mother, Dr. Sylvia Smith, a lifelong educator and the greatest role model of my life, who is here today.

This is the first of three graduations in my family this week. One of my daughters graduates from NYU, another graduates from high school and is headed off to Barnard in the fall, and my niece is graduating from my alma mater, Cornell, next weekend. So I want to thank the Morehouse administration for perfectly timing today’s festivities in advance of them so that I could be here.

Morehouse was built to demand excellence and spur the advancement and development of African American men. I have always been drawn to its rich history, and I am optimistic for its bright future.

The brothers from Morehouse I’ve met -- or revered at a distance -- understand the power of this education and the responsibility that comes with it. Willie Woods, Morehouse’s Chairman of the Board, is one such man. Thank you, Chairman Woods.

In our shared history -- as a people, and as a country -- the Morehouse campus is a special place. The path you walked along Brown Street this morning to reach this commencement site was paved by men of intellect, character, and determination.

These men understood that when Dr. King said that the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice, he wasn’t saying it bends on its own accord. It bends because we choose to put our shoulders into it together and push.

The degree you earn today is one of the most elite credentials that America has to offer. But I don’t want you to think of it as a document that hangs on a wall and reflects what you’ve accomplished up till now.

No.

That degree is a contract -- a social contract -- that calls on you to devote your talents and energies to honoring those legends on whose shoulders you and I stand.

Lord knows you are graduating into a complex world. Think about what we have faced in just the years you spent as Morehouse students:

We have seen the rise of Black Lives Matter, lending voice to critical issues that have been ignored by too many for too long.

We’ve seen the Me Too movement, shining a spotlight on how far we still have to go to achieve real gender equality.

We’ve also seen the unapologetic public airing of hate doctrines by various groups.

We’ve seen the implications of climate change become impossible to ignore and become ever more severe.

Our connected world has grappled with new questions about security, privacy, and the role of intelligent machines in our work and lives.

And we’ve witnessed the very foundation of our political system shaken by the blurring of the sacred line between fact and fiction… right and wrong.

Yes, this is an uncertain hour for our democracy and our fragile world order. But uncertainty is nothing new for our community.

Like many of yours, my family has been in the United States for 8 or 9 generations. We have nourished this soil with our blood. Sown this land with our sweat. Protected this country with our bodies. And contributed to the physical, cultural, and intellectual fabric of this country with our minds and our talent. And yet, I am the first generation of my family to have secured all my rights as an American.

Think about it:

1865 was the first time that most African American families had a hint of access to the first and until now, greatest wealth-generating platform of America -- land.

The Freedmen’s Bureau was supposed to deliver 850,000 acres of land to the formerly enslaved, a program that was then canceled and replaced with a Freedman’s Savings Bank…which was then looted.

Essentially that recompense was reneged upon. We didn’t have broad access to the Homestead Act nor Southern Homestead Act where 10% of the land in the U.S. was distributed for no more than a filing fee.

It wasn’t until 1868, after the passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th amendment, that my family actually had a birthright to be American Citizens.

Then, when America decided to create a social safety net for its citizens in 1935, they created a Social Security program.

Yet that program excluded two categories of workers: maids and farmworkers, which effectively denied benefits to two-thirds of African Americans, and 80% of Southern African Americans.

It wasn’t until 1954 that my family had a right to equal education under protection of the law -- guaranteed by Brown v. Board of Education.

And while the 15th Amendment gave my family the right to vote -- the men, at least -- starting in 1890, those rights were rolled back in the South and remained suppressed until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Even today, more than a half-century after that, the struggle to ensure true integrity at the ballot box is still very much alive.

All of these landmark extensions of our rights -- and subsequent retrenchments -- set the stage for a new policy of forced desegregation utilizing school bussing that went into effect when I reached the first grade in my hometown of Denver, Colorado.

Our family lived in North East Denver, and back then, Denver, like most other American cities, remained extremely divided by race, both politically and geographically.

In my community, my neighbors were mostly educated, proud, hard-working, and ambitious. They were dentists, teachers, politicians, lawyers, Pullman porters, contractors, small business owners and pharmacists.

They were focused on serving the African-American community and providing a safe and nurturing environment for the kids in our neighborhood.

They were on the front lines of the Civil Rights movement. They were sacrificing their sons to the Vietnam War. They mourned the death of a King, two Kennedys and an X.

Despite all they gave, they had yet to achieve the fullness of the American Dream. But they continued to believe it was only a matter of time -- if not for them, then surely for their children.

I was among a small number of the kids from my neighborhood who were bussed across town to a high-performing, predominantly white elementary school in South East Denver. Every morning we were loaded up on bus number 13 -- I’ll never forget it --and taken across town to Carson Elementary.

That policy of bussing only lasted through my fifth-grade year, when intense protests and political pressure brought an end to forced bussing. But those five years drastically changed the trajectory of my life.

The teachers at Carson were extraordinary. They embraced me and challenged me to think critically and start to move toward my full potential. I, in turn, came to realize at a young age that the white kids and the black kids, the Jewish kids and the one Asian kid were all pretty much the same.

And it wasn’t just the school itself -- it was my community back home that embraced and supported our opportunity. Since most of the parents in my neighborhood worked, a whole bunch of us walked to Mrs. Brown’s house after school and stayed there until our parents returned home from work.

Mrs. Brown was incredible. She kept us safe, made sure we did our homework the right way, gave us nutritious after school snacks, and taught us about responsibility. And because her house was filled with children of all ages, I suddenly had older kids as role models who were studying hard and who believed in themselves. Mrs. Brown also happened to be married to the first black Lt. Governor of our state, so we saw the possibilities first hand.

Amazingly, almost every single student on that number 13 bus went on to become a professional. I am still in touch with many as they make up the bedrock of their communities today. They are elected officials, doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, professors, community organizers, and business leaders.

An incredible concentration of successful black men and women from the same working-class neighborhood. Yet when I look at my other folks from the extended neighborhood -- those who didn’t get a spot-on bus number 13 -- their success rate was far lower -- and the connection is inescapable.

Everything about my life changed because of those few short years. But the window closed for others just as fast as it had opened for me.

That’s part of the story of the black experience in America: getting a fleeting glimpse of opportunity and success just before the window is slammed shut.

The cycle of resistance to oppression, followed by favorable legislation, followed by the weakening of those laws, followed by more oppression, and more resistance, has affected and afflicted every generation.

And even as we’ve seen some major barriers come crashing down in recent years, we would be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn’t acknowledge just how many injustices persist.

Where you live shouldn’t determine whether you get educated. Where you go to school shouldn’t determine whether you get textbooks. The opportunity you access should be determined by the fierceness of your intellect, the courage of your creativity, and the grit that allows you to overcome expectations that weren’t set high enough.

We’ve seen remarkable breakthroughs in medical research, yet race-based disparities in health outcomes still persist. You are 41% more likely to die of breast cancer if you are an African-American woman in America today than if you are white.

You are 2.3 times more likely to die of prostate cancer if you are an African-American man than if you are white.

If you are African-American, you are more likely to be stopped by the police, more likely to be issued a ticket after being stopped, and more likely to be threatened with the use of force than if you are white.

This is our reality. This is the world you are inheriting.

Now, I am not telling you these things because I am bitter or because I want you to be bitter.

I don’t call upon you to be bitter, I call upon you to make things better. Because the great lesson of my life is that despite the challenges we face, America is an extraordinary country. Our world is getting smaller by the day. And you are equipped with every tool to make it your own.

Today, for the first time in human history, success requires no prerequisite of wealth or capital -- no ownership of land, or natural resources, or people.

Today, success can be created solely through the power of one’s mind, ideas, and courage. Intellectual capital can be cultivated, monetized, and instantaneously distributed across the globe.

Intellectual capital has become the new currency of business and finance -- and the promise of brainpower to move people from poverty to prosperity has never been more possible.

Technology is creating a whole new set of on ramps to the 21st century economy, and together we will help assure that African Americans will acquire the tech skills and be the beneficiaries in sectors that are being automated.

Black men understand that securing the bag is just the beginning -- that success is only real if our community is protected, if our potential is realized and if our most valuable assets -- our people -- find strength in owning the businesses that provide economic stability in our community.

This is your moment, graduates. Between doubt and destiny is action. Between our community and the American Dream is leadership. Your leadership. Your destiny.

This doesn’t mean ignoring injustice, it means using your strength to restore order.

And when you are confronted with racism, listen to the words of Guy Johnson, the son of Maya Angelou, who once said that, “Racism is like gravity, you got to keep pushing against it without spending too much time thinking about it.”

So…how do you seize your American Dream? Let me get specific. Let me give you five rules that I live by.

The first rule you need to know is that nothing replaces actually doing the work.

Whenever a young person tells me they aspire to be an entrepreneur, I ask them why. For many, they think of it as a great way to get rich quick. Invent an app, sell a company, make a few million before you’re 25.

Look, that can happen, but it’s awfully rare. The usual scenario is that successful entrepreneurs spend endless hours, days, and years toiling away for little pay and zero glamor.

And in all honesty, that is where the joy of success actually resides. Before I ever got into private equity, I was a chemical engineer, and I spent pretty much every waking hour in windowless labs doing the work that helped me become an expert in my field.

It was only after I put in the time to develop this expertise and the discipline of the scientific process that I was able to apply my knowledge beyond the lab.

Greatness is born out of the grind. Embrace the grind. A thoughtful and intentional approach to “the grind” will help you to become an expert in your craft. When I meet a black man or woman who is at the top of their industry, I see the highest form of execution. That’s no accident. There’s a good chance it took that black leader a whole lot more grinding to get to where they are.

I look at the current and former black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies whom I admire, and they blow me away every time I met with them. Bernard Tyson, Ken Frazier, Ken Chenault, Dick Parsons, Ursula Burns, the late Barry Rand. They may not have attended Morehouse, but they have the Morehouse attitude.

They knew that being the best means grinding every day. It means putting in the ten thousand-plus hours necessary to become a master of your craft.

Muhammad Ali once said, “I hated every minute of training, But I thought to myself, suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

Grind it out -- and live your life as a champion.

My second rule to live by is to take thoughtful risks.

My Granddad took a particular interest in my career, and he couldn’t have been prouder of my stable engineering job at Kraft-General Foods. For him, to have that kind of job security at my age was a dream come true.

When I told him I was thinking of leaving for graduate school, he was beyond worried. Then, you can imagine how he worried some years later when I told him I was going to leave Goldman Sachs, where I had achieved a good level of success, to start my own private equity firm focused on enterprise software.

I respected my Granddad and his wisdom, his thoughtfulness, and his protectiveness over me. But I had also done my homework. I calculated my odds of success, and importantly, I knew that one of the fundamental design points of achieving the American Dream was to be a business owner.

So I decided with confidence that I was willing to make a big bet on the one asset I had the most knowledge of: myself.

There are always reasons to be risk-averse. Graduating from Morehouse can make you risk-averse, because the path you’re on, if you stick to the more conservative choices, is still pretty darn good.

That doesn’t mean you should gamble with your career or careen from job to job just because the grass appears to be greener. But it does mean that you should evaluate options for taking business and career risks…do the analysis, and trust your instincts.

When you bet on yourself -- that’s likely to be a pretty good bet!

My third rule is to be intentional about the words you choose.

I know Morehouse has taught you that you what you say carries with it enormous power.

Be intentional about the words you speak.

How you define yourself.

What you call each other.

The people you spend time with.

And the love you create.

All of this matters immensely. It will define you.

My fourth rule -- which is my favorite -- is to always know that you are enough.

I mentioned that before going into investment banking at Goldman Sachs, I worked in applied engineering for Kraft General Foods. And I loved it!

Until one day I was at a meeting with a number of department heads in my division and as we went around the conference table discussing the divisions most important strategic initiatives, I realized that of the top six, I was leading five of them.

I was half the age of everyone, yet I knew I was making just a third as much as anyone else in the room. And I said to myself, I’m either doing something very right or very wrong. Truthfully it was a bit of both. So, it became a lesson in realizing my worth and self-worth.

It isn’t just about salary, though that always matters. It’s also about demanding respect from others -- and from yourself. A realization and respect for all of the skills and talents you bring to the table.

When you have confidence in your own worth, you’ll become the one to raise your hand for the hard assignment that may mean putting in time on nights and weekends, but also means you’ll be gaining incremental skills and experiences to enhance your craftsmanship.

Earn your respect through your body of work. Let the quality of your work product speak of your capabilities.

Know that you are only bound by the limits of your own conviction.

You are Morehouse Men. There is no room on this earth you can’t enter with your head held high. You will likely encounter people in your life, as I have, who want to make you feel like you don’t belong... but when you respect your own body of work, that is all the respect you need.

In the words of the great Quincy Jones and Ray Charles, “Not one drop of my self worth depends on your acceptance of me.”

You are enough.

The fifth lesson and final lesson for today is as follows:

We all have the responsibility to liberate others so that they can become their best selves -- in human rights, the arts, business, and in life.

The fact is, as the next generation of African-American leaders, you won’t just be on the bus, you must own it, drive it, and pick up as many as you can carry along the way.

More than the money we make, the awards, or recognition, or titles we earn, each of us will be measured by how much we contribute to the success of the people around us.

How many people will you get onto your bus number 13?

We need you to become the elected officials who step up and fix the laws that engender discrimination and who set a tone of respect in our public discourse.

We need you to become the c-suite executives who change corporate culture, build sustainable business models, and make diversity and inclusion a core and unshakeable value.

We need you to become the entrepreneurs who will innovate inclusively, expand wages for all Americans, and lower the unemployment rate in our communities.

We need you to be the educators who set the highest standards and demand the resources needed to deliver on them and inspire the next generation.

We need you to invest in the real estate and businesses in our communities and create value for all in that community.

No matter what profession you choose, each of you must be a community builder. No matter how far you travel, you can’t ever forget where you came from.

You are responsible for building strong, safe places where our young brothers and sisters can grow with confidence… watch and learn from positive role models, and believe that, they too, are entitled to the American Dream.

You Men of Morehouse are already doing this. Your own Student Government, in fact, sends students on a bus to underserved communities around the country to empower young black men and women to seize their own narrative and find power in their voices.

This is exactly the kind of leadership I’m talking about.

Remember that building community doesn’t always have to be about sweeping change. But it does have to be intentional.

You can’t just be a role model sometimes. I’m cognizant of the fact that whenever I’m out in public, people are observing my actions. The same goes for you.

Building community can’t be insular.

The world has never been smaller, so we need to help our communities think bigger.

I’ve invested particularly in internship programs, because I’ve observed the power of exposing young minds to the opportunity out there that they don’t see in their own neighborhoods.

Help those around you see the beauty of the vast world out there, and help them believe that they, too, can capture that dream.

And remember that community can be anywhere.

Back in the 1960s and ‘70s, community was a few blocks around where I grew up. Today, we, you can create communities of people anywhere in the world. Merging the physical and digital communities will be one of the great opportunities you have and you will have have in the years going forward.

Finally, don’t forget that community thrives in the smallest of gestures. Be the first to congratulate a friend on a new job, buy their new product first, and post on social media about how great it is, and also be the first to console them when they face adversity.

Treat all people with dignity, even if you can’t see how they can be of help to you.

And most important of all, whatever it takes, never, ever forget to call your mother. And I do mean call – don’t text, a text doesn’t count!

Speaking of mothers, allow me a point of personal privilege to end with a story that speaks volumes about mine.

In the summer of 1963, when I was just nine months old, my mother hauled my brother and me 1,700 miles from Denver to Washington, DC so that we could be there for a Morehouse Man’s historic speech.

My mother knew that her boys would be too young to remember that speech, but she believed that the history we witnessed that day on the National Mall would always be a part of the men we would one day become.

And Mom was right, as usual. I still feel that day in my bones, and it echoes all around us here at Morehouse.

Decades after that cross-country trip, I had the privilege to take my granddad with me to the opposite side of the National Mall to celebrate the inauguration of the first African-American president.

As we sat in the audience on that cold morning, he pointed to a window just behind the flag, in the Capitol Building and he said, “You know, grandson, when I was a teenager I used to work in that room right there, in the Senate Lounge, I used to serve coffee and tea and take hats and coats for the senators.” He said, “I recall looking out that window during Franklin Roosevelt’s inauguration.”

He said, “Son, I did not see one black face in the crowd that day – so here we are, you and I, watching this.”

He said, “Grandson, you can see how America can change when people have the will to make change.”

The beautiful symmetry of our return to the Nation’s Capital under such different circumstances was not lost on us -- the poetry of time and soul that Lincoln called the “mystic chords of memory" resonated in both of our hearts.

You cannot have witnessed the history I have, or walked the halls of Morehouse for four years as you have, without profound respect for the unsung everyday heroes who, generation after generation, little by little, nudged, shoved, and ultimately bent that “arc of the moral universe” a little closer to justice.

This is the history and heritage you inherit today. This is the responsibility that now lies upon your broad shoulders.

True wealth comes from contributing to the liberation of people. The liberation of the communities we come from depends on the grit and greatness inside you.

Use your skills, your knowledge, your instincts to serve -- to change the world in the way that only you can.

You great Morehouse Men are bound only by the limits of your conviction and creativity. You have the power within you to be great, be you. Be unstoppable, be undeniable, and accomplish the things no one ever thought you could.

You are well on your way. I’m counting on you to load up your bus and share that journey.

Let’s never forget what Dr. King said in the final moments of his famous sermon at Ebenezer Baptist, “I want to be on your right side or your left side, in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world…a new world.”

Graduates, look to your right side and your left. Actually, take a moment. Stand up, give each other a hug. I am going to wait.

Men of Morehouse, you are surrounded by a community of people who have helped you arrive at this sacred place on this sacred day.

On behalf of the eight generations of my family who have been in this country, we are going to put a little fuel in your bus.

Now, we’ve got the alumni over there. This is a challenge for you.

This is my class -- 2019. And my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans. Now, I know my class will make sure they pay this forward. And I want my class to look at these alumni, these beautiful Morehouse brothers -- and let’s make sure every class has the same opportunity moving forward -- because we are enough to take care of our own community.

We are enough to ensure we have all the opportunities of the American Dream. And we will show it to each other through our actions, through our words, and through our deeds.

So, class of 2019:

May the sun always shine upon you.

May the wind always be at your back.

And may God always hold you in the cradle of Her hands.

Now go forth and make this old world new.

Congratulations!

#Morehouse College #Morehouse #Commencement #Commencement speech #Robert F. Smith #MorehouseGrad2019

3 notes · View notes

patriotsnet · 3 years

Text

Which Democratic Candidate Would Republicans Vote For

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/which-democratic-candidate-would-republicans-vote-for/

Which Democratic Candidate Would Republicans Vote For

How Are Primary Elections Conducted In California

Why lifelong Republican voted for a Democratic candidate in GA

All candidates for voter-nominated offices are listed on one ballot and only the top two vote-getters in the primary election regardless of party preference move on to the general election. Write-in candidates for voter-nominated offices can only run in the primary election. A write-in candidate will only move on to the general election if the candidate is one of the top two vote-getters in the primary election.

Prior to the Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act, the top vote-getter from each qualified political party, as well as any write-in candidate who received a certain percentage of votes, moved on to the general election.

The Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act does not apply to candidates running for U.S. President, county central committee, or local office.

Why You Need To Vote In The Primary Elections

True or false. You only need to vote in the November presidential election and not the primary elections.

FALSE!

For most American voters, the presidential primary elections matter more than the general election. Like Ive said before, if you live in a red state or a blue state, your vote in the presidential election wont make a difference. The rest of your state will overwhelming vote for a Democrat or a Republican. Your vote wont change your states outcome. .

But the primary elections are an entirely different story.

The presidential primaries determine who will represent the Republicans and the Democrats during the November election. Instead of voting between just 2 candidates, you have the choice of 3 Democrats or 12 Republicans. Unlike the general election, you actually have a chance of voting for your preferred candidate, not just the lesser of two evils.

How Do I Register To Vote

You have a few options:

If you have a New York drivers license or state ID from the Department of Motor Vehicles, you can register online using this tool from NYC Votes and TurboVote.

If you dont have a New York drivers license or state ID, the law requires that you sign a form and mail it to the Board of Elections office.

You can use this site to have the forms mailed to you, or you can and print the forms yourself to fill out and mail in. If you request to have the forms sent to you, they come with a pre-addressed envelope to return them.

You will be asked to plug in your name as it appears on your state ID. If you dont have one, thats OK. Just put how your name appears on official documents.

If you need language access or you want to help someone register to vote in another language, you can download the registration forms and FAQs in a bunch of languages here.

You can also request voter registration forms in various languages by calling 1-866-VOTENYC.

Lastly, you can pick up voter registration forms at any library branch, any post office or any city agency office.

After you fill them out, mail them to the BOEs main office:

Board of Elections

New York, NY 10004-1609

And make sure its postmarked by May 28.

Other materials needed: If you dont have a state ID, you will need to provide the last four digits of your Social Security number.

Don’t Miss: Democrats More Educated Than Republicans

Listen To The Podcast Episode

A dizzying selection of 46 candidates appear on the ballot in California’s recall election. Here’s a closer look at four of them three Republicans and one Democrat.

Aired: August 23, 2021 |

Early voting is underway in the Sept. 14 recall election that will decide whether California Gov. Gavin Newsom will be removed from office. The first question on the ballot is a simple yes or no: Should Newsom be recalled?

The second question who should replace Newsom if the recall passes has many voters scratching their heads. Forty-six candidates appear on the ballot, most of them longshots with little to no name recognition or political experience.

KPBS chose to examine the four replacement candidates who have most frequently polled near the top and have raised the most money. Here are details on those four.

Conservative radio host Larry Elder has led in most polls, likely helped by his national profile. But his right-wing politics would be a dramatic departure from the leftward trend in California.

Elder, who is Black, denies the existence of system racism. He opposes gun control, abortion rights and clings to the outdated term “illegal alien” to describe immigrants who are in the country without legal permission.

Elder also believes the minimum wage should be abolished.

Aired 8/23/21 on KPBS News

Listen to this story by Andrew Bowen.

Democratic Majority Whip Says He’s Disappointed But Not Surprised Republicans Voted To Block The Bill

Sen. Dick Durbin, the Democratic Majority Whip, said on CNN that he was “disappointed but not surprised” that Republicans voted to block the sweeping voting rights bill today.

“I thought perhaps some of the;Republicans would step up and;say that this national strategy;of changing state laws and;making it more difficult was;just wrong, but they didn’t.;They stood together,” he said.

Durbin went on to criticize Republicans as “the party that is supporting voter suppression.”

“I hope they understand, as we;do, that going in history as a;party that is supporting voter;suppression is not a good place.;For many decades, the Democratic;party of the early 20th century;was that party.;I’m not proud of that moment,;and I don’t make any excuses for;it.;I don’t want to be part of it in;the future, and I hope many;Republicans feel the same,” he said.

You May Like: Why Does Donald Trump Wear Red Ties

What You Need To Know

The Democrats voting and election bill failed to advance in the Senate after a procedural vote to open debate on the legislation was defeated by a tally of 50-50, falling short of the 60 votes needed to succeed.

Senate Democrats pitched the legislation as necessary to counter efforts by GOP-led legislatures to swiftly pass state laws that would impose restrictions on voting.;

All 50 Senate Republicans united in opposing the bill, having decried it as a partisan power grab and federal overreach into state voting and election systems.

Our live coverage has ended. Read more about today’s vote here.

List Of Registered 2024 Presidential Candidates

The following table lists candidates who filed with the FEC to run for president. Some applicants used pseudonyms; candidate names and party affiliations are written as they appeared on the FEC website on the date that they initially filed with the FEC.

Candidates who have filed for the 2024 presidential election Candidate

Also Check: How Many States Are Controlled By Republicans

Democrats Are United In Support Of Cooperation With Us Allies Differ On Importance Of Us Military Superiority

Democratic registered voters overwhelmingly agree that the United States should address the interests of its allies when conducting foreign policy. This view varies little among supporters of Democratic presidential candidates.

Fully 87% of Democratic voters say the U.S. should take into the account the interests of its allies when making foreign policy decisions, even if it means making compromises with them. Few say the U.S. should follow its own national interests, even when its allies strongly disagree.

Republican and Republican-leaning voters are divided over whether the United States should follow its own national interests, even when allies disagree or address the interests of allies, even if this means compromises .

There is far less agreement among Democrats in views of whether U.S. policy should work to maintain its global military superiority. Among Democratic voters who name Warren as their first choice for the nomination, 65% say that in the future it would be acceptable if another country became as militarily powerful as the U.S.; just 31% say U.S. policies should try to maintain its position as the worlds only military superpower.

Majorities of those who support Sanders and Buttigieg also say it would be acceptable if another country became as militarily powerful as the U.S.

Republican voters, by a margin of about 4-to-1 , say U.S. policies should try to keep it that America is the only military superpower.

Recent History Isn’t As Bleak As Dems Might Think

California Primary 2020: Why independents can vote for Democrats, but not for Republicans

In 2020, national Democrats looked to Texas with hope and helped raise money for State House races they thought could be flipped to take control of the chamber in Austin. The goal was to have Democrats steering the wheel when redistricting maps were drawn in 2021.;

The Democrats didnât lose any seats, but they didnât pick up any either.;

That election came on the heels of 2018 when Texas Democrats flipped 12 seats in the State House and former congressman Beto OâRourke came within 2.5 percentage points of beating Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.;

While 2020 may have been a disappointment after 2018, the Democratsâ position needs to be put into perspective, Van Meter said.

“Texas Democrats have spent the last 20 years trying to build up infrastructure in a state where everyone believes that it’s not possible to elect a Democrat,â she said.;

More and more Democratic candidates have entered local and state races in recent years after decades of election cycles when there would often be no opposition challengers to the Republican candidates.

Democratsâ momentum in 2020 continued with increased registration and voter turnout, she said.;

âIt just so happened that so did the Republicans,â Van Meter said.

The fact that Donald Trump was on the ballot proved to be a huge motivator for Republicans who previously werenât registered to get to the polls.

Read Also: What Caused Republicans To Gain Power In Congress In 1938

Democrats’ Recall Dilemma: Should They Cast A Vote For A Candidate To Replace Gavin Newsom

For many Democrats and other opponents of the recall, question No. 1 is easy. They plan to vote ‘no’.

But what about question No. 2?

That’s a dilemma for Democrats because the best-known recall candidates are Republicans like Newsom’s 2018 opponent John Cox and conservative talk radio host Larry Elder. By not voting on question No. 2, Democratic voters risk ceding the recall election to a candidate whose views they oppose.

Elder, for instance, believes that the minimum wage should be abolished and supports former President Donald Trump. Cox courted Trump’s endorsement in 2018. Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, another well-known candidate, supported Trump’s 2020 campaign.

There are 46 candidates on the recall ballot, including nine Democrats.

The California Democratic Party is urging left-leaning voters not to select anyone on the recall ballot’s second question.

“The California Democratic Party is activating voters to vote no on the Republican Recall and leave the second question blank. It’s the only way to stop Republicans who want to take California back to some very dark days,” said party spokeswoman Shery Yang.

Former Newsom spokesman, Nathan Click, reiterated Yang’s advice for Democratic voters.

“Leave it blank. Voting no is the only way to block the Republican power grab and prevent the Republican takeover of California,” Click said.

‘No on recall, yes on Bustamante’

Bustamante told his supporters to vote “no on recall, yes on Bustamante.”

Rutherford B Hayes: Campaigns And Elections

The Campaign and Election of 1876

As the favorite son of Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes had much in his favor. Both regular and reform Republicans liked him. He was a war hero, had supported Radical Reconstruction legislation, and championed African American suffrage. He also came from a large swing state. His reputation for integrity was excellent, and his support of bipartisan boards of state institutions endeared him to reformers. Hayes ultimately, though, realized that his simple “availability” was his greatest strength. Distasteful to no one, he was the second choice among the supporters of the other leading candidates. Nevertheless, Hayes insisted on a united Ohio delegationand at the same time did nothing to lessen his availability.;

Moreover, the 1876 Republican convention was in Cincinnati, which teemed with Hayes supporters. “Availability” did work for Hayes. James G. Blaine, the frontrunner and the favorite of partisan Republicans, was tarnished by allegations of corruption; Oliver P. Morton, the favorite of Radicals, was in ill health; Benjamin H. Bristow, the favorite of reformers, was anathema to Grant; and Roscoe Conkling, the quintessential spoils politician, was unacceptable to reformers and to Blaine. In the end, none of these candidates could muster the votes of the majority of the convention. By the fifth ballot, Hayes had picked up votes; by the seventh, he had clinched the nomination.

The Disputed Election of 1876

Read Also: Donald Trump Saying Republicans Are Stupid

Harris: The Fight Is Not Over

Vice President Kamala Harris’ told reporters that “the fight is not over” after Republicans unanimously blocked the Democrats’ sweeping election and voting reform bill.

Harris expressed that she and President Biden intend to continue to push for voting reform, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which is likely to come to the Senate floor later this year.

This what Harris told reporters after leaving the Senate floor where she presided over the vote:

“I was here today because obviously this is one of the most critical issues that the United States Congress could take up, which is about the fundamental right to vote in our country. And I think it is clear, certainly, for the American people that when we’re talking about the right to vote, it is not a Republican concern or a Democratic concern. It is an American concern. This is about the American people’s right to vote unfettered. It is about their access to the right to vote in a meaningful way. Because nobody is debating, I don’t believe, whether all Americans have the right to vote. The issue is the access to the voting process. Or is that being impeded? And the bottom line is that the President and I are very clear. We support S-1. We support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the fight is not over.”

Watch Harris’ remarks:

Cancellation Of State Caucuses Or Primaries

The Washington Examiner reported on December 19, 2018, that the South Carolina Republican Party had not ruled out forgoing a primary contest to protect Trump from any primary challengers. Party chairman Drew McKissick stated, Considering the fact that the entire party supports the president, well end up doing whats in the presidents best interest. On January 24, another Washington Examiner report indicated that the Kansas Republican Party was likely to scrap its presidential caucus to save resources.

In August 2019, the Associated Press reported that the Nevada Republican Party was also contemplating canceling their caucuses, with the state party spokesman, Keith Schipper, saying it isnt about any kind of conspiracy theory about protecting the president; Hes going to be the nominee; This is about protecting resources to make sure that the president wins in Nevada and that Republicans up and down the ballot win in 2020.

Kansas, Nevada and South Carolinas state committees officially voted on September 7, 2019, to cancel their caucus and primary. The Arizona state Republican Party indicated two days later that it will not hold a primary. These four were joined by the Alaska state Republican party on September 21, when its central committee announced they would not hold a presidential primary.

Virginia Republicans decided to allocate delegates at the state convention.

You May Like: What Is Donald Trump A Republican Or Democrat

The 2024 Republican Presidential Candidate Wild Cards

The first Democratic debate back in 2019 had 20 TWENTY! candidates, so dont be surprised if the Republican field is just as large or larger. We could have some more governors or representatives run, or even other nontraditional candidates, like a Trump family member, a Fox News host or a celebrity, like Dwayne The Rock Johnson, whos said hes seriously considering a run. Stranger things have happened.

No Party Preference Voters: Pay Attention

Registered Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians and other party members, rest assured. You are guaranteed a primary ballot with all of your partys presidential contenders on it.

But voters who dont belong to a political party the fastest growing voting block in the state will have to navigate a more daunting set of obstacles to cast a presidential primary vote.

Some parties have members only policies:

The Republican Party

The Green Party

The Peace and Freedom Party

If you want to vote in one of these three primaries, youll have to join that party. You cant do it as a member of any other party, or even as a no party preference independent. No exceptions.;

The following three parties do allow political independents to cast ballots in their presidential primaries :

The Democratic Party

The Libertarian Party

The American Independent Party

But and this is an important caveat these voters do have to specifically request the ballot they want.

For those who vote in person, this is a cinch. Just go into your polling place when its time to vote and ask. But independents who vote by mail need to let your county know which ballot they want ahead of time.

Maybe you received a postcard that looks like this:

And if youve already received a ballot in the mail and were disappointed by the lack of presidential candidates, do notfill it out. You can always request a new ballot, but trying to vote twice is frowned upon .

Recommended Reading: Did Republicans And Democrats Switch Names

Counties Are Doing Things A Little Differently This Time

If you live in one of the counties highlighted below, voting might look a little different this year.

In 2016, California passed the Voter Choice Act, a law aimed at modernizing the states election system, such that:

Every registered voter gets a ballot in the mail

Voters are no longer required to go to a specific polling place, but can vote at any number of voting centers or drop-off points

Voters can cast their ballots in person beginning 11 days before, and up to and including, Election Day

In 2018, five counties rolled out the new system. This year, 10 more will join their ranks. Thats fifteen counties in all containing 49% of the state population.

This is key for no party preference voters living in these counties who may not get the ballot they want in the mail. See the previous section for details.

0 notes