Today, Americans across the country marched for voting rights. They recognize that our right to have a say in our government is slipping out of our hands. At a rally in Washington, Martin Luther King III told the crowd, “Our country is backsliding to the unconscionable days of Jim Crow. And some of our senators are saying, ‘Well, we can’t overcome the filibuster,’.... I say to you today: Get rid of the filibuster. That is a monument to white supremacy we must tear down.”
It did not surprise me to receive the Letter this Sunday morning. No stunning picture of the Maine coast, light shimming on the water and the dark sky streaked with orange and gold; instead, words on the screen told us about the people marching this weekend for voting rights.
"We are not going to stop": Thousands gathered on Saturday for the annual "March On for Voting Rights". 58 years ago Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech at the first March on Washington. 58 years ago and we're still marching because access to the vote is never guaranteed for Blacks and Browns in the United States of America. Eighteen states have already enacted 30 laws this year that will make it harder for Americans to vote.
Heather didn't trudge herself to bed at a decent hour on Saturday night because the alarm clock in her mind warned her that 'our right to have a say in our government is slipping out of our hands'. (Letter)
The truth of Biden's presidential win was just to hard to bare. It couldn't be true. The election was a rigged. There was fraud. Trump really won in a landslide.
A Cyber Ninja Audit in Maricopa, Arizona would provide the evidence for election fraud. The Ninjas have been auditing the returns since April 22th, 2021, It is now August 29, 2021. What's up Cyber Ninjas?
Take a quick break. This is really happening. In the midst the pandemic, which is now surging ,again; a dangerous hurricane, Ida, about to hit Louisiana; our country is getting wetter and drier as the temperatures soar -- Climate Change is changing faster than the scientists predicted. -- and to top that off, we have radically undemocratic Republicans working like demons to rob Americans of their voting rights.
'Two agencies that oversee Arizona elections went on the offensive Thursday to debunk and discredit the soon-to-be released results of the Senate's unconventional and partisan review of Maricopa County's 2020 general election.'
'Two reports released by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, highlighted the erroneous and insecure nature of the audit conducted by Senate contractors. They also reiterated the ways that the county and state verified the election was sound.'
'The bipartisan effort to discredit the results from lead contractor Cyber Ninjas before they are released was not coordinated, Richer said. But both were seemingly aimed at the same purpose — getting ahead of misinformation or inaccuracies that may be in the Cyber Ninjas report.' (AZCentral)
All is not lost, but we have yet to get a national voting act bill passed. 'The House approved the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act on Tuesday in a party-line vote, kicking the legislation to the Senate — where it faces longer odds of passage. The bill is seen as having a better chance of moving forward than a more sweeping voting rights measure known as the For the People Act.'
'Either legislation could get to President Biden’s desk if all 50 Democrats agreed to make an exception to the filibuster, but Manchin and fellow centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are against any kind of filibuster reform'. (The Hill)
I say both pieces of legislation could and should get to the presidents desk for signing.
This is where we enter. In the next few weeks we will be contacting President Biden and our Senators because we are on the front lines to get these bills passed. We cannot permit our say in government slip out of our hands. We are the anti-filibuster Army.
A friend posted this on Face Book today. It's from RARE BAGS with John Farrell, August 26, 2021, at 3:14 AM. The author is the great thinker Arundhati Roy. You may remember her novel "The God of Small Things."
"What is this thing that has happened to us? It's a virus, yes. In and of itself it holds no moral brief. But it is definitely more than a virus... It has mad the mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing else could. Our minds are still racing back and forth, longing for a return to 'normality', trying to stitch our future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture. But the rupture exists. And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it."
If a "Republican extremist" does win in 2024 through obvious rigging of the vote, I predict the country will come apart with the secession of the west coast and New England by 2026 and possibly a civil war by 2026. That's if the Republicans don't win control of 4 more state legislatures in 2022 and call a Constitutional Convention under Article V, an act that could result in as thorough a reworking/replacement of the Constitution as happened in the first constitutional convention called in 1787 to amend the Articles of Confederation when they were thrown aside and replaced with the Constitution (and under Article V there is no limitation on what a convention once convened can do, just like 1787, thank you very much Mr. Madison).
As important as people say the new voting laws are, they are 100 times moreso when one considers the varieties of dark future failing to enact them portends.
This is an incredibly disturbing Letter. Acurate, none the less, disturbing. Although, the numbers are in our favor, the intent of the GOP is both overwhelming and disastrous. When the GOP take the wheel, most all of us in this Community, will not see Democracy as we knew it again in our lifetime.
We are past the time to clutch our beads. The GOP played the long game. This set up has been in the works very likely for decades. As they quietly, and in some cases, not so quietly pushed ahead, we gave them the benefit of the doubt that they would play with integrity.
When the midterm elections come to pass, the layout of the land will be quite different. Mary Trump, Donald's niece was quoted yesterday as saying her Uncle will run in 2024. I believe her. As much as we thought he wouldn't be able to physically achieve this, he will be there.
We couldn't possible be in a worse dynamic as a Nation as we are right now.
If Biden doesn't run again, we've got nothing. The Democrats should have been priming that pump 2 election cycles ago.
End the f*cking filibuster. It should never have come down to this, yet here we are.
Amazing that propaganda has had such a strong grip on me and my country: The US has the lead for democracy in the world, and Americans are good winners. When actually democracy has been undermined in the US all along, and the losers of the civil war are such terribly bad losers. Not only voting rights are under attack, but also the integrity of courts and institutions. - Does not make us better, but we are losing a leader badly needed in the world.
I was recently afforded the opportunity to visit Ms. Richardson's great state of Maine. While there I watched from the shore as the workboats of the lobster and fishermen began each day at sunrise or before and then return at the close of day. But always and throughout the day, a steady parade of magnificent and majestic private yachts proudly plied the same waters. Each festooned with a full complement of the "beautiful people"! To my post modern, jaundiced eye, the disparity could not be more obvious. In the course of my observations I noted that many of the vessels from both "classes" carried the flag, some quite large and dramatically displayed. It made me wonder what we can possibly have left in common between those that "work" for a living and those that live off the efforts of others. Of course I can hear people saying "the wealthy work too" and while that is true in a sense I'm talking here about the hugh and expanding wealth gap that exists today between what we might call the moneyed folk and the rest of us. The people I have in mind often make their fortunes by using the velocity of money itself to make more money sometimes without generating any directly related product.
This is of course the nature of the modern world and nothing new really. However, what's new is the increasing moral detachment from the consequences of this dissociation. I believe now that the turbulence of the modern world has provided a kind of doomsday rationale for the rich to horde and gerrymander the product of society in an attempt to insure their survival at any cost.
These people are not stupid and they are aware of all the things that can and are going wrong in the world today and they too are concerned with the rising instability of governments and economies but they believe that the path forward must be maintained by the exercise of power and position. They intend to maintain control whatever the cost. Democracy is not essential to them and in fact is often counterproductive for maintaining their privilege and hegemony. They will and have begun to use force and they will keep whatever "forces" are necessary as they see the old order collapse. In fact, it is to their advantage to facilitate that collapse and they will point to the chaos to make the case for their repressive measures.
Climate change, pandemics, war, famine and revolt will not reach them in their private enclaves if they just manage it correctly like any other enterprise. One might say "Well how does anyone avoid climate change or famine or pestilence?" To that I say when you have been able to control the engines of wealth for so long and avoid the consequences of your malfeasance perhaps you can have the confidence that you'll be able to use disaster to restructure the world in your favor yet again. Consider for example the aspiration to build a space ship to colonize Mars and perhaps open new Amazon warehouse! People of this type might arguably have the notion that you can protect yourself while allowing the forces of chaos and ruin to help winnow the heard making life even better for them.
Should we expect these people to favor democracy!? I think not.
Definitely a portentous day.......in 1533, Pizzaro executed the last Inca Emporer, in 1862 General Lee won the 2nd Battle of Bull Run and in 1970-71 Native Americans occupied Mt Rushmore to protest the breaching of the 1868 Treaty of Laramie. It doesn't necessarily portend well depending on your point of view. It certainly is a day that well illustrates the pains and joys of post-columbian history in the Americas. Work to be done to fashion the outcome that meets the test of Lincoln's words in his Gettysburg address:
" It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".
"Article 1 Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature there of; BUT the CONGRESS may at any time by Law, make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators."
The constitution specifically gives congress the power to right the kinds of laws and rules being enacted today. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but the constitution did not condition this article by instituting the damn filibuster. GET RID OF IT.
In Collier County Florida we are working hard to inform all voters about these vague laws and their impact. We must gather all true citizens together to vote the scoundrels out, we can't match the oligarchs, like Koch brothers and their organizations working to control State legislatures and the Judicial system with money but our only weapon is to marshal voters. The oligarchs have succeeded and the bell is tolling for Democracy.
Think about it for a minute: who would dare to try to manipulate the vote in a democracy? The vote is the most powerful means for expression of our rights as citizens and cannot be diminished by anyone seeking political office or access to the power and resources of that office. Yet, over the decades, the power of the vote has been weakened by people bent on possessing the power of political office because “they want what they want”, no matter the Constitution, or the many laws and statutes derived from it. We have to see the new voting rights bills enacted during Biden’s term(s) in office if we want to help win a key battle in the ongoing fight to preserve and protect our Democracy, during this era of the American Experiment. The fact that most of us can vote so easily, and without any interference, makes this effort harder to accomplish. But as one looks at the various initiatives currently being pushed forward by the Biden Administration and it’s supporters in Congress, voting rights is right up there with infrastructure and the environment as “ must haves” for our country. These bills will ultimately pass because it’s what the majority of Americans need and want to see happen; we have to do what we can to help see passage happen, now. Try writing a hand written letter to your representative and a moderate senator like Manchin or Collins; no email, no contribution….write and mail one out every day for a month. Keep the note short and respectful. Good luck.
A fundamental premise of democracy, even a representative democracy, is the power of the voice of the people. In two of our last six elections, a Republican was elected President with a minority of the popular vote. The system that produced these wins for Republicans is contrary to the fundamental premise of the power in a democracy of the voice of the people having primacy and power. If Republicans wish to make an argument for the abandonment of the Electoral College their insistence on suppressing the voice of the people in elections could be the winning argument for ending the Electoral College system. It is unlikely that can sustain minority rule forever. It may be preserved for the short term, but is unlikely to be sustainable beyond a limited period of time. History has shown that minority rule has a limited life expectancy. History also shows that it tends not to end well for the minorities that have suppressed the majority to attempt to preserve their power. Perhaps Republicans should spend a bit of time studying their history to instruct their views on electoral power and preservation of it.
"On a day that harks back to both John Lewis’s fight for voting rights and Strom Thurmond’s fight against them, I wonder which man’s principles will shape our future."
I know "which man's principles [must] shape our future." We cannot allow the people and laws of these united states to slip back into bigotry and discriminatory practices. We cannot allow a few white men and women to dictate or reinstate Jim Crowism. It must not be permitted!
Long-term the future of the US or A as a vibrant, participatory democracy depends on John Lewis' principles prevailing, but I worry that this will take much longer than it should (ie, not likely in this Congress). ;-(
It did not surprise me to receive the Letter this Sunday morning. No stunning picture of the Maine coast, light shimming on the water and the dark sky streaked with orange and gold; instead, words on the screen told us about the people marching this weekend for voting rights.
"We are not going to stop": Thousands gathered on Saturday for the annual "March On for Voting Rights". 58 years ago Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech at the first March on Washington. 58 years ago and we're still marching because access to the vote is never guaranteed for Blacks and Browns in the United States of America. Eighteen states have already enacted 30 laws this year that will make it harder for Americans to vote.
Heather didn't trudge herself to bed at a decent hour on Saturday night because the alarm clock in her mind warned her that 'our right to have a say in our government is slipping out of our hands'. (Letter)
The truth of Biden's presidential win was just to hard to bare. It couldn't be true. The election was a rigged. There was fraud. Trump really won in a landslide.
A Cyber Ninja Audit in Maricopa, Arizona would provide the evidence for election fraud. The Ninjas have been auditing the returns since April 22th, 2021, It is now August 29, 2021. What's up Cyber Ninjas?
Take a quick break. This is really happening. In the midst the pandemic, which is now surging ,again; a dangerous hurricane, Ida, about to hit Louisiana; our country is getting wetter and drier as the temperatures soar -- Climate Change is changing faster than the scientists predicted. -- and to top that off, we have radically undemocratic Republicans working like demons to rob Americans of their voting rights.
'Two agencies that oversee Arizona elections went on the offensive Thursday to debunk and discredit the soon-to-be released results of the Senate's unconventional and partisan review of Maricopa County's 2020 general election.'
'Two reports released by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, highlighted the erroneous and insecure nature of the audit conducted by Senate contractors. They also reiterated the ways that the county and state verified the election was sound.'
'The bipartisan effort to discredit the results from lead contractor Cyber Ninjas before they are released was not coordinated, Richer said. But both were seemingly aimed at the same purpose — getting ahead of misinformation or inaccuracies that may be in the Cyber Ninjas report.' (AZCentral)
All is not lost, but we have yet to get a national voting act bill passed. 'The House approved the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act on Tuesday in a party-line vote, kicking the legislation to the Senate — where it faces longer odds of passage. The bill is seen as having a better chance of moving forward than a more sweeping voting rights measure known as the For the People Act.'
'Either legislation could get to President Biden’s desk if all 50 Democrats agreed to make an exception to the filibuster, but Manchin and fellow centrist Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) are against any kind of filibuster reform'. (The Hill)
I say both pieces of legislation could and should get to the presidents desk for signing.
This is where we enter. In the next few weeks we will be contacting President Biden and our Senators because we are on the front lines to get these bills passed. We cannot permit our say in government slip out of our hands. We are the anti-filibuster Army.
A friend posted this on Face Book today. It's from RARE BAGS with John Farrell, August 26, 2021, at 3:14 AM. The author is the great thinker Arundhati Roy. You may remember her novel "The God of Small Things."
"What is this thing that has happened to us? It's a virus, yes. In and of itself it holds no moral brief. But it is definitely more than a virus... It has mad the mighty kneel and brought the world to a halt like nothing else could. Our minds are still racing back and forth, longing for a return to 'normality', trying to stitch our future to our past and refusing to acknowledge the rupture. But the rupture exists. And in the midst of this terrible despair, it offers us a chance to rethink the doomsday machine we have built for ourselves. Nothing could be worse than a return to normality. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it."
If a "Republican extremist" does win in 2024 through obvious rigging of the vote, I predict the country will come apart with the secession of the west coast and New England by 2026 and possibly a civil war by 2026. That's if the Republicans don't win control of 4 more state legislatures in 2022 and call a Constitutional Convention under Article V, an act that could result in as thorough a reworking/replacement of the Constitution as happened in the first constitutional convention called in 1787 to amend the Articles of Confederation when they were thrown aside and replaced with the Constitution (and under Article V there is no limitation on what a convention once convened can do, just like 1787, thank you very much Mr. Madison).
As important as people say the new voting laws are, they are 100 times moreso when one considers the varieties of dark future failing to enact them portends.
I hope, fervently, that we will strive toward being the America of John Lewis.
Thank you Heather.
This is an incredibly disturbing Letter. Acurate, none the less, disturbing. Although, the numbers are in our favor, the intent of the GOP is both overwhelming and disastrous. When the GOP take the wheel, most all of us in this Community, will not see Democracy as we knew it again in our lifetime.
We are past the time to clutch our beads. The GOP played the long game. This set up has been in the works very likely for decades. As they quietly, and in some cases, not so quietly pushed ahead, we gave them the benefit of the doubt that they would play with integrity.
When the midterm elections come to pass, the layout of the land will be quite different. Mary Trump, Donald's niece was quoted yesterday as saying her Uncle will run in 2024. I believe her. As much as we thought he wouldn't be able to physically achieve this, he will be there.
We couldn't possible be in a worse dynamic as a Nation as we are right now.
If Biden doesn't run again, we've got nothing. The Democrats should have been priming that pump 2 election cycles ago.
End the f*cking filibuster. It should never have come down to this, yet here we are.
Be safe, be well.
(Sweden)
Amazing that propaganda has had such a strong grip on me and my country: The US has the lead for democracy in the world, and Americans are good winners. When actually democracy has been undermined in the US all along, and the losers of the civil war are such terribly bad losers. Not only voting rights are under attack, but also the integrity of courts and institutions. - Does not make us better, but we are losing a leader badly needed in the world.
I was recently afforded the opportunity to visit Ms. Richardson's great state of Maine. While there I watched from the shore as the workboats of the lobster and fishermen began each day at sunrise or before and then return at the close of day. But always and throughout the day, a steady parade of magnificent and majestic private yachts proudly plied the same waters. Each festooned with a full complement of the "beautiful people"! To my post modern, jaundiced eye, the disparity could not be more obvious. In the course of my observations I noted that many of the vessels from both "classes" carried the flag, some quite large and dramatically displayed. It made me wonder what we can possibly have left in common between those that "work" for a living and those that live off the efforts of others. Of course I can hear people saying "the wealthy work too" and while that is true in a sense I'm talking here about the hugh and expanding wealth gap that exists today between what we might call the moneyed folk and the rest of us. The people I have in mind often make their fortunes by using the velocity of money itself to make more money sometimes without generating any directly related product.
This is of course the nature of the modern world and nothing new really. However, what's new is the increasing moral detachment from the consequences of this dissociation. I believe now that the turbulence of the modern world has provided a kind of doomsday rationale for the rich to horde and gerrymander the product of society in an attempt to insure their survival at any cost.
These people are not stupid and they are aware of all the things that can and are going wrong in the world today and they too are concerned with the rising instability of governments and economies but they believe that the path forward must be maintained by the exercise of power and position. They intend to maintain control whatever the cost. Democracy is not essential to them and in fact is often counterproductive for maintaining their privilege and hegemony. They will and have begun to use force and they will keep whatever "forces" are necessary as they see the old order collapse. In fact, it is to their advantage to facilitate that collapse and they will point to the chaos to make the case for their repressive measures.
Climate change, pandemics, war, famine and revolt will not reach them in their private enclaves if they just manage it correctly like any other enterprise. One might say "Well how does anyone avoid climate change or famine or pestilence?" To that I say when you have been able to control the engines of wealth for so long and avoid the consequences of your malfeasance perhaps you can have the confidence that you'll be able to use disaster to restructure the world in your favor yet again. Consider for example the aspiration to build a space ship to colonize Mars and perhaps open new Amazon warehouse! People of this type might arguably have the notion that you can protect yourself while allowing the forces of chaos and ruin to help winnow the heard making life even better for them.
Should we expect these people to favor democracy!? I think not.
The filibuster should not be applied to voting rights which are essential to the foundation of our Democracy.
Definitely a portentous day.......in 1533, Pizzaro executed the last Inca Emporer, in 1862 General Lee won the 2nd Battle of Bull Run and in 1970-71 Native Americans occupied Mt Rushmore to protest the breaching of the 1868 Treaty of Laramie. It doesn't necessarily portend well depending on your point of view. It certainly is a day that well illustrates the pains and joys of post-columbian history in the Americas. Work to be done to fashion the outcome that meets the test of Lincoln's words in his Gettysburg address:
" It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".
"Article 1 Section 4. The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives shall be prescribed in each State by the legislature there of; BUT the CONGRESS may at any time by Law, make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators."
The constitution specifically gives congress the power to right the kinds of laws and rules being enacted today. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but the constitution did not condition this article by instituting the damn filibuster. GET RID OF IT.
In Collier County Florida we are working hard to inform all voters about these vague laws and their impact. We must gather all true citizens together to vote the scoundrels out, we can't match the oligarchs, like Koch brothers and their organizations working to control State legislatures and the Judicial system with money but our only weapon is to marshal voters. The oligarchs have succeeded and the bell is tolling for Democracy.
Let’s go back to standing in the senate. Filibuster on your feet, Senators. Stand and Deliver.
Think about it for a minute: who would dare to try to manipulate the vote in a democracy? The vote is the most powerful means for expression of our rights as citizens and cannot be diminished by anyone seeking political office or access to the power and resources of that office. Yet, over the decades, the power of the vote has been weakened by people bent on possessing the power of political office because “they want what they want”, no matter the Constitution, or the many laws and statutes derived from it. We have to see the new voting rights bills enacted during Biden’s term(s) in office if we want to help win a key battle in the ongoing fight to preserve and protect our Democracy, during this era of the American Experiment. The fact that most of us can vote so easily, and without any interference, makes this effort harder to accomplish. But as one looks at the various initiatives currently being pushed forward by the Biden Administration and it’s supporters in Congress, voting rights is right up there with infrastructure and the environment as “ must haves” for our country. These bills will ultimately pass because it’s what the majority of Americans need and want to see happen; we have to do what we can to help see passage happen, now. Try writing a hand written letter to your representative and a moderate senator like Manchin or Collins; no email, no contribution….write and mail one out every day for a month. Keep the note short and respectful. Good luck.
Filibuster on their feet. No button pushing.
A fundamental premise of democracy, even a representative democracy, is the power of the voice of the people. In two of our last six elections, a Republican was elected President with a minority of the popular vote. The system that produced these wins for Republicans is contrary to the fundamental premise of the power in a democracy of the voice of the people having primacy and power. If Republicans wish to make an argument for the abandonment of the Electoral College their insistence on suppressing the voice of the people in elections could be the winning argument for ending the Electoral College system. It is unlikely that can sustain minority rule forever. It may be preserved for the short term, but is unlikely to be sustainable beyond a limited period of time. History has shown that minority rule has a limited life expectancy. History also shows that it tends not to end well for the minorities that have suppressed the majority to attempt to preserve their power. Perhaps Republicans should spend a bit of time studying their history to instruct their views on electoral power and preservation of it.
"On a day that harks back to both John Lewis’s fight for voting rights and Strom Thurmond’s fight against them, I wonder which man’s principles will shape our future."
I know "which man's principles [must] shape our future." We cannot allow the people and laws of these united states to slip back into bigotry and discriminatory practices. We cannot allow a few white men and women to dictate or reinstate Jim Crowism. It must not be permitted!
Long-term the future of the US or A as a vibrant, participatory democracy depends on John Lewis' principles prevailing, but I worry that this will take much longer than it should (ie, not likely in this Congress). ;-(