Republican Anti-Democracy and Voter Disenfranchisement

[BigRedBuster]

4 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

They have become of the 'anti' party - full of pessimists, anti-intellectuals, conspirators.  Hard to generate support when you appeal to only the lowest common denominator and your policy making is pretty small tent thinking.   How far they have fallen from the optimism of Reagan.  I don't see a Reagan like leader within the party. 

I can hear Reagan now.  "I didn't leave party, it left me".

 

He would be embarrassed with what the party has turned into.

[Archy1221]

5 hours ago, TGHusker said:

A good article by Vox on GOP suppression legislation in Texas and beyond.  Ok, I get partisan ship.  I get that we want our 'team' to win. But in reality there should be only one team - Democracy.  What I don't get, is a party running head over heals to suppress votes and making it more difficult to vote.  Voting is the central core right and privilege  of our democracy.  The current GOP mindset and their actions are anti-democratic.  So what does that make the party? 

 

 

https://www.vox.com/22463490/voting-rights-democracy-texas-georgia-suppression-jim-crow-supreme-court-sb7

 

 

 

Imagine that!  People will figure out how to vote???  I was told people are losing their voting rights.  
 

“Last week, the Atlantic’s Ronald Brownstein reported that the Biden White House is surprisingly sanguine about the latest round of voter suppression bills making their way through various state legislatures. “Although White House officials consider the laws offensive from a civil-rights perspective,” Brownstein wrote, “they do not think most of those laws will advantage Republicans in the 2022 and 2024 elections as much as many liberal activists fear.”

He also quoted an unnamed senior White House official, who summarized the case for optimism in the face of voter suppression. “I think our feeling is, show us what the rules are and we will figure out a way to educate our voters and make sure they understand how they can vote and we will get them out to vote,” this official said.”

 

[BigRedBuster]

11 hours ago, Archy1221 said:

Imagine that!  People will figure out how to vote???  I was told people are losing their voting rights.  

 

Why should someone have to "figure out" how to vote around Republican laws trying to make it harder for them to vote?

[Archy1221]

1 minute ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

Why should someone have to "figure out" how to vote around Republican laws trying to make it harder for them to vote?

You have to “figure out” how to vote in every state even the Democrat ones that have less voting days than the “restrictive” Republican ones.  
 

Even Biden’s WH thinks the laws will not affect voting totals

[funhusker]

41 minutes ago, Archy1221 said:

You have to “figure out” how to vote in every state even the Democrat ones that have less voting days than the “restrictive” Republican ones.  
 

Even Biden’s WH thinks the laws will not affect voting totals

I don’t know why I keep trying, but here we go: 

 

If these laws are not going to effect totals, why do you think these states are bothering to make the changes?

[TGHusker]

13 hours ago, Archy1221 said:

Imagine that!  People will figure out how to vote???  I was told people are losing their voting rights.  
 

“Last week, the Atlantic’s Ronald Brownstein reported that the Biden White House is surprisingly sanguine about the latest round of voter suppression bills making their way through various state legislatures. “Although White House officials consider the laws offensive from a civil-rights perspective,” Brownstein wrote, “they do not think most of those laws will advantage Republicans in the 2022 and 2024 elections as much as many liberal activists fear.”

He also quoted an unnamed senior White House official, who summarized the case for optimism in the face of voter suppression. “I think our feeling is, show us what the rules are and we will figure out a way to educate our voters and make sure they understand how they can vote and we will get them out to vote,” this official said.”

 

      Voting should be easy and very accessible.  There should be no obstacles.  However,  the only possible 'restriction' I may be in favor of is: a voter ID card of some kind.  I do want citizens only to be able to vote - if you aren't a citizen, you should be allowed to vote.  I'm not sure if that is a big problem or not or if it is just a GOP talking point.  If it isn't, then it is a mute point and we can just carry on as is.  But those ID cards shouldn't be a driver's license since not everyone drives and should be provided free by the govt.

[Archy1221]

31 minutes ago, funhusker said:

I don’t know why I keep trying, but here we go: 

 

If these laws are not going to effect totals, why do you think these states are bothering to make the changes?

I know I’ve explained this all before, but here we go:
 

Having voter ID for absentee voting when a state already has voter ID for in person voting makes sense which you know.  
 

Expanding the hours in a day that in person voting takes place is not a bad thing.  
 

Having video monitoring of ballot drop box locations makes sense to those who care about election integrity. 

Keeping people from approaching voters while in line to vote is a common sense reform that people with common sense agree.  If one is afraid of getting thirsty, one has quite a long time to figure out how to bring a bottle of water to use while in line. 
 

Eliminating dead people from voting rolls seems to make sense.  Not sending absentee ballots to those who haven’t voted in 3-4 consecutive elections seems to make sense.  No need to have those ballots out there.  
 

God forbid there are actual rules for voting.  

[Archy1221]

2 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

Voting should be easy and very accessible.

Glad we’re on the same page because it currently is and will continue to be.  Your goalpost emoji doesn’t fit the discussion even though it is cooler than the one Goalpost uses.  
 

BTW...was in Tulsa the last two days.  Thanks for the nice weather.  

[funhusker]

15 minutes ago, Archy1221 said:

I know I’ve explained this all before, but here we go:
 

Having voter ID for absentee voting when a state already has voter ID for in person voting makes sense which you know.  
 

Expanding the hours in a day that in person voting takes place is not a bad thing.  
 

Having video monitoring of ballot drop box locations makes sense to those who care about election integrity. 

Keeping people from approaching voters while in line to vote is a common sense reform that people with common sense agree.  If one is afraid of getting thirsty, one has quite a long time to figure out how to bring a bottle of water to use while in line. 
 

Eliminating dead people from voting rolls seems to make sense.  Not sending absentee ballots to those who haven’t voted in 3-4 consecutive elections seems to make sense.  No need to have those ballots out there.  
 

God forbid there are actual rules for voting.  

Those are all reasonable.  Thank you.

[TGHusker]

37 minutes ago, Archy1221 said:

Glad we’re on the same page because it currently is and will continue to be.  Your goalpost emoji doesn’t fit the discussion even though it is cooler than the one Goalpost uses.  
 

BTW...was in Tulsa the last two days.  Thanks for the nice weather.  

What brought you to Tulsa?  Should have messaged me and we could have met.

 

[TGHusker]

44 minutes ago, Archy1221 said:

I know I’ve explained this all before, but here we go:
 

Having voter ID for absentee voting when a state already has voter ID for in person voting makes sense which you know.  
 

Expanding the hours in a day that in person voting takes place is not a bad thing.  
 

Having video monitoring of ballot drop box locations makes sense to those who care about election integrity. 

Keeping people from approaching voters while in line to vote is a common sense reform that people with common sense agree.  If one is afraid of getting thirsty, one has quite a long time to figure out how to bring a bottle of water to use while in line. 
 

Eliminating dead people from voting rolls seems to make sense.  Not sending absentee ballots to those who haven’t voted in 3-4 consecutive elections seems to make sense.  No need to have those ballots out there.  
 

God forbid there are actual rules for voting.  

I have no issues with this.    The Bold - however, I don't have problem wt people handling out water, etc as long as they aren't campaign workers, the water bottles have no

"courtesy of candidate John Doe' on them, etc.   - If they are poll volunteers without any kind of campaign clothing, pins, etc. 

[Archy1221]

9 minutes ago, TGHusker said:

What brought you to Tulsa?  Should have messaged me and we could have met.

 

Work.  Down there every month for a few days.  Back for one day next week.  I usually stay down by Southern Hills

[TGHusker]

Good oped - comparing what is going on in Israel vs USA and how in Israel different parties came together to remove a egomaniac while the GOP wants to continue to promote lies to get their egomaniac back in office.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/03/this-is-what-putting-country-over-party-looks-like/

 

Quote

The bad news: A megalomaniacal, corrupt leader of a democracy becomes convinced that the fate of the country depends on him retaining his power. His allies are religious extremists who piggyback off his authoritarian agenda. The domestic police apparatus abuses minorities, thereby satisfying an increasingly nationalistic base. He refuses to leave office quietly once defeated, screaming “fraud” and labeling his opponents as traitors.  The good news: A broad coalition of politicians sublimates its substantial differences on ideology. They understand no leader in a democracy should be able to convert the instruments of state power for his own benefit. Corruption and intimidation, they know, will devour democracy, so they join hands to banish the increasingly autocratic leader.

 

 

I

Quote

Israel or the United States? The “bad news” applies to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the 45th U.S. president. Netanyahu is already on trial; Donald Trump is at this stage only facing multiple inquiries and lawsuits. In the main, however, the narrative applies to both countries. It is noteworthy that religious factions often ally themselves with a secularized authoritarian whose nationalistic message serves those who want to use the authority of the state to enforce religious doctrine.

Quote

Unlike Netanyahu’s right-leaning opponents (such as Naftali Bennett), however, even Trump-wary Republicans still prioritize retention of power over the health of the democracy. Republicans refuse to allow an independent commission to investigate the Trump-inspired insurrection. They continue to propagate the “big lie" that the election was stolen, and worse, they use it as a justification for rigging elections.

 

Quote

 

Vice News, in surveying scholars alarmed by the descent of the GOP, finds:

The overwhelming concern among scholars isn’t so much the continued personal influence of Trump but the impact of his continued false claims about election fraud and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. They worry what the 2024 election could look like as the Republican Party has further radicalized and the embrace of “big lie” has become a foundational belief of many on the right.

Even the most enlightened, pro-democratic Republicans do not grasp the stakes. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) confesses she voted for Trump because she could not fathom voting for President Biden. She now “regrets” her vote, but apparently not enough to cease supporting a party that remains in Trump’s thrall or to stop defending voter suppression tactics.

Cheney and other Republican dissidents might look to Bennett for inspiration. Bennett owes his entire political career to ultranationalists and retains his foundational belief that Israel should retain Judea and Samaria. On that issue, there is a far greater difference between Bennett and his allies (including Arab Israeli parties!) than between Republicans and Democrats on any issue on which they disagree (e.g., how much to spend on infrastructure, which gun regulations are acceptable).

Bennett nevertheless put that aside for the sake of national preservation. "The political crisis in Israel is unprecedented on a global level,” he said on Sunday. “We could end up with fifth, sixth, even 10th elections, dismantling the walls of the country, brick by brick, until our house falls in on us. Or we can stop the madness and take responsibility.”

Stop the madness and take responsibility. Not a bad rallying cry for an anti-authoritarian coalition to drive the MAGA crowd out of power.

Never Trumpers Tim Miller and William Kristol, playing off of “Blue Dog” Democrats (conservative Democrats who might have been former Republicans), have urged the formation of “Red Dog” Democrats — disaffected former or almost-former Republicans who understand the need to make common cause with the only pro-democracy party around. Miller wrote for the Bulwark in December:

I don’t want to minimize the differences over scope of government between the Red Dogs and the mainline Democrats. They are real and genuine and deeply held.

But are the passions around limited government so widespread to make a new party centered around it viable? Are the disagreements between the Red Dogs and the Democrats over the size of government so vast that they merit blowing up this new coalition and potentially helping a populist, nationalist, anti-democratic Republican party? (Which, by the way, has no interest in “limited government” either.)

It seems to me the answer to these questions is a big fat No.

The differences are also surely less significant than what Israeli coalition partners must navigate.

In essence, the choice in both Israel and the United States is whether normal democracy or some semi-authoritarian, illiberal regime should prevail. This is the only issue that truly matters. It is time for pro-democracy patriots to copy the Israeli example: Get on the right side of democracy, and fight about the rest later.

 

 

[knapplc]

 

 

 

[Archy1221]

3 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

 

 

Ummm read the release.  Specifically the last sentence in paragraph 2.  Doesn’t seem to mention voter intimidation now does it.