Attacks on the Right to Vote

"One of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today is the disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators to keep most of you from voting next time.  There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the other Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today." - Bill Clinton, 2011 Campus Progress National Convention, Washington, D.C., July 6, 2011

From Maine to Florida to Wisconsin to Texas, Republicans are coordinating an effort to suppress the vote of citizens who typically vote Democratic.  By doing so, they hope to deny Obama a second term and win control of both houses of Congress.  If they can make the 2012 electorate more like the 2010 electorate than the 2008 electorate, they will succeed.  Based on the chimera of voter fraud, which is almost non-existent in this country (or, as Think Progress quipped , "only slightly more common than unicorns") , Republicans have been mounting a coordinated assault on the right to vote by enacting measures that will suppress the votes of students, Afrrican-Americans, immigrants, the elderly and the poor.  The Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law examined the 19 laws and 2 executive orders in the 14 states that have enacted these voter suppression measures.  The Center estimated that 5 million voters could be prevented from voting in 2012 because of these laws alone.

It's clear that the Republicans assume that the fewer people who exercise this basic right to vote, the better their chances in 2012.  And they are right.  US voter turnout in the 2008 Presidential elections was 70%; in the 2010 Congressional elections, 42%. Guess who wins if just 42% of the voters show up in 2012.

The primary tactics of this voter suppression effort are:

• Requiring government issued ID cards to vote - it's estimated that 18% of young voters and 25% of African-Americans do not have such ID's.  Six Republican-controlled states have passed laws making this a requirement - Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.
• Enacting laws that make it more difficult to register new voters.  Florida's anti-voter law provides for fines for procedural errors in registering new voters.  This had the desired effect - the non-partisan League of Women Voters suspended its voter registration efforts in Florida.  And let's not forget the shutdown of ACORN, the advocacy group for the poor that was so effective in getting lower income people and minorities registered. 
• Decreasing the time period for early voting.  In Florida (rapidly becoming the poster-boy of this voter suppression effort), voting on the Sunday before election day was eliminated.  Maine passed a law that for the first time in 38 years prevents a person from registering the same day that he or she votes.
• Prohibiting or making it difficult for college students who live in-state for most of the year to vote there. (Example: New Hampshire)
• Denying the right to vote to felons who have served their time and probation.  (Example: Florda and Iowa)

Rolling Stone and Mother Jones have been at the forefront of exposing the tactics. Rolling Stone posted a comprehensive investigative report August 30. There is even some indication that the mainstream media and the public are finally picking up on it.  The ACLU and other groups are mounting legal challenges to the new laws, Maine voters go to the polls in November to try to overturn their anti-voter law, and Congressional Democrats are asking the Justice Department to use its authority to block or modify laws that discriminate against minority voters.  Whether these actions will succeed in stopping the anti-voter laws from impacting the election is anybody's guess.  The more roadblocks you put in people's way, the less likely they are to vote.  In addition to the legal challenges, progressive groups in the affected states need to begin now to help potential voters get the proper documentation. 

As a side note, it is strange that we hear nothing from the Tea Party's self-described defenders of liberty about this denial of the most basic right in a democracy.  If ever there were a loss of freedom worth complaining about, this is it.  But then again the Tea Party funders are also helping advocate for the massive Republican voter suppression effort. 

I served on a Federal jury several years ago.  After the trial was over, the judge thanked the jurors for participating and reaching a verdict.  He closed with this:  "The citizen exercises his rights in a democracy most directly in the jury box and at the ballot box."  Let's not allow the well-funded right-wing political machine to deny citizens their most basic right to vote.

Obama's Short(falls) List

A friend suggested a while back that this blog rant against Democrats as well as Republicans.  That's been pretty hard to do on a regular basis given the consistently outrageous behavior of Republicans.  But I'm willing to give it a shot.

My friend also said that he had voted for neither Obama nor McCain in the 2008 election.  His comment on Obama was that he was too "green" (in the experience sense not in the environmental sense) to be president.  He may well have been right.  Obama appears to have been bullied by everyone from freshman Congressmen to the medical industry to the military to Benjamin Netanyahu and the so-called "Israel lobby".  Maybe he is naive or maybe he really has been a centrist all along.  In any case, the change we can believe in didn't happen.   Yes the 111th Congress had some pretty decent accomplishments but they were shoved out in 2010.

So without further ado, here are the top 10 disappointments of the Obama Presidency.

10.  Not requesting Harry Reid to change the filibuster rules in the Senate.  This procedure ensures that the party that wants government to fail or do nothing will always win - even if they control just 40 of the 100 seats.  It has no place in a democracy.   

9.  Allowing the most reactionary elements in our country to control the political conversation.  A year or so after the election, I saw a cartoon on the wall of a local business.  Obama was dressed as Steve Urkel and looking at a graph with a seriously down-sloping line.  The comment from the cartoon Obama-Urkel was "Did I do that?"  No, actually you inherited the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression from your predecessor and it's proving a major challenge.  Maybe it's because Obama thought himself the Great Compromiser, maybe it's because he realized too late that the fear-mongers and haters were out to ruin his Presidency, maybe Democrats just don't know how to respond to lies and distortions...whatever the reason ...he failed to make the case for his policies.  This led to the 2010 election bloodbath and the Democratic majority was lost.

8.  Continuing Bush-era policies against civil liberties developed during the new Age of Fear and taking it a step further by approving unnecessary (Bin-Laden, who could have been easily captured for trial as a war criminal) and unlawful (Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen) assassinations.   As noted by Glenn Greenwald in Salon.com , "No effort was made to indict [al-Awlaki] for any crimes [and]...no evidence (as opposed to unverified government accusations) was presented of his guilt."

7.  Taking until YE 2011 to get out of Iraq (McCain and Romney: please shut up).  The troops could have been easily and methodically withdrawn within 6 months of his becoming President.  Based on misinformation and lies and abetted by a complacent media (remember how thrilled these idiots were to be "embedded" with the troops), this war of the Neo-Cons was totally unjustified.  It elevated Iran, a fundamentalist Islamic state, to be the major player in the Middle East with Iraq as its puppet.  Well done, Bushie.

6.  Agreeing to a stimulus package that, in the end, was too small.  While it had a signicant impact, it was not anywhere near large enough to prevent the "jobless recovery".  See also #3 and #4 below. 

5.  Spending all of his political capital after the election on health care and getting only a half-loaf solution.  It may have been worth it if he got a single-payer solution (the one sure way to reduce health care costs) but this was not even on the table.  See also #3 below.

4.  Appointing Wall Street players and Bush-era advisors to his economic team.   These were the clowns that got us into the mess in the first place.  His focus on the deficit when 16% of Americans are either unemployed or underemployed is self-defeating.  At a time when bold Keynesian moves are needed, the Administration settles timidly for half-measures.

3.  A) Thinking he could compromise with Republicans and B) not controlling the Red Dog Democrats.  Democrats held 60 seats and controlled the House when Obama became President.  Instead of FDR (or even LBJ) style arm twisting, he let a small minority of Democrats combine with Republicans to dictate the policies of his Administration.  When the stated aim of the opposing party is to limit you to a one-term Presidency and their media minions are hoping for you to fail, you do not compromise.  You call them out and fight.

2.  Failing to achieve a Palestinian - Israeli peace accord.  After a good and somewhat even-handed start (for example, his 2009 speech in Cairo), he was manhandled by the right-wing Israeli President and AIPAC.  Instead of doing what is right to get the two sides to the table - namely insisting on an immediate settlement freeze in the occupied territories, he fell victim to domestic politics, the Israel lobby and their right-wing Republican and Christian fundamentalist allies.   His failure to support Palestinian statehood at the UN was one of the major low points in his administration.  While not the only issue that energizes Muslim fundamentalists, the Occupation remains a key factor in the antagonism against us.  I guess Americans for Peace Now will just have to raise more money to get its progressive Jewish voice heard above the right-wing babble.

1.  Escalating the war in Afghanistan.  The war is no more winnable or justifiable than was Vietnam.  The surge has not worked but our money and blood continue to flow in that "graveyard of empires".   The so-called "war" on terror should have been a police action not a war.  Terrorism is prevented by detection not by war.

Having said all that, unless he is challenged by a progressive Democrat (yeah, I know, fat chance), he remains the least bad option for 2012.  Hopefully enough of his 2008 base will be inspired enough by this bland reality to go to the polls.  (I mean can you imagine a Rick Perry presidency?)  For all the talk of the importance of "independents", if the Democratic left doesn't show up next November, Obama will lose. 

1.9 Million Jobs Gone

The American Jobs Act is dead.  Nearly two million Americans will not have the jobs that this act would have created.  Given Republican refusal to raise taxes for the wealthy and their determinatiion not to give Obama a "victory", its defeat was totally predictable.   But the loser in this is not President Obama, the loser is the entire country. 

Earlier this week, the Senate could not muster the 60 votes to prevent a Republican filibuster.  The House Republicans will not allow it to even reach the floor for a vote.  Let's hope the voters remember this come the 2012 elections. 

The "Occupy - 99%" demonstrations continue across the country.  It's not clear that the demonstrations will be any more effective than Obama's stump speeches as long as Republicans control the House and block jobs legislation and taxes in the Senate.  Class warfare? Gangs?  The Republican empty suits that are decrying the OWS demonstrations were egging on the Tea Party loonies just a year or two ago.  The Republican Party has been captured by an extremist wing funded by billionaires.  If there is class warfare, it is one the Republicans have created over the past 30 or so years by continually redistributing the nation's wealth to the richest.  The country is now on the verge of becoming an oligarchic banana republic.

So this will be theme number one for the 2012 elections for the Democrats: the absolute intransigence of the Republican Party on anything that might have helped the economy or create jobs.  Republican lawmakers would rather cater to the wealthiest Americans (and many of these wealthy do not even want to be catered to!) and to the corporations that fill their campaign coffers.  This needs to be drummed into the American consciousness continually from now to November 2012.

Columbus Day

Columbus Day has traditionally been the day that we Italian-Americans celebrate our heritage. Pride in Italian ancestry is reflected in the old, half-tongue-in-cheek saying, "There are two kinds of people in the world - Italians and those that want to be Italians". 

The Italian character, personality traits, foibles, and stereotypes have been oft commented on.  Luigi Barzini's 1969 classic, The Italians, is a must read.  Also, if you can get a copy of it, Barbara Grizzuti Harrison's Italian Days (Ticknor & Fields, New York, 1989) is a journal of the author's travels in Italy that is filled with keen observations and insight into the land, the people and her own life.   In fiction, Marco Tullio Giordana's "The Best of Youth" follows a family over four decades while capturing Italy during a period of social unrest in one of the best films I have ever seen. 

Columbus accidentally discovered America for Europe on his way to India more than 500 years ago and the world has not been the same since.  For more than 500 years, people have come to the New World.  My own family came here in the early 1900's - indeed, my mother came here as a two-year old immigrant in 1913. 

Maybe this is the thought we should take with us today.  We are a nation of immigrants - everyone of us except, of course, for Native Americans.  And everyone of us would do well to remember this when anti-immigrant rhetoric strikes our ears.  Fear of the Other is a potent political weapon, which demagogues, Know-Nothings and their ilk have used for centuries. Let's not believe their lies any more and let's be fair and just in our laws.