Here we go again…another same-same battle!
[Same-same is an expression I learned in Thailand. Same there means maybe, sort of the same. Same-same means closer to being the same.]
I wrote this in a 2018 blog: “If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about your government! Of course, the candidates we vote for don’t always win, but if you don’t register to vote and become knowledgeable about the issues and the candidates, you are contributing to the downfall of democratic ideals.”
As we all know, the United States of America is a Democratic Republic. With a population of about 257,605,088 of voting age, it would be impossible to conduct a total democracy as that means every eligible voter would need to vote on every single issue! That’s why voting for our representatives from the national presidency down to the local city and county government is so critical, because THEY VOTE FOR US.
Because our Republic is based on democratic principles, it follows that as many of voting age should be encouraged and allowed to vote. Currently, one party is doing everything they can to block voting rights. This is the Republican majority (not every single one, and not always this position; Lincoln, stalwart Republican that he was, would be turning over in his grave).
The former occupier of the Oval Office, the unnamed catastrophe, was the major proponent of lies about voting (which he continues to do!) and fought to hamper voting rights.
I quote from the Washington Post, Feb. 19, 2021, in an article by Amy Gardner titled “State GOP lawmakers propose flurry of voting restrictions to placate Trump supporters, spurring fears of a backlash”: “One bill in Georgia would block early voting on Sundays, which critics quickly labeled a flagrant attempt to thwart Souls to the Polls, the Democratic turnout effort that targets Black churchgoers on the final Sunday before an election.” Barry Fleming, the chairman of the new Georgia House Special Committee on Election Integrity, proposed sweeping state legislation on February 17 with provisions such as a prohibition by nonpartisan groups on “line-warming,” which includes such activities as distributing water in warm weather or blankets in the cold! Here’s the link for that article. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-voting-restrictions/2021/02/19/d1fab224-72ca-11eb-85fa-e0ccb3660358_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_evening_edition&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_evening
National Memorial for Peace and Justice, commonly called the Lynching Memorial, Montgomery, AL.
Many of these people were lynched only because they were trying to register to vote. There are 800 columns representing each county in the U.S. in which 4,400 lynchings of Black people occurred between 1877 and 1950. There are from 1 or 2 to multiple names on each column of the Blacks lynched in that county. There were more after 1950, which are commemorated elsewhere. I highly recommend a trip to Birmingham and Montgomery to acquaint yourself more with the struggle for Black civil rights. Leave me a comment if you want more information about such a “civil rights trip.” See this site also: https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/memorial
In the last election, however, Democrats lost many down-ballot seats; so locally and state-wide, they must not be addressing issues of importance there. Hopefully, they’ll figure that out soon, as generally, in current times anyway, they make a serious attempt to do that, as is happening now at the presidential level.
Primarily because of the pandemic, but also the intensity and importance of the 2020 election, many absentee voting systems were put in place by states, some permanent, some temporary. For those who accept facts, we know there is extremely limited voter fraud in this country. There are reams of documentation about this, and it is so patently obvious that I am not going to document the documentation. Now several states are undoing those laws and increasing the difficulty in procedures for both registering to vote and actual voting.
I quote from the Brennan Center for Justice (an independent, nonpartisan law and policy organization; emphasis is from original quote). “In a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election, and grounded in a rash of baseless and racist allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities, legislators have introduced well over four times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to roughly this time last year. Thirty-three states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 165 restrictive bills this year (as compared to 35 such bills in fifteen states on February 3, 2020). Of course, other state lawmakers are seizing on an energized electorate and persistent interest in democracy reform (which is likewise reflected in Congress). To date, thirty-seven states have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 541 bills to expand voting access (dwarfing the 188 expansive bills that were filed in twenty-nine states as of February 3, 2020).” For more detailed information, see https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-february-2021
Page 3 of 4 of the test to register to vote given to Blacks only in Alabama.
Among other bizarre “tests” was one in which they had to know the exact number of jellybeans in a large jar! These restrictive tests began during Reconstruction and continued even sometime after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in certain areas of the South.
I can’t imagine anyone of voting age reading this isn’t registered, but if not, please do so, or if you know someone unregistered who believes in the democratic ideals of our Republic, please encourage them to register.
Note that H.R.1 – For the People Act of 2021 was introduced in the House on January 4, 2021, supporting wide voting rights. It has been referred to several committees. See this link for official details: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1/text
Write letters, make phone calls, when safe visit your elected officials, tell them to support VOTING RIGHTS!
