Armageddon - the place where the last battle between good and evil will be fought.
The right to vote in America is under attack. The Republicans, and their dark money donors, have made the decision to rig elections to ensure they retain power. They are using partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression laws to rig elections they are unable to win otherwise.
Donald Trump lost. There was an attempt to thwart a peaceful transfer of power. They attempted to alter the election results through the courts, losing 60 battles. When their attempts failed at insurrection and in court, they turned their attention to the states. And that has so far been successful.
Using the claim they just want fair elections, even though not a shred of evidence of any widespread fraud exists, they keep the big lie going in order to justify their egregious attacks on election law. What they really oppose is large voter turnout, because historically, that means they lose. Over four hundred new bills restricting voter access have been introduced nationwide. These bills will do exactly what is intended, largely suppressing the votes of persons of color. These ridiculous laws have gone as far as criminalizing giving snacks or water to voters waiting in line, and by the way...why are there such lengthy lines? Could it be there aren't enough places to vote? Mail-in ballots hard to obtain or non-existent? Some of these laws have criminalized assisting a voter in obtaining a mail-in ballot. I know...it's unbelievable.
It's a never-ending onslaught of new and ridiculous laws designed to hold onto power when you can't win with fair voting. The current Republican party is willing to throw away our precious democracy in favor of a dictatorship as long as it maintains its grip.
What Can Be Done?
There is a solution. At the Federal level, we can make these laws illegal. Passing the Freedom To Vote Act will give us the most important voting rights and anti-corruption protections in over fifty years. It addresses efforts to restrict voting access, campaign finance laws, voter roll purges, and extreme partisan gerrymandering.
The Supreme Court helped to create this problem when they gutted our nation's campaign finance laws. That interference allowed our system to be corrupted by megadonors who are calling the shots. If Congress does not step in with its authority to regulate federal elections, this will get much worse.
The Freedom To Vote Act is complementary to the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The Lewis bill protects voters from racial discrimination and restores and updates the protections of the Civil Rights Act of 1965. These two bills supply what is so critical to saving our democracy. It sets national standards to protect the right to vote. That includes standards for early and mail-in voting, modernizing voter registration, and restoring the right to vote to formerly incarcerated people.
Secondly, it eliminates partisan gerrymandering and provides for a small donor matching system, which creates a path for campaigns to be funded by everyday Americans.
So, why don't we pass the bills? Protecting elections and voting rights should be universally accepted by everyone, right?
The answer is no. The roadblock is the filibuster. As long as sixty votes are required, and not one Republican will vote for these laws, they are dead in the Senate. Republicans are using arcane procedural rules to block the bills because they understand the likelihood of losing power if they are passed. The Republican party of today no longer cares about governing, they just want to rule.
It is incomprehensible there is not one single Republican Senator who will vote for these bills. What does that tell you?
The people must be loud about this. Make your voice heard. Contact your representatives and demand the passage of these two pieces of legislation.
2022 may very well be the final chance.
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