My thinking on what must happen to save democracy has evolved.
Fact: The United States has been a backsliding democracy for some time.
Fact: We are in an information disruption.
Because democracy requires facts and an educated population, the question is whether enough people will develop the media literacy needed in this new age of information quickly enough.
TFG & Republicans pose an existential threat to America bc the presidential election could be decided by the House. Dems need to win enough seats to take the HSE, but it'll be difficult given Rs' power structure in red & swing states.
"Hair-raising piece from M Tomasky, laying out the nightmare scenario in which Trump wins the election when it goes to the HSE, with concrete suggestions for Dems to do something about this right now."
One more time for those in the back: GET RID OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE. It's nothing more than a loophole to let parties ignore most states and fraudsters like Trump rig things in their favor.
I Beg You To Remember That The Electoral College Exists
Oops. Oh, right, it doesn’t matter who wins the popular vote, it matters who wins the election! How silly of us to have reported as if we lived in a country with an entirely different electoral system. Our bad. We’ll do better next time.
Biden can win the popular vote and lose the election. Please stop citing nationwide polls to draw conclusions about who is “ahead.”
REMINDER: corporatism IS fascism. USA's political elites are controlled by unelected corporatist oligarchs for whom politics isn't about party or nation but business. checkout how the DNC wants to price out the little people from their fundraisers. this is literal corporate capture but with political parties because oligarchs only care about the state violence they can capture & profit from.
VOTING IS HARM REDUCTION
it's not a mandate when the opposition is fascist and the billionaire donors of your party's elite as part of that fascist opposition.
VOTING FOR POTUS ONLY MATTERS IN SWING #ElectoralCollege PRECINCTS
not having direct democracy is why it's easy for oligarchs to buy themselves a party. even the Greens, btw.
so don't worry about some shmuck in NYC not voting. worry about people not voting in fucking Maricopa county.
you're white in the South? STFU & hit the pavement
“Name a force or impulse that threatens the stability of the American political system – distrust in the fairness of elections, conspiracy theorizing, the embrace of authoritarianism – and it is always more prevalent among rural Whites than among those living elsewhere."
~ Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman, White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy (New York: Random House, 2024), p. 5
“Because it violates the ‘one person, one vote’ standard, malapportionment in the Electoral College and especially the U.S. Senate is the primary means by which White voters—and rural Whites most of all—retain electoral advantages at the national level. ...
No group was ever dealt a better electoral hand than rural White Americans."
"And if we win in Michigan, we’ll be just 50 electoral votes away from National Popular Vote taking full effect – and fixing our broken Electoral College for good." #support#grassroots
"Rural white voters have long enjoyed outsize power in American politics. They have inflated voting power in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House and the Electoral College. …
The unfortunate fact is that polls suggest many rural white people’s commitment to the American political system is eroding."
65% of Americans want to elect the pres by popular vote. Do you?
If you’re in one of these states, you can help make it happen by 2028: AZ, ME, MI, NV, NH, PA, VA, WI. Pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
If you aspire to be a Very Serious Person (and whomst amongst us doesn't?) then you know why we can't have nice things. The American people won't stand for #CourtPacking, Congressional #TermLimits, the abolition of the #ElectoralCollege, or #CampaignFinanceLimits. Politics is the art of the possible, and these just aren't possible.
"Maine votes to join multi-state agreement to elect the president by popular vote"
It's not passed into law yet, but seems likely at this point.
This map shows a credible path to achieving 270 votes before the 2028 election. If you're in one of the blue states on this map, please write to your state legislators and governor!
Minority Rule Is Threatening American Democracy Like Never Before... Ari Berman in Mother Jones: May+June 2024 Issue
"...The timing of our modern retreat from democracy is no coincidence. The nation is now roughly 20 years away from a future in which white people will no longer be the majority. New multiracial coalitions are gaining ground in formerly white strongholds like Georgia. To entrench and hold on to power, a shrinking conservative white minority is relentlessly exploiting the undemocratic elements of America’s political institutions while doubling down on tactics such as voter suppression, election subversion, and the censoring of history. This reactionary movement—which is significantly overrepresented because of the structure of the Electoral College, Congress, and gerrymandered legislative districts—has retreated behind a fortress to stop what it views as the coming siege.
Maine Senate Passed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Bill.
Maine has 4 electoral votes which will bring the total to 209. When we get to 270, no more swing states / battleground states deciding elections. No more losers like Trump and George W. Bush taking office.
Trump and GOP leaders push to change #Nebraska electoral votes to winner-take-all
“Former President Donald Trump and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen are calling on the state’s Legislature to change the way Nebraska doles out its Electoral College votes, a move that would almost certainly benefit Trump in his 2024 presidential bid.”
#Nebraska legislators buck Trump by blocking Electoral College vote change — for now
“Nebraska legislators on Wednesday night blocked a late effort to change how the state allocates its Electoral College votes, despite public pressure from former President Donald Trump to shift to a winner-take-all system that would likely benefit him in the fall.”
The corporate wing of the Democrats has objectively terrible political instincts, because the corporate wing of the Dems wants things that are very unpopular with the electorate (this is a trait they share with the Republican establishment).
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Michigan attorney general charges 'false electors' over efforts to overturn the 2020 election (www.nbcnews.com)
Sixteen people forged documents and claimed to be "duly elected and qualified electors" for the state of Michigan, Attorney General Dana Nessel said.