PA-7
February 22, 2018
February 22, 2018
In their never-ending battle to stop voting in America,
Republican’ts got a boost from five members of the Supreme Court. The
anti-democracy Roberts court decided to strike down the decision of a federal
court in Texas that rigged voting in that state in favor of...wait for
it…Republican’ts. The district judges determined that, “The record indicates
not just a hostility toward Democrat (sic) districts, but a hostility to
minority districts, and a willingness to use race for partisan advantage.” The
Supremes, reticent to take on state voting issues, were persuaded by
Pennsylvania Republican’ts to hear, and presumably overturn the state’s Supreme
Court decision to undo the insane gerrymandering of the state’s voting
districts, including one whose shape is known as “Goofy kicking Donald Duck”
(though it looks more like the Road Runner kicking Wile E. Coyote to me). The
highest court in the land– the same court that gutted the 1965 Voting Rights
Act in 2013 – this time (at least for now) took the side of democracy, allowing
the Keystone State to redraw its voting map. The court, and the Democrats, are
looking to make the districts fair – as in, favoring neither party – but fair
don’t fly with Republican’ts.
The Supreme Court's decision is one of many that seem to signal a move away
from the anti-democratic, unconstitutional, and objectively immoral
gerrymandering that tips the scales in favor of Republican’ts, who demonstrably
cannot win congressional or senate seats, or the presidency without some form
of cheating. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has redrawn the state’s voting map,
effective in May 2018. Republican’ts plan to sue.
Whether it be gratuitous voter ID laws, gerrymandering, being
the boy who cried voter fraud, creating a fraudulent voter fraud commission, or
working with the Russians – purposely or otherwise, Republican’ts are shameless
merchants of fascism.
Sure, there are literally hundreds of Russia connections in
Chrumpworld. But there are two things the Republican’ts want you to remember
above all else – Bengazi and Clinton got a blow job. Oh,
and Hillary’s emails. Nothing else matters.
It Can't Happen Here,
Except When it Does
It is interesting that the Russians and the Republican’ts have
so much in common. According to federal prosecutors, Russian-backed entities
attempted to suppress voter turnout in minority communities as part of its
campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election. What a coincidence,
Republican’ts have been doing this for decades. What I want to know is this: what
is the real Red menace? Are Red States Republican’t or Russian?
Bull Goose Republican’t Don Chrump, in response to the
special prosecutor’s indictment of 13 Russians for meddling in our elections,
attacked the FBI, Democrats, Obama, his own National Security Advisor, the
Media and Harry Potter. He still did not have one single harsh word for
Vladimir Putin and his cyber-attackers. Chrump gave no indication that he
thought there was an ongoing threat to our elections, and no indication that he
has any interest in trying to protect what is left of our democracy.
As we would all prefer to forget, the Founding Fathers felt
that only wealthy white males were to have the right to elect wealthy white
males to office. Today’s Republican'ts have never wavered in their relentless
obsession with trying to return to those days, or at least stifling the non-Republican’t
vote. Numerous Republican'ts have publicly proclaimed that they do not want too
many people voting. Mostly they are quiet about it, preferring to trease (the
verb form of treason; believe me) behind the scenes. And who could blame them?
Conservative icon Paul Weyrich, co-founder of right-wing think-tank the
Heritage Foundation, who also helped to establish the Moral Majority spoke
directly to this issue in the fall of 1980.
Weyrich bemoaned the fact that “many of our Christians have
what I call the ‘Goo-Goo Syndrome.’ Good government. They want everybody to
vote. I don’t want everybody to vote…As a matter of fact our leverage in the
elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” At least
Mr. Weyrich had the courage, if not the good taste to speak his incredibly
un-democratic mind in public. Today, his successors couch their language, hide
their contempt for just about everyone and pretend to be looking out for
Democracy. Their actions speak much louder than their words.
Fuck the Vote
As if proof of the above was necessary, The Nation reported
that last week, under cover of swamp gas, the House Administration Committee
voted along party lines to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
Have you ever heard of the EAC? Apparently, it exists to help states run
elections. It is the only federal agency trying to guarantee voting machines
can’t be hacked. Who knew? The EAC, created as part of the Help America Vote
Act after the catastrophic 2000 “election” in Florida, was meant to fix
problems like butterfly ballots and hanging chads. You know, two of the reasons
(because disenfranchising tens of thousands of black voters was simply not
enough) George W. Bush won the Electoral College, lost the popular vote, and
became the worst president ever (for eight years). Sound familiar?
There is a non-profit, progressive-aligned organization called
Rock the Vote, whose stated mission is "to engage and build the political
power of young people." For 26 years Rock the Vote has worked to register
and encourage young people to vote. Conversely, the Republican’ts have mounted
a much longer-lived program to Fuck the Vote. Unfortunately, they seem to have
been more effective in achieving their goal. Maybe the continuing slaughter of
American students and the intransigence of the Republican’t Gun Lobby Party
toward any type of meaningful gun control will turn the tide once and for all.
I. Mangrey reloading.
Duck and cover.
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