It's True--Republicans Do Not Want You to Have The Right to Vote!

Texas Democratic Representatives Take a Stand For Voting Rights

At least 51 of the 67 Democrats in the Texas legislature boarded planes and left the state for Washington, DC.  The trip has a two-fold purpose.  One is to drive home to their fellow Democrats in Congress the reality of the crisis that is happening as states take steps to limit their citizens' right to vote.  They are lobbying for Congress to pass legislation that will establish the right to vote in every state, limiting the tools that Republicans want to have in hand as they increasingly find themselves on the losing end of elections.  

The other is to keep the Texas legislature from being able to do anything during the special session called by Governor Greg Abbott for the expressed purpose of limiting voting rights.  And while the move enraged Abbott and the Republicans, it is just as legitimate a tool for the protection of the minority as the filibuster is.  It's called "breaking quorum" and what it means is that the Texas legislature cannot conduct any business, including making any move to change the voting and business rules, without the Democrats, who have more than enough members to pull it off.  Even with state legislative districts that are horrifically gerrymandered to favor Republicans, Democrats hold enough seats to keep a quorum from being present. 

The last time this happened, in 2009, it was over the Republican plan to redistrict by gerrymandering.  About 50 Democrats crossed over into Oklahoma and set up shop in a hotel in Ardmore.  Oklahoma was a good place to go at the time, because when the state troopers and Rangers were ordered to round them up, they discovered they did not have jurisdiction north of the Red River.  This time, they carried their message to Washington, DC.  Oklahoma has never really been willing to help Texas out with much, but in the midst of all of this Trumpie ignorance, priorities can get misplaced.  They're safe in the District of Columbia and they are in a place where people can see up close how their voting rights are in danger, as is the American Republic itself. 

Democrats, especially those of you in the Senate, need to pay very close attention to this.  The threat is a real one.  What do you want your legacy to be?  That you stood up for what was right and fought to save the American Republic?  Or that you piddled and pottered around in your own self interest while you waited for a never-coming sign of bi-partisan cooperation from a party that has flat out told you they aren't interested?  You better figure it out quickly because the day is coming when winning an election won't be a matter of who gets the most votes. 

Arizona Insanity

Arizona, the home of the late Barry Goldwater and a couple of former governors who earned federal prison terms, is continuing its legacy as the nation's most politically backward state.  There are Republicans there who speak with deadly seriousness about the election observation (it's not a legitimate audit or recount so I won't call it that) being conducted by the cyber ninjas.  They seem unfazed by the fact that 85% of Arizona voters think the whole thing is a scam, a waste of taxpayer dollars (that's a biggie) and expect that, regardless of what they actually find, they will announce that their count actually changes the real outcome of the election just enough to tilt it in Trump's favor.  

Well duh?  What would you expect from a group of hard line MAGA kooks?  

The two legitimate, certified audits and recounts of Arizona's votes didn't find any irregularities or fraud.  But Trumpies don't live in the real world, are not affected by real facts and don't really care about hard evidence or truth.  They are politically enamored by a guy who has made a fortune by lying through his teeth.  

Arizona didn't make it into the Union until 1912, largely due to the fact that the territorial legislature couldn't seem to write a constitution that could get approved because it contained referendum, allowing voters to approve laws, and recall, allowing voters to remove bad legislators.  So they got the message, removed the two items from the constitution, were admitted to the Union February 14, 1912, and promptly amended the constitution to include referendum and recall.  Recall may now come in handy. 

Anyone in the Arizona legislature who comes out in support of this insane, uncertified exercise in futility should be put on the recall block.  Karen Fann, the Arizona Senate President, needs to be at the top of the list.  She exhibited enough lunacy before the cyber ninjas arrived to qualify for a recall, but her behavior throughout has been more crazy than usual.  The irresponsible spending of tax dollars on this fraudulent audit is plenty of justification.  Democrats have been highly successful in statewide elections in both 2018 and 2020, and I think there would be enough votes, especially with the cyber ninjas at the center of it, to send some state legislators back home to stay.  It's worth a try, just to see them squawk and holler. 

It's Kind of Ironic, Isn't It? 

The longer Trump lurks around as a shadow politician in the GOP, the better the chances get for the Democrats to capture as many as half a dozen Senate seats, at least a dozen in the House and not have to worry about the sensibilities of a couple of senators when it comes to bi-partisan cooperation on issues.  But the longer he lurks around, the greater the threat to our democracy.  

Democrats, and the independents and Libertarians who see this whole mess for what it really is, need to stay on top of the fight for voting rights and not relent.  If that means more legislators need to walk out of sessions in states to prevent quorums, then do it.  If it means that Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have to suck it up and blow up the filibuster, then do it.  America's continued existence as a democratic Republic is far more important than some vague, nebulous principle that is really just an excuse for not doing anything.  

And what it absolutely means is that those who see Trump and Trumpism for the menace and destructive force that it is have to work to secure voter turnouts that make attempts to overturn elections moot points.  That's exactly why Joe Biden got the massive vote turnout that he did, why Rafael Warnock, Jon Ossoff and Mark Kelly are in the Senate now and why so much progress has been made by the Biden Administration in such a short period of time.  The voters sent a message.  They have to keep turning out and keep sending it.

If Americans want to preserve their democratic republic and continue as a nation under constitutional rule and law, Republican attempts at voter suppression have to be ended once and for all.  

Update July 17

The Associated Press is reporting this morning that the alleged "audit" in Arizona found 185 cases of potential "fraud" in their audit of ballots.  In reality, the evidence actually supports claims in only 4 of those cases.  There's no report indicating specifically what brought about the claims or what the actual "evidence" is.  There's also no indication of anything specific that can or will be done, since the deadlines for certifying the election have passed.  

Will this end all of the claims that Trump actually won and that there was "massive voter fraud"?  To Trumpies and to Trump himself, reality, facts and truth are meaningless.  It is not within the character of this man to admit defeat or accept any reality that he doesn't like or doesn't suit his purposes and he is used to using money to buy his way.  For most Americans, the issue was settled when President Biden was declared the winner.  So even though this audit, which was conducted for the purpose of raising money, didn't come up with the expected result, what you can expect is Trump and the Trumpies to turn against the Cyber Ninjas and accuse them of fraud too.  It's a pattern of ignorance.