Friday, March 21, 2014

Fighting the Good Fight


Justice is bound and determined to prove racial discrimination in new voter registration laws.  They are right of course, and that is the tip of the iceberg.  Women, the elderly, the disabled and students are all on the hit list – anyone who might be inclined to vote Democratic in fact.

I think there are two reasons for all of this.  First, the Right is working overtime to establish the illegitimacy of Mr. Obama's elections.  They couldn't beat him, so it is their hope to insinuate and cement a shadow of doubt about his right to be president.  Thus, they all stand like a choir, bellyaching in multipart harmony about voter fraud that does not exist.

Secondly, the Republican Party has gashed both of its wrists by allowing fanatics and extremists - first the Religious Right and then the Tea Party - to gain control of its primaries, state houses and governor's mansions.  They are hemorrhaging credibility and fear that they cannot stand as a national party in a fair election process.  Some of them are even admitting it now.  They are also right. 

The GOP relies on gerrymandered districts, and believes that they are hedging their bets by preventing those who don't share their ideology from getting to the polls unfettered.  This absolute belief, shared by the media, that gerrymandered districts are carved in stone flies in the face of changing demographics and the fact that pissed off women undoubtedly live in those districts. It is a fact that no one can accuse either the Republicans or the squawking heads on the radio or TV of having an overly firm grasp on reality.

The subtle effect of all these Republican machinations and the media’s insistence upon believing that what is today, will be tomorrow and always is to depress the impulse for Democrats and disenfranchised Independents to vote at all.  We have to actively work against this in writing and by word of mouth.  We must repeatedly remind people that the only way these lunatics can win is if we sit out the race.  

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