Post-Halloween Horror: The 2014 Election

I voted today, finally, after having been busy the past two weekends. We have early voting here in Nevada, and Ready, Set, Vote! voter guides, and it all works remarkably well. So far, though we have a Republican governor, there has been no attempt to curtail or change this system in the name of "protecting the vote," or "stopping voter fraud." Which is amazing when you think about it.

But not as amazing as the brazenness the GOP displays when cutting early voting, eliminating Sunday voting (known to be a big, post-church, African American voting day), requiring IDs (but only certain IDs), and more. . .with very little reason. Sure, they'll handwave the nonexistent in-person voter fraud "problem," but mostly they just make whatever changes will help them ensure that fewer Democrats vote.

Do you think that sounds radical? The fact that I'm saying it is not. The fact that they're doing it, is. Occasionally, they'll even admit it. Here's Paul Weyrich, a founder of The Heritage Foundation and ALEC, in 1980. Admitting it.



That, coupled with gerrymandering, with a politics-weary electorate, and the typical demographics of midterm voters adds up to: a bad year for Democrats, almost certainly. Maybe not historically bad, but not good. Double-plus ungood? Time will tell.

But it is baffling to me. Though I'm fairly a realist about my fellow Americans and their fickle, skewed, illogical voting patterns, I want more from them. I want them to be better than FOX "News" parroting, paranoid conspiracy theorists. I want them not to reward Republicans, when it is Republicans who have given us the obstruction, the gridlock, the governmental shut down, the lack of a Surgeon General. Many, many of the problems people complain about the state of our union, were either caused by, allowed to happen by, or are a byproduct of the GOP.

I'm with you, Jean-Luc.

And their slate of candidates? It really makes no sense to me that they're even electable, but even if they were not a clown car full of bozos, why reward them for what they themselves help come to pass?

I'm not saying that President Obama has been perfect, far from it. I'm still in his corner, and I'm not ashamed to say it (though many a cowardly Democratic candidate is). I think history will judge him well. But whatever you think of him, how does voting for say, Ted Cruz or Louis Gohmert help anyone? Sadly, for my side, Democrats don't offer a strong, defiant message to root for. To me, they are infinitely preferable, but they seem to not be trying. Why the Dems haven't pumped 90% of their cash into Get Out the Vote, I have no idea. That is all we need, matching the numbers or besting them.

I'm not optimistic. But a bad outcome will likely spur me to blog more. So, there's that.

Ever Wonder How the GOP Manages To Hold on to So Much Power?

Image from source, Rolling Stone

If you're going to use tricks and schemes to cling to as much power as you possibly can, it's best to have a good cover story. And when it comes to the GOP keeping a majority in the US Congress, they've had several good ones as cover for things like Voter ID and other changes to voter laws. They've used redistricting in ways that both sides do, and in extra, law-bending ways. And though their party is shrinking, due to demographics (and the general dickishness and batshittery of the Tea Party) they still manage to hold the US House of Representatives by a wide margin.

Like I said, they have good cover stories. But they're not perfect. Sometimes they slip and admit what they're up to. And sometimes, good reporting can piece it all together. The excerpted piece below, from Rolling Stone is a must-read, even if you're a conservative who hasn't been paying attention.

[Excerpt]

How Republicans Rig the Game
 
As the nation recovers from the Republican shutdown of government, the question Americans should be asking is not "Why did the GOP do that to us?" but "Why were they even relevant in the first place?" So dramatically have the demographic and electoral tides in this country turned against the Republican Party that, in a representative democracy worthy of the designation, the Grand Old Party should be watching from the sidelines and licking its wounds. Not only did Barack Obama win a second term in an electoral landslide in 2012, but he is also just the fourth president in a century to have won two elections with more than 50 percent of the popular vote. What's more, the party controls 55 seats in the Senate, and Democratic candidates for the House received well over a million more votes than their Republican counterparts in the election last year. And yet, John Boehner still wields the gavel in the House and Republican resistance remains a defining force in the Senate, frustrating Obama's ambitious agenda. . .

Read more at: Rolling Stone

Texas Voter ID Law Nearly Prevents Judge from Voting

I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: the idea that ID might be required to vote sounds perfectly fine and reasonable. I can't conceive of going through my daily life without an ID in my wallet. So, when people get exasperated with people objecting to the idea that ID should be required, I do get it. But I wish they'd just think about it a little bit. Delve a little deeper than the obvious, and maybe do a little reading about it.

I know that's not the first instinct when you draw an initial conclusion that seems to make sense. But when you find out that in-person voter fraud is almost non-existent, and yet in state after state, Voter ID laws (with a whole list of attendant voting restrictions) keep getting enacted as though there is some sort of problem. As Colin Powell said, voter fraud can't be both widespread AND undetected. It just doesn't make sense.

So, it stands to reason that if tough legislation around a treasured, fundamental right is sweeping from state to state, you have to ask why. And if the laws seem to continually affect the same groups of people, it's not too hard to put together a theory. These laws are being enacted to have an effect on final vote tallies. It's not a nutty, out-of-left-field conclusion. Especially when you get to this Texas law, that cracks down on women. The Texas driver's license for married women has their maiden name as their middle name, but if it doesn't match their actual middle name on other documents, they can't vote? And they have to produce their original marriage license to set it right? Hmmmm.

Now, what's going on in Texas right now? Could there be a popular lady running for Governor that the GOP establishment might want to kneecap? Wouldn't making it hard for women to vote cut into her base quite a bit? See, not crazy.

[Excerpt]

Texas Judge Almost Blocked From Voting Because Of New Voter ID Law

A Texas district judge who has been voting for the past five decades was almost barred from the polls Tuesday, thanks to the state’s newly implemented, stricter voter ID law. The law kicked in on Tuesday as early voting in Texas’ November 5 election began. . .

Read more at: Think Progress