Fight Voter Suppression, Reclaim America
In the opening to Jews For Buchanan: Did You Hear The One About The Theft Of The American Presidency? by John Nichols, an amazing book that details the theft of the 2000 Presidential Election by George W. Bush, the author talks about how Americans reacted nearly to having their votes stolen back in 1800:
When America was a younger country, more serious in its reverence for democracy, the facts of the 2000 election debacle would have been the raw material of revolution. Such was the case in 1801, when a move by political royalists to upset the election of Thomas Jefferson led the governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia to ready state militias for a march on Washington. There were no calls for healing in those days, no whimpers of bipartisanship. Jefferson’s lieutenant in the House, Albert Gallatin of Pennsylvania, put down the gauntlet when he declared that, if Jefferson’s democratic victory was denied, federal, state, and local officials should refuse to obey the orders of a “usurper president.”
This is how people used to stand up for Democracy when it was under assault. John Adams, the second President of the United States and the man Jefferson defeated in 1800, was a wealthy, politically well-connected oligarch who believed that only the “rich and well off” should govern and had a rather clear sympathy towards monarchy. Adams also had clear sympathy towards authoritarianism, as seen with his infamous Alien And Sedition Act of 1798 which arrested many, including members of Congress, for criticism of the United States federal government. If a candidate today ran on what Adams did while President, that candidate would easily be labeled a fascist and despised by the majority of Americans. (Adams was also against adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution, primarily because it might limit his own power.)
As such, it makes sense that Adams’s chief political rival was non-other than Thomas Jefferson. A radical advocate for a free and democratic society for his day (although it’s undeniable many of his more specific views have not stood the test of time), Jefferson abhorred Adams’s views on humanity, instead believing that humans were intelligent enough to govern themselves and that they deserve a government which represents their interests. Fourteen years before his inauguration to the Presidency, Jefferson even defended Shay’s Rebellion (which was as close to treason as it got) by saying the following:
God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. … What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
If Jefferson lived today, he would be unable to believe how passive Americans have become towards authoritarianism. An advocate for democracy nearly a quarter as radical as he was would be shamed out of the Overtown Window. His head might have literally exploded if he lived to see the events of 1/6/2021, where over four hundred people stormed the United States capitol not in the name of defending democracy, but as a final vain effort to keep the John Adams of the 21st Century in office. Because, my fellow Americans, patriots and tyrants are bleeding but it is not the tree of liberty that they are refreshing. Today, it seems like the enemies of democracy are much more willing to put up a fight than the supporters of democracy.
Compare for a second the cries of Albert Gallatin to this statement by Senator Joe Manchin back in April during an interview with CNN:
January 6 changed me. I never thought in my life, I never read in history books to where our form of government had been attacked, at our seat of government, which is Washington, DC, at our Capitol, by our own people. So, something told me, “Wait a minute. Pause. Hit the pause button.” Something’s wrong. You can’t have this many people split to where they want to go to war with each other.
After the 2020 Presidential Election, Republicans have done everything possible to stack all future elections in their favor. The most infamous state being Georgia, which Biden won and which currently has two Democratic Senators, although similar laws have been signed in the states of Florida, Texas, and Arizona. Arizona has even tried to go so far as to allow the state legislature to overturn the will of the people, which is almost the definition of an oligarchy.
And, of course, Democrats are just allowing this to happen despite having a majority in both houses of Congress and the Presidency. As Ryan Grim said on Twitter on 5/6/2021:
How to explain to a foreigner that one party in the US controls the federal government while the minority party is openly using its control of some regional [governors] to rig the upcoming election against the party in power and the party in power can stop it but just isn’t bothering.
The party that ransacked the Capitol in an effort to seize power by force four months ago? Yes, that party, and they plan to run the same person again. And Democrats have written a bill to block these voter suppression bills but…they’re just not gonna pass it?
Still, some might say that President Biden is currently focusing on repairing the Trump economy and solving the COVID-19 pandemic. While Biden has taken many steps to undo Trump’s America, Biden has failed to do anything to prevent another Trump America. As Keith Olbermann said on YouTube on 5/7/2021:
Yet to this point President Biden and the Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate have done nothing to stop this. Vaccination and the economy are priorities of course, but they will not mean much in a Trump fascist dictatorship in 2025.
(Side note: Keith, literally everyone wants you to bring back Countdown as an audio podcast or something. Just wanted you to know that.)
Mind you, I think many of them understand that a right-wing Supreme Court is going to make attempts to challenge these harder than most realize (2013’s Shelby County v. Holder saw the Supreme Court gut the 1965 Voting Rights Act — who knows what they’d be willing to do to legislation that isn’t an important milestone in the Civil Rights Movement), but that is not a reason to quit but instead a reason to prepare for a longer fight.
Sadly, no matter the reason for the lack of action, the lack of action is still happening, and House Resolution 1 — also known as the We The People Act — is currently dead in the water. At this point, the responsibility goes from the politicians to the people, the same people who made sure Jefferson was inaugurated in 1801.
The most obvious action we can take is boycotts of the states that pass these anti-democratic laws, rather it's in the form of refusing to visit them or refusing to give companies money that has their headquarters in these states. However, Republicans seem more willing to double down on these laws than normal. When multiple companies spoke out against Georgia’s voter suppression law, the state responded by raising their taxes, and Republicans on a federal level complained that corporations have too much influence in politics, Senator Ted Cruz has even promised to stop taking corporate PAC money — which I consider a win-win. (It's rather disturbing that mild protest to voter suppression is what finally makes Republicans question money in politics, but I’ll take whatever victories I can get.)
If boycotts do not work, we will have to go to the courts. Donate to the American Civil Liberties Union and other such groups dedicated to protecting the freedom of Americans. If you know of a civil rights or civil liberties group in your area that could take one of these laws to court, I encourage you to ask them to do so. If you know of a sympathetic judge who is likely to overturn these laws, do everything possible to make sure he’s the one you go to — even if the ruling is likely to be appealed by the state. Remember, we need to make sure Republicans are forced to defend these laws as often as possible and for as long as possible. The more time that is spent defending this, the more likely one of them is to slip and the quiet part out loud — which we then must amplify across the entire country.
We must also force the Republicans to be on defense as much as possible. Familiarize yourself with the legislation your opposing, and bring up specific provisions from the legislation you object to — the goal is to look as informed as possible. Ask them about specific provisions, their main argument is that these legislations will prevent “voter fraud,” ask them exactly how many of the provisions you object to will prevent such a thing. Once again, when they don’t have an answer, remember that and use it as much as humanly possible. (This is also why bringing it to court is a great idea, even if the court does not side with us all the time it will still force the Republicans to defend their legislation, and we can point out how nonsensical or evil their defenses will likely be.)
The last thing we have to do is prepare ourselves for a fight because this will not be easy. In 2000, Republicans in Florida used Jim-Crow era voting laws to purge minorities from the voter rolls in order to suppress the number of people who voted for Al Gore. In 2018, we saw Georgia do the same thing against Stacey Abrams. In both cases, however, they still only barely won. The Republican Party understands that if they do not have voter suppression it is unlikely they’ll ever win another election, and as such, they are holding onto this because it's basically their life support.
Look, I’m not advocating for “refreshing the tree of liberty” — and it is just not because doing so is sedition and I could get arrested — because doing so is not easy nor is it needed. However, we need to prepare ourselves for a legal war, a war that democracy can win, but where it will look unwinnable from time to time. Do not give until your last dying breath, that’s the only advice I can give you.
