Machiavellian or Kafkaesque

In Colorado this week two Democratic state senators were recalled from office due to their votes in favor of sensible gun laws earlier this year. The senators, John Morse of Colorado Springs and Angela Giron of Pueblo, told Lawrence O’Donnell, host of the Last Word on NBCNews.com, that a court order which blocked voting by mail for the recall contributed to their loss. The court order concerned legal conflicts in two state laws, and the state’s constitution regarding the amount of  time that is allowed for submission of candidate petitions.  Increased turnout may have resulted had voting by mail been allowed.

 

Rachel Maddow on the recall of of two state senators in Colorado. 

The recall in the Centennial State underscores a dramatic transformation that has taken place in American politics and governance in the last two decades. Extreme polarization (particularly within the ranks of the GOP) has resulted in a peculiar intolerance for disagreement in all matters of public discussion. From Colorado to North Carolina, this peculiarity is being expressed in what can be viewed as either Machiavellian or Kafkaesque ways. In either instance it represents a radical and disturbing departure from the American ideal of democracy through representative government. In Colorado, both Senators Morse and Giron would have been up for reelection (provided that they were not subject to term limits) in 2014. Why the need to recall them now, in a costly special election? The recall did not and will undo the gun control laws that were passed, nor will the recalls cause a shift in the balance of power from Democrats to the GOP in the state senate. The recall then was but an expression of fanatical insularity that is at once perverting and corrupting to democracy.

 

In the state of North Carolina we have seen a similar disturbing trend that is, again, either Machiavellian or Kafkaesque. The Tar Heel state legislature is controlled by Republicans and that majority has passed laws designed to suppress the voting power of collective groupings of Americans including minorities, college students and senior citizens. The GOP majority in the North Carolina legislature voted (in a rather unChristian manner)  to end early voting on Sundays, a move ostensibly aimed at obstructing “souls to the polls” voter mobilization efforts of African American church goers. The Republican controlled North Carolina legislature also passed a law shortening the amount of time for voting by mail. And, in one very “Kafkaesque” example Republicans actually voted for a tax increase to penalize the parents of college students who have the gumption to vote where they go to school instead of where their parents live. 

Colorado and North Carolina illustrate the sweeping fanaticism that has engulfed the Republican Party. So called activists with long held abhorrent views and prejudices are being presented as thought leaders rather than the voices of rational Republicans. These GOP activists know nothing of give and take politics and have shown themselves to be incapable of operating within a fair system that allows all people to participate in representative government. The result is costly recalls, gross gerrymandering of legislative districts and changing laws (in unconstitutional ways) to disenfranchise whole groupings of American voters. But, how long can such a center hold before crashing in on itself? To quote The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, “How long? Not long.”  

The demographic shift from Babyboomers to Generation X and Millennials is not coming but - is already here. Gen X and Millennial voters have shown a clear aversion to GOP politics and policies. Yet, when it comes to the present/future make up of America, Republicans can’t seem to find enough ways to sow the seeds of undesirability and un-electability for themselves.  

 

Brent Scott
Executive Director
Vote By Mail America

 

   

 

    

 

 

 

    

 

 
     

 

                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXCLUSIVE: NC Republican Rep. Robert Brawley

Just three short months ago I was honored to present Congressman John Lewis of Georgia with the Vote By Mail America Pillar of America Award. In John Lewis, we honored a great American for his incredible contribution to ALL AMERICANS in the area of voting rights. Three months later, in April the North Carolina House of Representatives advanced legislation, Voter Information Verification Act, that steps on the legacy of John Lewis, spits in the face of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and the entire voting and civil rights movement.

Honorable John Lewis accepting the PILLAR of AMERICA Award from Vote By Mail America



 

The charlatan titled Voter Information Verification Act creates new barriers to voting that are intended to disenfranchise college students, senior citizens and African Americans, particularly African Americans who are Christian, of their tight to vote. Make no mistake about it, by targeting Sunday early voting for elimination, Republicans who control the North Carolina legislature are doing so specifically to make voting harder for Christians.

Consider this. On April 12th I sent an email to several N.C legislators with the words, “Have you no decency” in the subject line. In the body of the email I quoted from my most recent American Forum blog column:

“More cynical than crafting laws to kneecap the political opposition is the GOP's indecorous and unbridled objective to keep Black Christians from voting. Why eliminate Sunday voting specifically? Consider this, it is widely known that African American Christians organize what is referred to as “Souls to the Polls” on the Sunday before an election. Many church organizations have a time honored tradition of busing or car pooling congregants to early voting polling sites that are open on Sunday. This particular feature of the legislation, eliminating Sunday voting altogether, makes it clear that the "God and Bible" Republicans are specifically targeting African American Christians….

In 2012 I noted in this column, “It has taken forty-eight years for the Republican Party of Lincoln to contort itself into the Segregationist Party of Strom Thurmond. In 1964 U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina joined the GOP. Since that time there has been an unmistakable trajectory of the Republican Party away from the values and principles of President Lincoln as the party morphed into and came to embody the views and politics of the hateful, racist, segregationist Thurmond” At the time, some thought my comments and analysis were hyperbole. The evidence, however, begs to differ.” Full Article

_______________________________

Rep. Robert Brawley R-Mooresville

 

On April 15^th I received a surprising reply email from N.C. Republican State Rep. Robert Brawley. In his email to me Rep. Brawley seemed to question the Christianity of certain voters and individuals for whom they voted. Here is a sampling of what Rep. Brawley wrote to me:  “Why do people who profess Christianity keep voting for candidates who seem to have a disdain for Christianity ?”

_______________________________

Though I found this reply/question from an elected member of the N.C. House of Representative surprising (did that man, Rep. Robert Brawley, really just call into question the Christianity of millions of his fellow Americans) perhaps I should not have been surprised. To be fair, I contacted him again by email on April 25 asking for clarification of earlier email. In that email I wrote: 

"Thank you for your reply. I would appreciate it if you would clarify your response.

What do you mean by "people who profess Christianity"

Do you mean myself specifically?

Are you questioning the Christianity of African Americans/Black people?

Do you mean Democrats?

Please explain.

Also, please advise, which "candidates who seem to have a disdain for Christianity ? " are you discussing?"

_____________________________

On the same day, April 25th^, I received an email reply from Rep. Brawley that read in part:

“Simple –as it is stated , I do not attribute to any one their religion , they make that choice as they do who they vote for...  I did not and do not point to any one you choose who you think fits that description,…”

I readily confess to being flummoxed  by Mr. Brawley’s “clarification.”

______________________________

For the better part of the last three years the Republican Party has conspired to manufacture the false narrative of “voter fraud” which therefore required legislative action to dramatically transform voting laws. In the face of credible research that in person voter fraud (one individual impersonating another at the polls) is virtually nonexistent, the Party of Thurmond continues uninterrupted in its unethical, immoral and unholy attempts to hold back not only the organic shifts in American demographics but also, the liberal progression of American political thought. That they will fail on constitutional as well as political and ideological grounds is imminently foreseeable. That they have not so much as lost but with spite in their faces wantonly abandoned Christian values and, rejected the twin American ideals of freedom and principles of fairness is evident in their scheming and deeds. Future generations of Americans and perhaps an even greater being, will forever condemn them.

Brent Scott
Executive Director
Vote By Mail America

Immoral. Unethical. Republican.

Its déjà vu all over again. Republican legislators in the great state of North Carolina, following the example of Republicans in WI, TX, PA and elsewhere, have introduced legislation aimed at making it harder to vote. Legislation introduced in the House of Representatives would establish a new voter ID requirement. Meanwhile, Republicans in the senate introduced legislation that would eliminate the college tax deduction for NC parents whose college age children register to vote at their college address such as: a dorm, fraternity or sorority house or apartment near the campus. The Charlotte Observer put it this way: “Not only would voters have to show a government-issued photo at the polls, college students would have to go home to vote or vote absentee. If they register to vote from their college address, their parents would be barred from claiming the students as dependents on their state income tax. Early voting would be shortened. Sunday voting, straight-ticket voting and same-day registration would be eliminated. Nonpartisan judicial elections would become partisan.” 

 

The voter ID bill, called the “Voter Information Verification Act or VIVA” if it becomes law, would require voters to present a state-issued photo ID in order to cast an in person ballot beginning in 2016. Republicans have apparently received the message from the courts that voter ID laws are difficult to defend. See our article, Under judicial review, voter ID laws crumble. To that end the North Carolina voter ID bill is a kinder, gentler animal that would allow for multiple forms of state-issued IDs such as drivers licenses, non-operator licenses, student IDs from state universities and, IDs issued to state government employees. For the poor, the new photo ID cards would be issued free of charge if the voter swears to economic hardship – that’s nice. The bill would also waive fees for the economically challenged to obtain the necessary documentation required to get the new ID such as a birth certificate.

This latest effort by Republicans to force new requirements on voters labors to anticipate legal challenges. The legislation goes to some lengths to ease the burden of getting a new ID but not so far as to erase the true purpose of the bill, which is to decrease voter participation among groups of citizens who typically vote for Democrats. The bill, for instance, has a nuanced grandfather clause for the elderly, allowing for the use of some forms of expired ID. However, the bill does not grandfather in all senior citizens, say beginning at the age of 65, by allowing them to continue voting exactly as they have been voting all of their lives, without having to show ID. Seniors would still have to acquire new IDs under this latest GOP effort to block the vote. Those of us with elderly relatives can attest that getting them (many whom may be sick and/or home bound) to one or more government offices to first obtain a birth certificate and then to another to acquire the new ID is, to put it mildly, overly burdensome.

"reform"

The GOP voting "reform" bills don’t stop at imposing a new voter ID requirement. The complete package of House and Senate bills would also end same day voter registration, cut the number of early voting days, cut the number of early voting polling sites and, eliminate Sunday voting altogether. We have to ask, just what "reform" purpose is served by this assault on same day voter registration? Why cut the number of early voting days and, why end Sunday voting altogether? The answer to these questions is this, Democrats more than Republicans utilize early voting and Democrats more than Republicans register to vote on election day. Kill same day voter registration, condense the number of early voting days and Voilà, Republicans have dramatically decreased electoral participation among Democratic leaning voters. Still, this is not the worst of the Republican "reform" efforts. More cynical than crafting laws to kneecap the political opposition is the GOP's indecorous and unbridled objective to keep Black Christians from voting. Why eliminate Sunday voting specifically? Consider this, it is widely known that African American Christians organize what is referred to as “Souls to the Polls” on the Sunday before an election. Many church organizations have a time honored tradition of busing or car pooling congregants to early voting polling sites that are open on Sunday. This particular feature of the legislation, eliminating Sunday voting altogether, makes it clear that the "God and Bible" Republicans are specifically targeting African American Christians. So much for the GOP's $10 million outreach to minorities initiative. If Republicans succeed at eliminating Sunday voting, Christians should avail themselves of the option to vote by mail and organize “Souls to the Mailbox” one two weeks before an election. Click to learn how to vote by mail in North Carolina.

SOUL SEARCHING
Critical thinking can be described as “the identification and evaluation of evidence to guide decision making. A critical thinker uses broad in-depth analysis of evidence to make decisions and communicate his/her beliefs clearly and accurately." In crafting their voter ID law and other extraneous impediments to voting, one wonders what kind of critical thinking Republicans are engaged in and, from where it originates. In 2012 I wrote in this column, “It has taken forty-eight years for the Republican Party of Lincoln to contort itself into the Segregationist Party of Strom Thurmond. In 1964 U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina joined the GOP. Since that time there has been an unmistakable trajectory of the Republican Party away from the values and principles of President Lincoln as the party morphed into and came to embody the views and politics of the hateful, racist, segregationist Thurmond” At the time, some thought my comments and analysis were hyperbole. The evidence, however, begs to differ. Republicans see a changing America, one that is less Caucasian, less rural and more open to evolving ideas of family and community. Their response heretofore has been to resist this organic demographic configuration and vainly contrive laws (voter IDs, gerrymandering and other insidious forms of constraint) that would hamper and outright disenfranchise the new American majority. How very apartheid of them.

The online reference source, Dictionary.com, defines the word, ethical, this way, “pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct.”. Republicans, not just in North Carolina, are engaged in creative and immoral scheming, not critical or ethical thinking. They have taken a defensive posture towards a changing America. Before history forever consigns them to ridicule and scorn, Republicans everywhere should step back, take a long and hard look at themselves, their past (Lincoln), present (Thurmond) and possible future. Republicans, particularly those in elective office, need to find and engage their moral compass and, find the courage to accept inevitable - change.
 

Brent Scott
Executive Director
Vote By Mail America

 

American Forum Exclusive: Democrats Thinking Locally

With President Obama’s reelection a mere four months behind us, Washington’s political class of pundits, consultants and cable television talk show host are now feverishly contemplating the 2016 presidential election. Not a day, it seems, goes by without Chris Matthews and company ruminating (read championing) a Hillary Clinton run for the Democratic nomination while lustfully sizing up potential GOP contenders from Kentucky's Senator Rand Paul to New Jersey Governor Chris Christi.

American Forum has learned, however, that stateside, Democrats are focusing their attention on the 2014 midterm election- not 2016. Yesterday, I spoke with Ohio Democratic Party Communications Director, Jerid Kurtz, regarding the party’s plans for 2014. Kurtz told this blogger that Ohio Democrats have their “sights set firmly on the Governor’s office” that is currently occupied by Republican John Kasich. In his first year in office Kasich and the GOP controlled legislature stripped public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights. Ohio voters responded by repealing the law in a 2011 referendum. Kasich and Republicans in the legislature also passed a vote suppression law that cut the number of early voting days. As a result of these highly controversial and unpopular moves, Kasich’s standing with Buckeye State voters took a plunge.
 



Washington Press Corps jumps to 2016 CNN Video

In December of last year the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that a Quinnipiac University survey placed Governor Kasich’s approval rating at a mere 42 percent with only 36 percent Ohio voters feeling that he deserved a second term. By February 2013 however, Kasich’s approval had improved somewhat in the Quinnipiac poll with 46 percent of those polled suggesting that he should be re-elected. Regarding Republicans super gerrymandering of congressional districts, Kurtz noted that Democrats had considered  “placing a referendum on the ballot” that would repeal the GOP drawn districts. This effort was hampered, however, when GOP legislators added an appropriation to the redistricting bill. The Columbus Dispatch reported that “By adding $2.75 million to House Bill 319…, Republicans are attempting to make the bill take effect immediately, instead of giving opponents 90 days to collect signatures for a referendum effort. The map passed on a party-line vote.”  I asked Kurtz if it was indeed too late for independent groups to force a ballot measure that would 1. create a nonpartisan redistricting commission and 2. mandate a fair redistricting for 2014?”  He responded that he wasn’t sure and reiterated that the Ohio Democratic Party was focused the unpopular Gov. Kasich.

Democrats are wise to keep their eyes on 2014. Midterm elections are notoriously low turnout elections which favors Republicans. In 2010 they (Democrats) took their eyes off the ball and were run out of office from Michigan to Virginia. Over the next two years unified Republican Party office holders took administrative actions and passed dozens of vote suppression laws aimed specifically at disenfranchising minority voters, college students, senior citizens and all Americans living in urban centers. The GOP vote suppression efforts exposed the party’s acceptance of the concept that they simply could not compete with Democrats in the arena of ideas, particularly in a presidential election year when more Americans vote. But Democrats too have shown their acceptance of such notions, that they can’t compete in certain regions of the country such as in southern and mid-western states. It took former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, as Chairman of the DNC in 2005, to usher in “the 50-State Strategy—an ambitious effort to build the Democratic Party from the ground up in every single precinct, city, and state in the country.” The strategy worked. Democrats picked up senate seats in states that the party had long given up on including in Alaska where Mark Begich was elected to the US Senate in the same year that Barack Obama was elected our nation’s first African American President.
 

The Republican Party, both nationally and in the states, have embarked on a sneering scheme to maintain themselves in office by way of electoral chicanery. For their own selfish purposes Republicans are employing immoral tactics that denigrate the very ideals of American democracy. In Wisconsin, Michigan and Virginia the Democratic Party should inaugurate a unified strategy to challenge the Republican Party’s lockstep effort to suppress the vote by gerrymandering districts. Where the ballot option is available, as it may still be in Ohio, Democrats must eschew complacency of process and take the fight for electoral fairness directly to voters. In so doing they will be standing up fairness, for the future of American democracy and for what is right.

This article is the first installment of our exclusive “What Are They Thinking?” investigation. We are asking Democrat Party leaders, liberal think tanks and organized labor for their ideas, plans and strategies for addressing important political and policy issues between now and 2016

by Brent Scott

Executive Director

Vote By Mail America

The Late Republican Party

In the aftermath of their second straight presidential defeat the National Republican Committee (RNC) issued a stinging rebuke of itself. A focus group study conducted by the RNC found that voters view the Republican Party as “Narrow minded, out of touch, stuffy, old men,” apathetic to the difficulties faced by middle income Americans. The study goes on to suggest that without serious change the party won’t be winning the White House anytime soon.

 

The Last Word on NBCNews.com

The antidote for the above affliction, as described by RNC Chair Reince Priebus, is for the GOP to a. concentrate on improving the party's messaging and b. initiate an outreach campaign to younger voters, minorities and women. The report, which offered up some 219 recommendations listed but a single policy change, embrace comprehensive immigration reform, and that was dubiously short on specifics.

 

SEND IN THE CLOWNS

The RNC report came just hours after the closing speech of the much hyped, much cable news covered 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference (C-PAC). At the conference the now former Fox News commentator, Sarah Palin, called for a “background check” of President Obama. The 71 year old senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, made a inexplicable remark about the younger Hillary Clinton, referring to Clinton as TV’s “Golden Girls” and finally, the hopelessly ignorant Ann Coulter asserted that former President Bill Clinton was a “forcible rapist.” So much for intelligent political discourse. The C in C-PAC is apparently for “Clowns.”

As inane as the C-PAC conference was, the Washington Press Corps was all over it. That the list of speakers was replete with 2012 losers; Willard Romney, Allen West, Paul Ryan, Rick Perry, et al, did not for a moment dampen their ecstatic anticipation. Days earlier the same press corps anxiously awaited and then breathlessly reported on the puerile Paul Ryan’s latest revived and still going nowhere budget, treating the document as though it were a serious proposal with a life expectancy past press time. Now, the press is consumed with the RNC's self proclaimed “autopsy” on itself. But, here’s the question, where is the liberal or Democratic Party counter balance? While Republicans and professional conservatives may be making fools of themselves- they are nonetheless in the public eye, getting a message across- not all of which is being viewed negatively by all people. To be clear, we are not asking, where is the liberal or Democratic Party clown show. We are asking, what are the liberal and Democratic Party ideas?  

The question above begs to be answered. For this reason, Vote By Mail America is preparing a series of reports under the heading “What Are They Thinking?” In the coming weeks we will pose questions to liberal think tankers, labor and Democratic Party leaders on their ideas, plans and strategies for addressing important political and policy issues between now and 2016. Stay tuned.

by Brent Scott
Executive Director
Vote By Mail America

John Lewis accepts the PILLAR of AMERICA Award

Today, Vote By Mail America presented the first ever PILLAR of AMERICA Award to the Honorable John Lewis. We came to Washington, DC to honor a great American for his incredible contribution to ALL AMERICANS in the area of voting rights. We are also here because what John Lewis and many others (some who are still with us and more who are no longer with us) accomplished is under an attack of the most sinister and cynical kind. There are dark forces (think tanks, elected officials and even a political party) right here in Washington who are engaged in an ugly and Un-American enterprise to disenfranchise millions of us of our fundamental right to vote.

 

John Lewis accepting the PILLAR of AMERICA Award from Brent Scott of Vote By Mail America
 

When Vote By Mail America conceived the PILLAR of AMERICA Award it was with some trepidation. After all, who are we? We are not icons of the voting rights generation. None among our small ranks are noted or famed individuals. And as our organization was founded just five years ago we are not widely known in the voting rights community.

 

Hilary O. Shelton of the NAACP honoring John Lewis at the PILLAR of AMERICA Award ceremony.

We're average citizens. Ordinary Americans who experienced some problems with polling place voting (ex: sites opening too late and closing too early, long lines, traveling on election day, polling sites being frequently relocated) and wanted to do something for other Americans who experienced similar problems. Our primary intention was to educate the public of a safe alternative to polling place voting - you can vote by mail and here's how. Point your mouse, click on the Vote By Mail America map and obtain detailed information on how to vote by mail in your state. That was the most of what we were about. No, we are not icons of the voting rights generation like our honoree. And although we had some trepidation about creating the award, we were never in doubt as to who deserved it.



Nicole Austin-Hillery of the Brennan Center, honoring John Lewis

 

When we contacted known voting rights organizations and leaders for this award ceremony, the number one response we received was, who are you? I imagine that when they started out, several decades ago now, the establishment said of SNCC and Freedom Riders, who are you? I imagine they said of and to John Lewis, who are you? But to this nation's great credit, certainly begrudgingly, they did listen. While it took many years to come about, the doors of participatory democracy that John Lewis wouldn't stop pushing on were opened for all.

Jerry Vattamala of AALDEF (left) Judith Browne-Dianis

of the Advancement Project (center) Brent Scott of VBMA.

I grew up seeing the images of the marches, the sit ins, the boycotts, the dogs, the beatings, the water cannons and worse, the inhumanity that John Lewis and others were treated to. Those images make me at once ashamed and proud. I grew up hearing the speeches of John Lewis, Martin King and so many BRAVE others who wouldn’t just go away. They dared and they achieved. Today, we are not going to stand still, sit by and allow dark forces, dark money, cynical politicians and their operatives to stomp all over the voting rights achievements of a great movement that was fueled by a generation of dedicated people such as John Lewis.

The Honorable John Robert Lewis, Accepting the PILLAR of AMERICA Award presented byVote By Mail America

We say to the dark forces trying to undo, to take us back, to disenfranchise Americans of their hard won right to vote, "We're not going to let that happen." You see, it was worse for John Lewis. He faced contempt and scorn by a corrupt power structure and when he wouldn't just go away, he faced beatings, vicious dogs, water cannons and arrest and imprisonment. But he didn't cower. And we're not going to cower either. Not on this. Not on our rights. Not on the American triumph that was the voting rights movement. In the face of this new and ugly campaign to cheat, deny and steal the right to vote of Americans, we will if we have to walk in the footsteps of and stand on the shoulders of John Robert Lewis, a PILLAR of AMERICA.

By Brent Scott,

Executive Director of Vote By Mail America

John Robert Lewis: PILLAR of AMERICA

The First Annual Vote By Mail America PILLAR of AMERICA Award will be presented to the Honorable John Lewis for his courageousness, commitment and dedication to Voting Rights for All Americans.

Date: Tuesday, February 26th, 2013
Time: 12-2pm
Place: House Cannon Building, Room 122 in Washington, DC

 



Vote By Mail America will also honor a television host and the program's staff for excellent coverage of voting rights issues in 2012 and, we will present the first ever "Shout Out" award to an individual for making an extraordinary contribution to voter education.

 

Brent Scott

Executive Director

Vote By Mail America