Lessons Learned and Not Learned

Lessons Learned And Not Learned

For the past two years I have noted in this column that “not all Republicans are on board with vote suppression.” In 2010 GOP candidates won gubernatorial contests from Florida to Wisconsin and won majorities in many state legislatures from Ohio to Maine. In 2011, taking their cues from conservative think tanks such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), these new Republican governors and GOP state legislators set about erecting barriers to voting not seen in this country since the days of segregation. While voter ID laws served as the device of the choice, other despotic tactics included shortening the days and hours for early voting and, reducing the number of days for voting by mail. Many of the voter ID laws were struck down by state and federal courts as “unconstitutional.” But the other tactics, particularly reducing the number of days and hours for early voting day, caused embarrassingly long lines in the states of Florida and Ohio.

                                                               

                Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist denounces GOP vote suppression.                               

The Rachel Maddow Show/Youtube

 

Now, less than a month after being trounced in the presidential election, manifestly partisan Republicans are formulating new machinations to deny Americans of their right to vote. Enter Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker,  that proud marionette of conservative think tanks. In May of 2011 Walker signed a voter ID bill into law. Less than a year later Dane County Judge David Flanagan blocked enforcement of the law. In his opinion Judge Flanagan noted “The law disenfranchises voters, sometimes in absurd ways, and targets a problem that is only slightly more real than fairies and unicorns.”  Walker appealed and the law was rejected completely as unconstitutional by Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess. Not satisfied with two judicial rejections, Gov. Walker has set his mind to do away with Wisconsin’s more than three decades old system of same day voter registration. With same day voter registration citizens are allowed to vote when they register on election day. News flash to Gov. Walker, when Republicans in the Maine state legislature abolished same day voter registration the voters repealed the law via a citizens’ initiative . On Nov. 6, voters in Maine went a step further, throwing out the Republican majorities in the state’s House and Senate.

In the aftermath of President Obama’s and the Democrats’ trouncing of the GOP many Republican strategists heaped condemnation upon voter ID laws and other vote suppressive schemes. Unfortunately, too many Republicans still have a predilection for vote suppression. Rather than compete in the market of ideas and win the votes of the many, these GOPs would prefer to limit voter participation by way of unscrupulous election mechanics and outright chicanery. Our present 50 state model of making and changing election law at will and for partisan advantage delegitimizes the democratic process of elections and breeds contempt. It is time for a major overhauling of our election system. President Obama alluded to such in his victory speech on Nov. 6.  America should have one unbiased and nonpartisan standard for registering, voting and counting votes.  We are one country, we deserve one fair and unimpeachable process for this essential ”election” component of democracy.  

Election Reform

          Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is urging her GOP colleagues to revive the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC). In a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-TN and House Speaker John Boehner, R-OH, Boxer wrote, "I believe the dysfunction we witnessed may have been reduced had this Commission been fully staffed and operational,… I hope that you will take immediate action to make these recommendations so that we can get the Election Assistance Commission working again, and let the American people know that the government is protecting their fundamental right to vote.” The EAC has been in operative for a nearly a year because GOP leaders have declined to name their nominees for seats on the commission.

What the above demonstrates is the incredible self inflicted paralysis of the Republican Party. Unable and/or unwilling to accept that they do not control all levers of government, Republicans have adopted an approach to governing that is at once “do nothing” and/or “blow up the building” if they cannot get their way on every issue. This GOP unilateral line of thinking and acting began during the Clinton presidency when in 1994 Republicans won majorities in the House and Senate. Frustrated Republicans in congress expressed outrage that President Clinton, the leader of the Executive Branch, dared to exercise his constitutional authority and veto legislation that he did not agree with. Led by Bob Dole in the Senate and Newt Gingrinch in House, Republicans ushered in an era of routine brinksmanship beginning with the shutdown of the government in 1995-’96. In successive congresses Republican lawmakers, weather in the majority or the minority, have tended to act as though they control everything, all the time. And, if they cannot have it their way then either nothing gets done and/or they threaten to blow up the building. We saw this in practice in 2010 regarding the once routing “debt ceiling” debate and we are seeing it being played out now regarding the looming “fiscal cliff.”  Republicans in congress are also refusing to name their own members to a bipartisan commissions such as the Election Assistance Commission. Worse, we see this our way or no way mentality in the US Senate where GOP lawmakers have blown up the process by requiring a super majority via filibuster in order to get anything passed and, the empowering of a super minority in the House of Representatives.         

The Super Minority

              In 2004 then House Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL) unilaterally “enunciated a policy in which Congress will pass bills only if most House Republicans back them…” What does this means in practical terms? A political party must hold a minimum of 218 of the 435 seats in order to control the House. Under Hastert’s decree, no legislation can go forth unless a majority of the GOP caucus supports it. This means that in 2013, when the GOP will hold 233 seats,   117 Republicans (a super minority) must agree on any legislation in order for the other 318 members of the body to be allowed vote on it. If this strikes the reader as ridicules and undemocratic, that’s because it is.

For their part, Democrats in Congress seem not to have noticed this completely radical shift among their Republican counterparts. Democrats have responded to GOP obstruction and routine brinkmanship with meek cries about not conforming according to process and even meeker condemnation. News flash to Democrats on Capitol Hill, it is not enough to simply whine about GOP obstruction. Real action must be taken. Reforming the filibuster in the senate, where Democrats have a majority, is a good start. But, what Democrats haven’t done is engage the Republicans in the arena public discourse. Democrats have not, as Newt Gingrinch did in the 1980s and 1990s  - before he emerged as a GOP leader-  taken their case to the American people directly through C-Span and other available outlets. The battle must be fought not just at election time but all the time.

 

Skin in the Game

               The Republic Party of the 1970s and 80s is gone. It has been replaced by a radical element ever strident in their belief that no matter the outcome of an election, theirs is the only way to go. The time is now for Democrats and others to reject this corrupt ideology by employing constructive yet definite strategies (before, during and after an election) for moving forward with the business of the nation. In Congressional elections the GOP has banished moderates such as Sen. Richard Lugar of IN (defeated in the 2012 GOP primary). At the state level Republicans are intent on disenfranchising tens of millions of Americans of their fundamental right to vote. Democrats and others, to quote President Obama, “Must put some skin in the game.” It is not hyperbole to assert that the heart of American Democracy is at stake. When maniacal partisans of Scott Walker’s ilk brazenly attempt to rig the election process it is time to remind everyone of the words of the late Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!  Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!”  President Obama, Democrats in Congress and fair minded Americans everywhere must take concrete steps now to safeguard our democracy and that which facilitates democracy, the right to vote.

Brent Scott is Executive Director of Vote by Mail America