General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere's only one issue that matters right now. Voting rights.
If the Democrats don't pass a voting rights bill, everything else they're doing is meaningless.
State by state, Republicans are making it virtually impossible to vote. And in some states, even if you vote, the Republican legislature will decide who won.
And as far as the bills the Dems are currently fighting to pass, a Republican controlled government will override them and make them null and void.
Biden, and every single Democrat in the House and Senate must be laser focused on passing a voting rights act. Without it, the Republicans will steal part of America in 2022 and the rest of it in 2024. Getting out the vote isn't good enough in places where Republicans decide the winner.
This Must, Must be the Democrat's number one priority. If it isn't, America is fucked and our freedoms are gone.
FoxNewsSucks
(10,429 posts)This needs to be remembered every day.
Fascists are working 24/7 to take over. Is our side working 24/7 to stop them?
Walleye
(31,008 posts)They are free to spend all of their time making up only voter suppression laws, because they dont do or care about anything that might actually help the people
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)the second Republicans are in control.
Yes, I agree with you that the Dems are working on important things. But the reality is they're building sand castles and ignoring the incoming tide.
Walleye
(31,008 posts)If we dont pass these budget bills, people wont want to vote for us. Sort of the ultimate catch 22
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)Their current positions will destroy the Constitution, the county and all of our freedoms.
Nothing is off the table. Dems need to treat these two for what they are and everything is fair game. And I mean everything. And this means going after any indiscretions of their spouses and children. After all, look at what they're trying to do to our spouses and children.
If this sounds brutal, it is. But how else do you fight their brutality? And it's a fight we can't afford to lose. After all, do you think Republicans in full control of our government wouldn't end up looking like every other deadly dictatorship?
It's time to act while we still have the ability to act.
Walleye
(31,008 posts)As Sinema seemingly has no shame at all. Maybe the Russians have some compramat on them
calimary
(81,220 posts)Cant do much about Manchin right now, but with MORE DEMS I the Senate, he automatically is rendered powerless.
Wanna rain on his parade? Then minimize him. Make him less. Less powerful. Less influential. Less effective. Having less impact. So his vote wont matter that much anymore. So he wont be the KEY GUY everybody has to fall on their knees and worship and care about and coddle anymore. So his voice wont carry the power and clout that it once had, anymore. Make him NOT matter anymore.
More Dems reduce Joe Manchin to just another Senator instead of being The King whose Imperial Favor they all are forced to whore themselves for.
Elessar Zappa
(13,964 posts)Unfortunately, we have two roadblocks by the name of Sinema and Manchin who dont appear to be willing to carve out an exception to the filibuster for voting rights.
Walleye
(31,008 posts)IbogaProject
(2,804 posts)Voting Rights and Campaign Finance Reform are the two most important issues. We have to catch ona or more Republican PACs or candidates taking foreign money. I feel no corporate money even if that bans labor unions from donating, they'd still be able to endorse and message their membership. The limit should be very low a few hundred per year with lower limit per candidate. I want a poor Grandma on low social security living in publuc housing having the same spending pull as Jeff Bezos. And limits on federal revolving doors and no corporate lobbying make the wealthy donors go themselves and beg for their handouts.
It will be a mess, both parties have probkems with catering to the donor class and their wasting so much time fundraising.
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)The owners of the Republican Party will find some way to channel major dollars to them regardless of any law. There's always a way to slip cash into someone's campaign funds, or pocket. This ain't gonna' disappear because of any law.
HOWEVER, voting rights is a different thing that must be dealt with here and now. And if we don't deal with it here and now, we'll never get another chance because we'll be ruled by despots. The pricks who own the Republican Party are dedicated to owning us all. And when that comes into being, they won't have to worry about campaign reform.
Walleye
(31,008 posts)Firestorm49
(4,032 posts)Pobeka
(4,999 posts)ancianita
(36,023 posts)The entire f'n filibuster. Stop all popular vote nullification forever.
Learn to practice up or down legislation by 50% +1 normal math.
Tommymac
(7,263 posts)MASSIVE Democratic & Independent TURNOUT in 2021,2022, 2023, 2024 and beyond is the only answer.
We need to have a Grass Roots effort like nothing EVER seen in the history of the world. And keep it up for many years.
MASSIVE turnout on the scale of 2020. Or more.
(And get rid of non verifiable voting machines - I mean Diebold in Kentucky and Maine especially.)
I'm sure the Democratic Party CAN do it...if it has the desire and will (and it's candidates must also keep their genitalia out of play).
But the question is will it (and they). It's a long, hard, exhausting, spirit draining, road.
Sounds like fun, I'm game...how 'bout y'all?
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)I did a post above that stated that we must be ruthless with these two. After all, there's nothing at stake but the Constitution, America as we know it, and all of our freedoms.
No more "Mr. Nice Guy" with these two. If it means ripping apart their whole lives looking for something incriminating, or the lives of their immediate families, then let's do it. Does that sound cruel? What are they trying to do to you and your families?
If some of you are waiting to find a photo of one of them in a hotel room with a goat, forget it. That's Trump territory. However, there's always something that virtually every human being in the world wouldn't want made public about themselves. Manchin and Sinema are no exception.
And, for those who think this doesn't work, how do you think LBJ passed Medicaid, Medicare, The Voting Rights Act, The Civil Rights Act, and so much more. He knew where all the bodies were buried and no one in congress could stop him.
(And, yeah. The prick is responsible for every death on that Wall on the Washington Mall. None of us will forget or forgive that.)
calimary
(81,220 posts)We all should be.
11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)Republicans are making it virtually impossible for certain people to vote.
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)11 Bravo
(23,926 posts)ananda
(28,858 posts)!!!
Cyrano
(15,035 posts)We individual voters can't do much. It's up to our elected leaders to push back. Yet, they're focused on an agenda that will be meaningless one second after Republicans are in power.
So how do we stop fascism from taking over America? Given the nature of who and what we Democrats are, I really don't know if we can.
During WWII, we were faced with some of the ugliest form of fascism the world has ever faced. And the way we won was by getting just as ruthless as those we were fighting.
Are we capable of that today? It doesn't seem so.
ananda
(28,858 posts)The "south" will rise again as the worst kind of christian
neofascists.
It's kind of hard to defeat when all the big money and
the media are behind it.
I say "south" more as an idea than an exact geographic
locality now, since I mean all the red states.