The Revolution Continues blog is news, views, opinion and other expressions of hope from a leftist point-of-view. (We are not affiliated with any candidate, political party or organization. All are welcome.)
Showing posts with label #rankedchoicevoting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #rankedchoicevoting. Show all posts
A Terrible Tale of Voter Suppression. (Plus "A Letter to Kamala.")
by C. A. Matthews
Living with a mystery series writer (check out my husband’s Veronica Nash series), I watch many (and I mean many) mystery movies, TV series, and the like. I’ve never been the biggest fan of mysteries since some feature “copaganda” with their noble-minded police detective sleuths showing off how damn smart they are. Putting that fault aside, I watch mysteries in order to learn more about how to plot a story as well as learn interesting science facts that occasionally pop up. I find an interesting twist in the tale or an outright surreal ending (like in a Twilight Zone episode) enjoyable, too.
Unfortunately, many mysteries are poorly plotted. If I can guess “whodunnit” within the first ten minutes of a mystery movie/TV show (or first chapter of a novel), then it’s safe to say it’s crap and needs a re-write. I mean, how the heck should anyone figure out the mystery so quickly? Mediocre mysteries are the worse. There’s no use reading the rest of the book or watching the next hour and half of silly red herrings if you know who the murderer/kidnapper/thief is already. I’ve got better things to do with my time.
Which brings me to what I do with my time these days—I try and solve real life mysteries of the political kind. In this season of post-election blues in the US, I submit for your approval the following: The Mystery of the Missing Votes or A Terrible Tale of Voter Suppression.
In New Jersey, Green candidate for Congress Ben Taylor was ahead of his duopoly competitors with 50,000+ votes, but a second later the screen said that Taylor was behind and had only 3,000 votes. What happened to his lead? Did his votes all die a mysterious death?
To see and solve more electoral mysteries, continue reading the rest of this article by clicking on this Substack link: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com There
you'll also see related article and video links, all the images,
and be able to leave comments. You can subscribe to receive the
weekly blog post in your email box as well.
About once a year, I feel compelled to write a post about the dangers and pitfalls of lesser evil voting in the US. So here it is, for better or worse.
If you add a letter “d” to the front of the word “evil”, you’ll get the personification of evil, that is, the “devil.” However lesser evil voting is being discussed, the end result is the same: The voter is being asked to make a deal with the devil or evil.
What is often left out of this old saying are what consequences you incur when you make a deal with the devil. Here’s the complete saying: “When you make a deal with the devil, be careful you don’t get burned.”
Dealing with the devil can get you burned. Lesser evil voting burns voters. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a closer look.
The Devil is in the Details
First, a definition of lesser evil voting is needed. In the lesser evil voting scenario, voters are informed that there are only two candidates running for each office. We’ll call them candidates “A” and “B”. Voters are told they have no other options, and they have been convinced of this fact. They feel compelled to vote for either A or B or stay home and not vote. That’s it.
But what if voters don’t care for either candidate A or B? What if they strongly detest and/or despise both A and B? Can they vote for candidate C, D, E, or F instead? In most states in the United States there are other candidates’ names printed on their ballots for each office. However, many voters have been programmed (brainwashed) into thinking those options simply do not exist for them, so they’re stuck with choosing between A and B or not voting at all.
But what happens when a voter decides to vote for C, D, E, or F, and their treachery to vote outside the box is discovered? Woe to that voter! The voter will be vote shamed and pressured to change their mind. The most common vote shaming method is to tell renegade voters that they have cast a wasted vote because they refused to vote for either A or B. They are informed by supporters of A and B that all voters who dare to vote for C, D, E, or F are stupid and foolish.
Other forms of coercion exercised by supporters for A and B can include ostracizing these rebel voters socially in-person and/or online, threatening the rebel voters’ careers or job positions, and sometimes even threatening or committing physical violence against the rebel voters or their property.
All of these forms of lesser evil voting coercion tactics have been documented widely (and some of them experienced by yours truly). These are only but a few of the ways voters can get burned when making a deal with the devil called lesser evil voting. I’m sure there are supporters/past-supporters of A and B out there whose ears are burning about right now as I expose their crimes. But I’ve found that lesser evil aficionados often are proud of their vote shaming tactics. They rarely get caught or charged with any criminal activity since fellow A or B supporters will cover for them, so I doubt they’ll ever stop the dirty tricks.
With that sort of pressure placed upon voters to consider voting for only A or B, what do you think happens to candidates C, D, E, and F? Do you think they receive as much attention in the mainstream media as A and B do? Lesser evil voting supporters for A or B cannot afford to allow voters to learn about other candidates and their platforms, so mainstream media spokespersons are generally kept in line and told to exclude all mention of other candidates as much as possible.
Can you see how this practical censorship would prevent C, D, E, and F from effectively advertising or fundraising? Without sufficient funds to campaign, what would you say are the chances of these alternative candidates being able to compete against the well-funded and well-promoted campaigns of A and B? Did you say zero to none?
It should be obvious by now that lesser evil voting isn’t really a strategy to help American voters choose a candidate who represents their values, needs, wants, or desires. Lesser evil voting is simply a method to get rid of A’s and B’s competition.
Think about it: It’s much cheaper and easier for corporate lobbyists, wealthy individuals, and political action committees (PACs/Super PACs) to bribe two candidates to do as they command than a multitude of candidates who may or may not be open to taking corporate lobbyist cash. This legal bribery of politicians in the US is allowed under the 2010 Citizens United ruling. Money talks, and it talks much louder than average voters' voices, obviously.
How fair is lesser evil voting? Not fair at all unless you absolutely adore A and/or B. But it’s completely legal and acceptable by the parties of A and B who rather you didn't know you have more choices. Here’s an example of how it’s manifesting itself in this year’s presidential election.
The Devil You Know...
Americans worship stability and sameness. Life just seems safer that way. Even if their present lives are miserable or downright unbearable, Americans’ philosophy of life can be summed up thusly: “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.”
Note once again how the letter “d” can be subtracted from “devil” leaving the word that describes the devil’s best known quality of “evil”. Americans rather put up with a known evil than radically change their lives by making a different choice, possibly for the better, because what if their choice proves worse than the one they’ve been told to make by supporters of A or B? Many American voters seem paralyzed by indecision. They seek guidance and are looking for someone else to make the decision for them.
If only Americans believed they needn’t be cornered into corner A or B! Think of all the possibilities for a brighter future voters might have by choosing C, D, E, or F. How can we break through such a lack of imagination and encourage American voters to invite change and consider non-duopoly (non-A or -B) candidates?
Let’s say you’re an American voter who wants the genocide in Gaza to end as soon as possible and all the war criminals punished. You’re sick and tired of the bloated US military budget and long for more funding for programs such as Medicare For All, free university tuition, student loan debt forgiveness, and programs to tackle the climate crisis. What are your choices for president who speak to your conscience?
Here in a nutshell are the options of the upcoming presidential election:
A – a current known evil who supports the genocide in Gaza and takes money from AIPAC and many corporations/PACs
B – a past known evil who supports the genocide in Gaza and takes money from AIPAC and many corporations/PACs
C – another candidate (with a famous last name) who accepts corporate cash and loudly supports the genocide in Gaza and takes money from AIPAC/PACs
D – a candidate who doesn’t accept corporate/PAC cash and doesn’t support the genocide in Gaza, supports Medicare For All and climate crisis actions, and will probably be on all 50 state ballots and the District of Columbia
E – a candidate who doesn’t accept corporate/PAC cash and doesn’t support the genocide in Gaza but probably won’t be on very many state ballots
F- a candidate who doesn’t accept corporate/PAC cash and doesn’t support the genocide in Gaza but probably won’t be on very many state ballots
(G, H, I candidates – some accept corporate/PAC cash, some don’t support the genocide or war, but most probably won’t be on very many state ballots)
Looking at the above chart, you’ll see that your personal choices do not include the A or B candidates that lesser evil voting strategists are going try to shame you into voting for. Your best bet to change the leadership the White House to a person who represents you is to vote for candidate D or possibly E or F or one of the other lesser known candidates if they're on your ballot. By voting for a candidate like D, you’ll feel proud of yourself that you aren’t perpetuating the genocide in Gaza and are helping to make the US a better place for all its people.
Sounds like a sound voting choice that reflects your values and speaks to your conscience, right? If only it was that easy in the USA!
The political parties of A and B will do all that they can to block your preferred candidate’s name from being on as many states' ballots as they possibly can. With huge war chests of campaign donations from military-industrial complex corporations and money from PACs such as AIPAC, these parties will use every legal and extra-legal trick in the book they can to prevent any competition from challenging them. Supporters of A and B who own the mainstream media outlets will block all mention of the other candidates and pass along the propaganda that teams A and B dream up to slander/libel their competition.
Many American voters, never knowing there are actually candidates who closely represent their own values because of the practical censorship, might choose to stay home and not vote. Voter apathy in the US is sky high, and with such a screwed up system, is it any wonder?
This is lesser evil voting strategy at its worse. These devils you’ve known for years are anti-democratic and bullies. And you will be forced to put your conscience to sleep and vote for A or B because you’re told these are your only options.
You’ll be told that C, D, E, or F have no chance of winning, not realizing that in poll after poll the largest percentage of American voters consider themselves as independent. These voters don’t support the parties of either A or B and stay home more often than not if they don't have another option. If that large percentage of voters followed their conscience and voted for other than A or B, another candidate might actually win. The math speaks for itself.
Vote shaming can be intense, but it can be dealt with rationally as the above meme demonstrates. A candidate must earn your vote and stand for your values. Follow a litmus test like I do to pick your candidate, and you'll never suffer from a guilty conscience. You won't be tempted to sell your soul to the devils and their corporate masters. You'll help others to avoid getting burned as well.
The great Eugene Debs gave us this sage advice that voters should always follow:
"I'd rather vote for something I want and not get it than to vote for something I don't want and get it."
Don’t be tempted to make a deal with the devil (d-evil). Don’t get burned. Stay away from lesser evil voting. Always vote your conscience, and encourage others to do the same. And may the best candidate win.
If you say this is a genocide and then you support the people who are
backing this genocide, it means either (A) you’re fine with genocide or
(B) you only called it a genocide to score progressive political points
and don’t actually believe what you said.
* * *
Subscribe
to The Revolution Continues on Substack today! Blogspot/Blogger isn't working
as well as it once did (Is it blatant censorship? Who knows?) so it's
time to migrate to a better platform. Go to https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com/
and click on one of the stories and subscribe at the link at the end of
the article. You'll enjoy having each week's post automatically sent to
your email box or reading it at the Substack site. Many thanks for your
consideration.
* * *
More nominees for "The Aarons"
Here are a few more names that were nominated for A Human With A Conscience Award (read about it here) this past week. These folks and organizations can post the above meme on their social media sites if they choose. Keep your nominations coming!
Banksy (Best Graffiti Artist with a Conscience)
Laura K from Normal Island News (Best Satirist with a Conscience)
Randy Credico (Best Podcaster/Indie journalist with a Conscience)
Neil Oliver (Best Podcaster/Journalist with a Conscience)
Toledo Area Activists with a Conscience: Jomana Al, Walaa Kanan, Mike Ferner, Jasmin Nada Hummos, Yousef Baddar, Susan Kuehn, Terry Lodge, Omar Aysha, and Ahmed Amrou.
Readers
might have noticed that TRC has spent very little blog space on the
US midterms this time around. There are a couple of reasons
for this. First off, since we’re open to guest bloggers expressing whatever is on their mind at the moment, we let our
readers/bloggers set the pace in regards to posts about elections. We haven’t
had anyone really interested in writing about the 2022 midterms, so
there’s that.
Secondly—and
perhaps most importantly—is this reason: Why bother?
Really,
what difference will it make to ordinary working class Americans
which of the establishment factions has the majority in the US House
or Senate? What difference will our votes make one way or the other
when study after study (starting with the infamous Princeton Study)
demonstrate that our elected officials completely ignore the bottom
90% of American voters and only listen to those with the most money?
Just get a load of these figures:
According to a report
released Thursday by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), just 465
American billionaires had donated an unprecedented $881 million by the
end of September — even before last-minute campaign pushes in the last
five weeks before Election Day. This is already more than the amount
that billionaires spent in the entirety of the 2018 midterm election.
In past elections, reading an article like the one above showing how many millions—excuse me, billions—are being spent by the oligarchs/billionaires to influence US governmental policy, our planet’s health, and our general welfare would have made me extremely irate. I might have suggested that you make a plan to go to the polls and vote for an independent or third party candidate to send the duopolists a strong message that we’re on to them and their corporate puppet masters. I might have led everyone in a chant of, "We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it anymore!"
Nowadays, I’m more resigned to our fate. Those with the money will get their agenda passed with no problems, and there’s nothing we the poor and struggling workers can do about it. It's not like we can come up with over one billion dollars every election to bribe the candidates and take the reins away from our true masters and rulers, the billionaires, can we?
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges puts it very well:
The bipartisan project of dismantling our democracy, which took place
over the last few decades on behalf of corporations and the rich, has
left only the outward shell of democracy. The courts, legislative
bodies, the executive branch and the media, including public
broadcasting, are captive to corporate power. There is no institution
left that can be considered authentically democratic. The corporate coup
d’état is over. They won. We lost.
The wreckage of this
neoliberal project is appalling: endless and futile wars to enrich a
military-industrial-complex that bleeds the U.S. Treasury of half of all
discretionary spending; deindustrialization that has turned U.S. cities
into decayed ruins; the slashing and privatization of social programs,
including education, utility services and health care – which saw over one million Americans
account for one-fifth of global deaths from Covid, although we are 4
percent of the world’s population; draconian forms of social control
embodied in militarized police, functioning as lethal armies of
occupation in poor urban areas; the largest prison system in the world; a
virtual tax boycott by the richest individuals and corporations;
money-saturated elections that perpetuate our system of legalized
bribery; and the most intrusive state surveillance of the citizenry in
our history.
In “The United States of Amnesia,” to
quote Gore Vidal, the corporate press and the ruling class create
fictional feel-good personas for candidates, treat all political
campaigns as if it is a day at the races and gloss over the fact that on
every major issue, from trade deals to war, there is very little
difference between Democrats and Republicans. The Democratic Party and
Joe Biden are not the lesser evil, but rather, as Glen Fordpointed out, “the more effective evil.” --The Politicians Who Destroyed Our Democracy Want Us to Vote for Them to Save it
All this is not to say that I’m not voting this time out and that you
shouldn’t vote,
either. It's just that, with what I know now, I’m not wasting my
time
voting for either the Republican or Democratic Parties’
candidates. Both establishment factions accept plenty of money from the billionaires, so their loyalty will always be pledged to the top 1% and not to bottom 99% of Americans.
I’m willing to vote for any and all independent and third party candidates who don't take corporate cash,
and I will voice my opinion on all local and state issues. In my case, that’s
about one page out of several of
the printed ballot. I will make my opinion known on these ballot issues since they are
important to my community and directly affect our lives together.
If
there’s no electronic diddling with
the vote count, then at
least some
form of democracy will occur in regards to those ballot issues. I see that as a “win” for the ordinary people. We might
still have to put up a while longer with a corrupt system that blithely calls
itself a “representative democracy” (watch this video for more
about how easily corrupted that is), but at least we’re not running away
scared
with
our tails between our legs. We are buying ourselves time to figure out how to rebuild our destroyed democracy.
We
ordinary American voters should stand proud. We’re interested in our
local
communities' well-being. We
don’t have to explain
ourselves
to
anyone about
why
we didn’t
waste time rubber-stamping a
vote for a
bunch of corporate
candidates
to
make their billionaire
bosses happy. There's no need for us to feel shame about not supporting the status quo with our votes. We proudly can leave these
corporate sell-outs
twisting
in the wind, desperate to come up with a
good
excuse to
explain why
no decent hardworking American wanted
to vote
for them.
I think the biggest joke this midterm election is
on the billionaires. They think
they’ve successfully bought
off American “democracy.” Ha! We all know it
doesn’t exist, and we're not keeping silent. We've got the perseverance to keep working toward building a government that doesn't include the likes of them.
Of
course, the billionaires
will
be laughing all the way to the bank in the short term as their politician-puppets
gift
them billions of our tax dollars to produce weapons, weapons to pass on to another corrupt government under the guise of a
proxy war. These Daddy Warbucks will then sell their leftover weapon stockpiles directly to
the US war machine. The US war machine will bomb even more countries in our collective good name until
these decimated countries are overflowing with
“freedom and democracy” and
a whole lot less of their natural resources and citizens.
It's why the billionaires bought out the US government in the first place. How else are they supposed to make so much money? Work for it with their own hands like we peons do?
I hope you can see now that voting
alone isn’t going to get us out of this mess. Voting
isn’t going to stop the endless wars for oil and liquefied natural gas at
the expense of innocent human beings’ lives. Voting red
and blue and red and blue will do nothing because of
you-know-who! Billionaires and their bought off cronies have a lock
on our corrupt system of government. The only way We the People can take back power
is by refusing to play along with
their abusive games.
It’s
like that well-worn adage that the Dems seem to enjoy shouting every couple of years: “This is the most important election of
our lives!” These midterms are
the most important elections of our lives but only because now we understand that
we no longer need waste our time putting check marks in front of
the red or blue candidates on the ballot. We know now how much a real
democracy is worth and that it can’t be bought by anyone. It's priceless, and it's worth fighting for until we get it.
So, whatever you decide to do this midterm election or in elections to come, feel proud. You're mad as hell, and you're smart enough not to fall for the duopolists' propaganda. That makes you a "winner" in my book. Don't let a bunch of soulless billionaires' puppets tell you otherwise.
You are lucky if you live in a nation that has little natural resources. Your people didn’t get bombed, sanctioned or displaced because the US Govt just didn’t see any value in destroying your country. Congratulations.
You don’t have to comply and vote for more corruption. In fact, the best way to vote in a duopoly that’s controlled by two corrupt parties who serve Wall Street and the War Machine is to open your ballot and vote for any candidate who does not have a D or an R next to their name.
HR1, also known as the For the People Act, creates a national system
of automatic voter registration, which is expected to bring millions of
new voters to the ballot box, and cracks down on voter suppression
tactics. --Ryan Grim, The Intercept
The so-called "For The People Act" has been passed in the House and has been sent on to the Senate. It all sounds great on the surface, but as one peers deeper into its 790 pages some rather troubling features are revealed. While 62% of Americans have stated they want more choices in candidates/parties on the ballot, this bill actually introduces legislation that would make it virtually impossible for third or independent parties to run candidates for office. Added bonus--it enables "Dark Money" to flood campaign coffers of the two so-called "major parties."
A bill that has a coating of good on top to hide its inner rotten core is called a poison pill. And it's not something anyone should swallow.
Though much in HR1 is absolutely essential to the survival of American
democracy, one section is a cynical assault on third parties, making
barriers to their signature-gathering and fundraising virtually
insurmountable. Those clauses come from Democratic operatives who hate
the Green Party and other third parties.
HR1 would inflate
the amount of money national party committees can give to their candidates
from $5000 to $100 million, an astonishing increase of 1999900% that
would give party bosses virtually unlimited power to flood elections
with Big Money.
This bill is "for the people"? It takes "Big Money" out of politics? Really?
The bill that should have been passed is The
Fair Representation Act. Introduced in 2018 and 2019, if enacted ranked-choice voting (RCV) and multi-member districts for Congressional
elections would become the law of the land, giving voters more power and more choice.
The
Fair Representation Act sounds like a good thing, doesn't it?
But you've probably never heard of The Fair Representation Act if you get your news from mainstream media outlets. All you've heard is how great the "For The People Act" is from numerous neoliberal talking heads without mention of how it will take away your choice of candidates and add even more unrestricted SuperPACs and Dark Money into US politics. That's because the major networks are owned by a tiny handful of multi-millionaires. They want this poison pill legislation to pass so there will be less chance of independent candidates winning and less chance of third party candidates who can think for themselves representing us, the people, and not them, the oligarchy.
Less democracy means there's far less mess for the oligarchs to keep under control. Far fewer chances for voters to elect representatives who will pass laws to tax these millionaires and billionaires the way they should have been taxed all along. Far less chance of these media monopolies being broken up to increase fairness and competition and give more choices to us, the people.
Fairness and choice? Fewer chances for the mega-wealthy to purchase politicians with unlimited private donations? Hmm, those sound like healthy things, don't they?
I hope you won't swallow the poison pill called the "For The People Act." Please share this information with others, watch the videos and pass the links along to your friends and family. Because the only true antidote to poison in politics is education and vigilance.
In this video, 2020 Green Party presidential and vice presidential nominees Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker discuss HR1 and the dangers hiding within it. https://youtu.be/TiUQsekabsk
More from Howie Hawkins' #GreenSocialist Organizing Project:
Like you, we believe in the
protection of voting rights, including same-day and automatic voter
registration, restoring the franchise to people with criminal records,
and an expansion of early voting, voting by mail, and absentee drop
boxes...as a first step.
HR 1, also known as the
"For the People Act," is a bill that has passed the House and is in the
Senate and which contains these types of necessary reforms. In these
days, when Republicans and right-leaning Democrats are happy to make
access to the voting booth all the more difficult, these are good
reforms that are useful now.
However, there is a
specific section of this omnibus bill that deals with matching funds and
overall campaign finance that serves to entrench dark and corporate
money in campaigns even further.
The major problems with the Campaign Finance of H.R. 1 include:
Excludes Third Parties: The qualifying threshold
to receive presidential primary matching funds is increased five times,
from $100,000 ($5,000 raised in 20 states in contributions of $250 or
less) to $500,000 ($25,000 raised in 20 states in contributions of $200
or less). This higher threshold puts public funding beyond the reach of
third-party candidates.
Increases Funding Disparities: The 6:1 ratio in
matching funds increases the public funding disparities between
candidates by seven times. A 6:1 match for a candidate with $1 million
in qualified contributions would yield $7 million. A 6:1 match for $5
million would yield $35 million. The funding disparity grows seven
times, from $4 million to $28 million.
Eliminates Private Spending Caps for Publicly Funded Candidates:
H.R. 1 eliminates the private spending caps under the existing program
of presidential public funding, which limits how much private money
candidates who accept public funding can spend.
Increases Big Donations through Party Committees:
H.R. 1 increases the amount national party committees can contribute to
presidential candidates from $5,000 to $100 million. Each party has
three national committees that can make this contribution: the national
committee and the party’s house and senate campaign committees. So the
total amount increases from $15,000 to $300 million. This change
increases the influence of big donors. The current individual
contribution limits to a federal candidate’s campaign committee is
$5,600 ($2,800 for the primary and $2,800 for the general). The current
individual campaign contribution limit to party’s national committees is
$109,500. So the super-rich can give
up to $328,500 to a party’s national committees.
Increases Big Donations through Victory Funds:
H.R. 1 does nothing to curb big donor funding through joint campaign
committees of presidential candidates and national and state party
committees. This loophole enables the super-rich to give six-figure
donations to the presidential candidates’ so-called Victory Funds. In
2020, donors could give up to $620,600 to the Biden Victory Fund and
$580,600 to the Trump Victory Fund.
Preserves Unlimited Private Donations for Independent Expenditures:
HR 1 does nothing to curb the unlimited donations the super-rich give
for independent expenditures by SuperPACs, including as undisclosed
“dark money” laundered through 501c4 nonprofits.
In short, the Campaign Finance section in H.R. 1 does not curb the
swelling ocean of private campaign funding by corporate special
interests and super-rich oligarchs. It simply enables the major party
recipients of unlimited private donations to also get some public money
as well. It is a reform that doesn’t reform.
So what can you do?
Please sign our petition to immediately send an email to your U.S.
Senator to request that they work to eliminate the campaign finance
section of HR 1, as well as work to enact real campaign finance reforms
that matter. Click here to go to the petition.
The Revolution Continues
is now in our sixth year taking on the propaganda of the fauxgressives
and their friends in the corporate-owned duopoly. We need passionate
revolutionaries like you to help us provide progressive insights that
are being actively censored elsewhere. If you can donate a little to the
cause, please do so at the Paypal.me link below.
Thanks for all you do in making the world a better place. Power to the people!
***
Part of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (HR 1280), newly reintroduced in the U.S. Congress, is called the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act. This is an issue that World BEYOND War has been working on, with some success, at the local level, and that work will continue no matter what. But this federal law would be a major boost, and it has a good chance of passing if we push for it.
Under this law, the U.S. military would be forbidden to transfer to
federal, tribal, state, or local law enforcement agencies the following:
Firearms, ammunition, bayonets, grenade launchers, grenades (including stun and flash-bang), and explosives.
Vehicles, except for passenger automobiles and bucket trucks.
Drones.
Controlled aircraft that are combat configured or combat coded or have no established commercial flight application.
Silencers.
Long-range acoustic devices.
Items in the Federal Supply Class of banned items.
Demonstrators across the United States declared in one voice that "Black Lives Matter," demanding criminal justice reform at the federal level. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act was the House's response.
An overdue package of reforms, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, in addition to demilitarizing police, makes police more accountable,
reforming qualified immunity, creating a national registry of police
misconduct, prohibiting racial profiling, banning no-knock warrants in
drug cases, banning excessive force, incentivizing the banning of
chokeholds and carotid holds, and requiring the use of body cameras, but
forbidding the use with those cameras of facial recognition technology.
HR 1 is sold as a way to get money out of politics and to protect voters but it contains a poison pill for democracy and opposition parties like the Green Party. HR1 quintuples the amount of money Green presidential campaigns will be required to raise to qualify for federal matching funds: from $5,000 in each of 20 states to $25,000 per state.
The
Green Party stands opposed to this bait-and-switch legislation that
claims to improve access to voting while actually dismantling everyone's
right to organize electorally against the parties of War and Wall
Street. In a recent Gallup poll, arecord 62% of US voterssaid we need a new major party.
No doubt
you've heard from "progressive" groups about how HR1 contains
much-needed voter protections. And it's true, HR1 contains some badly
needed reforms. That makes it all the more shameful for the Democrats to
use those reforms as cover to eliminate competition from alternative
parties.
And make sure you tell your family and communities how HR1 will:
Eliminate the limits on donations and expenditures candidates can receive and make — what kind of campaign finance reform is that?
Inflate
the amount of money national party committees can give to candidates
from $5000 to $100 million, an astonishing increase of 1999900% that
would give party bosses virtually unlimited power to flood elections
with big money
Abolish the general election
campaign block grants that parties can access by winning at least 5% of
the vote in the previous presidential election. HR1 will eliminate this provision that was created to give a fair shot to alternative parties that demonstrate significant public support
Replace
the general election block grants (where each qualified candidate
receives a set, lump sum of public funding for campaign expenses) with
matching funds through Election Day — a huge step backwards for public
campaign finance reform — using the above-mentioned criteria designed to
squeeze out alternative parties and independent candidates
Instead
of trying to fool American voters and eliminating minor party voices,
the Green Party calls for real reforms to democratize elections:
The
Fair Representation Act, introduced in 2018 and 2019, would enact
Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) and multi-member districts for Congressional
elections, giving voters more power and more choice
Individual state governments should enact RCV for their elections, including the presidential election
Fully-public
campaign finance for every federal, state and local office through the
Clean Money/Clean Elections model now used in Arizona and Maine
