Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Colorado's redistricting will change the political equation in 2022

Update note 9/30/21  final map: House incumbents stay in their district numbers, but new district carved out on the front range.   Incumbents may find boundaries changed and their districts more competitive. General analysis: may result in an evenly split House delegation, though Democrats might be very slightly favored in more districts than not.  Grand County remains in Congressional 2 with Boulder and Rep. Joe Neguse...and the district becomes mostly of counties with recreational and ski areas and some ranching.

Note that a commission will make that decision in Colorado,, not a state legislature. The reason: the old way that resulted in political gerrymandering, with the majority party drawing congressional borders so there are "safe" districts for their partisan Congressional candidates. It is gerrymandering, the practice that over the years both parties have carved out so many safe districts that any sort of bipartisan agreement on anything in Congress has been nearly impossible. In a gerrymandered district lopsided to favor a political party, the primary becomes the reals election, and the most radically partisan gets to be the candidate in the general election. and in a lopsided district, the minority party is often just baying at the moon,. The independent commission that draws the boundaries for a congressional district is more likely to make elections make competitive throughout the process and extremists would be less likely to win. Candidates would have to broaden their appeal. The winners in this process are the independents and more bi-partisanship and the losers are hard-core party loyalists and extremists of both wings of the left and the right.

Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions logo Colorado Independent Redistricting Commissions

https://www.skyhinews.com/.../its-official-colorado-will.../.

https://www.skyhinews.com/opinion/letter-county-commissioners-should-represent-their-districts-not-a-poliical-party/?fbclid=IwAR0Yzpfh3NiuGxALd8mfr_DCWsXylgi6x2LZEyIqMUy0hCyI-azYGCC9rBw

https://info.cpr.org/webmail/732233/681457079/37ed5aa29f7f0085dca910996fcf173dfe2561f32c42301bdedbb5a70b1083a5

Colorado Population 2021 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs) (worldpopulationreview.com)

Friday, April 16, 2021

GOP: falling on their Trump swords

 What is the GOP trying to do?  Commit suicide?  The following recent polls regarding Biden's infrastructure legislation show how out of step with public sentiment is the GOP in .  Biden's own polling is not the issue that is on the front burner.  It is the midterms in 2022Washington when all members of the House are up for reelection or there will be vacancies to be filled.  One-third of the Senate is also on the ballot.  In gerrymandered districts dominated by the GOP, the Trump loyalists will have no problem becoming their party's candidate, but then they have to deal with the buzz saw in the general election.  Independents and Democrats will be all too eager to remind the GOP party of no just where they stood on the infrastructure bill.   I can see the general election commercials now. "Your GOP candidate opposed...(.fill in the blanks").

The question is will this move any 2020 Trump voters to vote for someone else other than Trump loyalists in 2022 or will "cultural" wars keep them in the Trump fold?  Rolled into the "cultural" issue are some gut-grabbing considerations ranging from white nationalism of America firsters, not at all disguised by calling their goal to keep "Anglo-Saxons" in charge.

  

As Biden approaches 100th day in office, Republicans admit difficulties in attacking his agenda (yahoo.com)

With broad support for his infrastructure plan among U.S. voters, Biden reaches out to GOP (yahoo.com)

Poll: Americans Support Biden's Nontraditional Infrastructure Plan (businessinsider.com)

"Of the following four main findings, three are measures the GOP has argued for excluding from the bill:

  • 87% of the public backed fixing roads and bridges;

  • 82% of the public supported increasing pay for elderly caregivers;

  • 78% of the public supported expanding high-speed broadband;

  • And 70% of the public supported fixing the electrical grid and making buildings and homes more energy efficient.

The poll also found that 50% of respondents supported raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% to pay for the plan. When asked about corporate tax hikes generally, 46% said it was a bad idea because it would raise wages and cost jobs, while 43% said corporate tax hikes should be raised to pay for infrastructure because companies "do not pay their fair share."

https://www.ft.com/content/f15d39d8-7261-4d59-bea5-b318e56775a1    Roger Altman on schism of big busines v GOP voter suppression laws.  Demographics of employees and customers

Sunday, April 11, 2021

Replacement theory revisited April 2021

 The following report inspired me to repost this  nearly prophetic August 12, 2020 blog posting on  April 11, 2021 when Tucker Carlson of FOX brought into the mainstream a slogan and the racist theory of replacement: Anti-Defamation League Calls on Fox News to Fire Tucker Carlson (businessinsider.com)

I remember Neo-Nazi chants in Charlottesville, "Jews will not replace us". The "replacement" word was picked up by many on the right and applied to Hispanics and immigrants. If this is not white nationalism, I do not know what is. The results: the words from right-wing media...and that includes Fox stars, ..inspired the El Paso shooter who used the same words to justify his murder of 22, targeting in his own words Hispanics. Those who approve or repeat such language are complicit in promoting white nationalism. ..and racism. The results will be the opposite of what they wished.

For those who protest this designation, think what the end result of their words means.  With or without "the invasion" of migrants, the demographic shift of the makeup of America to more brown and black citizens will happen anyway because of projected birth rates. So what is the goal now? Slow it down by scaring migrants off with acts of cruelty or by inspiring angry young men to kill them? 

 If the fear harbored by Republicans is that the impact of more black and brown citizens voting for Democrats,, the backlash could be much more immediate instead of farther in the future.  Not only are polls showing the important swing voters, suburban women, are more likely to vote for Democrats, because of the Trump administration's racial politics, Hispanic citizens traditionally have a large segment, 20 to 30%, who have voted Republican in past elections and that ratio could change..  The Republican party will for years be known as the party of white nationalists and enemies of Hispanics as a group.  If the RNC's goal is to suppress the growth of Hispanics voting Democrat, this strategy of embracing white nationalism and inspiring racism will backfire long term because even those Hispanics who are already citizens will be swept up in the hatred of them because of their color, race, name, and background regardless of their political philosophy or citizenship status. If the GOP fears a high turnout of African-Americans and Hispanics in 2020, they are doing all in their power to increase the turnout of those voices and voters they have attempted to suppress. It is a lesson they should have learned in the 2018 midterms. The historic turnout of minority voters turned red districts blue, including Colorado's 6th Congressional District and contributed to the House of Representatives flipping to blue. 

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

So here's the GOP game: make it hard to vote hurts everyone, some more than others, updated 6/19/2021

Updated April 30, 2021 and  June 5 2021

Maybe the GOP might want to leave some rocks unturned as they attempt to make the case that Trump won the election because the otherside stole it. This guy is charged with murdering his wife and then voting as his dead or missing wife. It will be interesting to follow the trial to see how he was caught or if he is found guilty as charged.. Fraud-free elections do not mean people do not try to commit fraud. It means if they try, they will get caught in Colorado. The layers are safeguards are very large. The system of mail-in ballots with built-in safeguards against such fraud was devised by Republicans years ago and it has not been changed, even when administered by Democrats.

Mitch McConnell's line has been that GOP attempts in states they control to make it harder for people to vote is not intended to hurt African American turnout. Obviously, that bit of deceptive denial is aimed at those left in the GOP still with some degree of conscience..He is not speaking on behalf of the victims who see right through his BS. In fact, he has no sympathy or standing to be qualified to make that silly and hypocritical statement. Perhaps McConnell meant GOP voter suppression tactics were intended to stop the nonexistent widespread fraud they hyped and lied about in order to mask their true intentions.

:That argument got so little traction, he tried another argument June 19 in the face of a compromise worked out by Sen. Manchin. He is making it a states rights issue and an attempt to take power away from GOP-dominated state legislatures. McConnell rejects Manchin's voting rights compromise - Axios

What is so puzzling though, is the damage it will do to one group of GOP core supporters for whom mail-in ballots were designed by GOP-dominated state governments in the first place: white seniors. For that group, GOP strategists have shot their party in their own feet. It will be interesting to see the reaction the GOP gets when their own voters realize they got screwed, too...and their party leaders made their access to the ballot an unsurmountable hassle. Democrats in those states should make the new barriers to convenient voting the GOP erected a campaign issue that hurts all voters. https://www.axios.com/mitch-mcconnell-state-voter-suppression-19a21da7-0015-4fad-9105-0699e5600f70.html .


 Bogus voter fraud claims hurt us all, but some more than others. Our ability to vote conveniently in Colorado was under attack for some flawed reasoning.  In Colorado, a GOP Monument legislator introduced Senate Bill 7 that would have fundamentally upended Colorado's mail-in voting system by requiring all to request a mail-in ballot in advance.  Currently registered voters are automatically sent a ballot. It was sponsored by the legislator in the name of fraud prevention,  a problem which  Colorado did not have in 2020.  Fortunately for Colorado, the bill died in committee on February 23. Failing that, the same" break what's fixed"/ folks tried to get initiative 38 on the ballot that would have destroyed Colorado's popular mail-in ballot system as SB7 and/or requiring fingerprinting ID for any mail-in vote. This initiative will not be on the ballot in November because the state ballot title commission ruled it dealt with more than one subject and rejected it per provisions of state law limiting initiatives to a single subject.   

The Colorado mail-in voting system in effect since 2013 is considered by many to be the national gold standard of a system,with little fraud and greater voter participation.    Over 99% of votes cast in Colorado in November 2020 were by mail and Colorado had the second-highest percentage of voter participation in the US.  Colorado's model law has layers of administrative safeguards against fraud, as well. There has been no evidence of fraud increasing in Colorado since mail-in voting was instituted in 2013 per a study conducted by a professional statistical organization. .https://www.Westword.com/news/colorado-mail-ballots-voter-fraud-American-statisticians-study-11835239  

 While the bill to upend our mail-in system failed, legislators in GOP-dominated statehouses across the country are fixing what "ain't broke" while helping themselves politically by passing legislation to keep down the numbers who were likely to vote for their opponents.

Nationwide, there is no evidence of fraud that was significant enough to overturn the  2020  outcome, either. From Trump's attorney general Bill Barr and in over 50 courtrooms, that was the conclusion.  Instead,  Trump loyalists still controlling the GOP have attempted to explain this inconvenient truth away by a series of "what ifs" and "what about" and a few anecdotes. 

 If nationwide, the system "ain't" broke,  the GOP attempts would break it by adding unnecessary inconvenient hoops for voters to jump through. Here are some of the techniques similar to those included in the legislation already passed in Georgia and now in Florida in April. Shortening in-person voting hours, closing in-person polls after 5 pm so 9 to 5 or four tens employees cannot make it to the polls on time, permitting bias clerks to remove drop boxes for mail-in ballot returns, and to limit polling places for those voting in person in certain targeted neighborhoods, to cause them to stand in line for hours without drink or food,  making mail-in ballots go away, ending no-fault absentee voting, and to require an excuse to vote by mail, and to require the extra step of applying for an absentee ballot first,  or requiring government-issued photo identification even for mail-in ballots. Such tricks are geared to reduce the number of those groups able to vote who have limited transportation, who have no driver's licenses,  and who are more often brown or black than white.  Extending early vote days is no offset against such practices. The new Georgia law is backed by the GOP with a  claim African American voters would not be harmed." Just read the law's text", Sen Tim Scott opined in his GOP rebuttal to President Biden's state of the union address in April. The victims of these new laws, who did read it, found so many of these tricks noted above included or allowed in it, there are too many to list here. Just because some tricks are not listed in the law, they are by inference and omission allowed. Instead, go to.  https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/pol     Florida just passed its own similar version. Texas is on its way. The chances of federal legislation to prevent these kinds of suppressive efforts are slim, given the narrow Democratic margin in the Senate. The one factor that could change the Senate is the revolt of their funders, big business.  It must have come as a shock when businesses expressed opposition to such legislation. Why would they since they have always benefitted from the GOP position on low taxes and lax regulation? What is more important to their bottom line? Roger Altman believes it is the demographics of their employees and consumers. That one factor has changed as millennials increased in both groups who are more progressive than their elders. https://www.ft.com/content/f15d39d8-7261-4d59-bea5-b318e56775a1

Losers have a tendency to blame anything but themselves for coming up short.  However, Trump loyalists and conspiracy theorist partisans in Arizona are still trying to audit ballots based on theories of "what about" or "what if", months after independent and official audits and lost court challenges. This is taking this  "sore loser " attitude to a dangerous level.  Such fraud claims without evidence to support them have been pretexts for legislation that already resulted in making it harder for all older and younger Americans to vote, whether white, black, or brown.   We already are aware that the "stop the steal" slogan is what motivated the rioters on January 6 who meant to terrorize the legislators to vote against the certification of Biden as president.  Some rioters even wanted to kill the leadership of both parties as the conviction of neo-Nazi Brendon Hunt revealed in testimony early this May. The January 6 attack failed to stop the certification, but with so many cheering the violent participants on, including Trump and a handful of GOP senators, that may not be the last time trying to overturn an election by violence happens. That January 6 riot was no soccer fan hooliganism that ends a sporting event.  It is a taste of how democracy as the way we are governed can end.  

May 5, 2021 update. Facebook continues its ban on Trump but will re-examine in 6 months. The reason: the threat of violence is still real. I see what this means. This is an implication that Trump's posts incite violence and that "stop the steal" is still the slogan Trump continues to exhort. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/05/05/facebook-trump-ban-permanent-oversight-board-ruling/4377852001/

Trump has no one to blame but himself as he continues to foment his "stop the steal" rhetoric which fueled Jan. 6. He has not stopped and neither have his violent followers or the fellow travelers who call them patriots.

Thomas Friedman May 4 posted an opinion piece in the New York Times that GOP actions suppression voters are trying to be a minority party to rule over the majority.. In time, fears Friedman, the only end is a civil war.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/04/opinion/gop-trump-2020-election.html

Friedman is no raving lefty...but one of the most thoughtful and supportive of the kind of democracy we have now. Coming from him, this column is just darned scary. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/5/5/2029049/..

 _More commentary below. Also see the posting about Liz Cheney and the Emporer has no clothes_________________________________________________________ 

In order to find fraud in voting in 2020 five months later the GOP and Trump loyalists are still searching either to vindicate Trump's claim the election was stolen or to try to oust Biden and replace him with Trump.  In Arizona, the effort has taken some wacky turns.  Biden won the state by 10,000 votes and finding enough fraud overturns the outcome looks like a fool's errand given the number of audits taken with the Arizona vote subsequently certified after intensive audit scrutiny.  That partisan conspiracy theorists are running that show and impartial observers have been denied entry, the findings will not be taken seriously. There are no provisions in the Constitution for replacing an already Congressional certified and sworn-in president for that reason anyway. 

Such voting laws making it harder and more inconvenient for certain demographic groups to exercise their Constitutionally given rights have already been signed into law in Georgia and in Florida in April   Concerted attempts by the GOP to do the same are being made in all fifty statehouses whether dominated by the GOP or not.

The attempt to find fraud in 2020  elections happened in Colorado.  A Grand Junction County clerk tried to claim fraud, but could not provide evidence.     Claims made like the Grand County clerk's that Dominion voting systems would permit multiple votes have lately resulted in huge defamation suits by the Denver-based company against perpetrators of the unproved theory,  including against Rudy Guiliani. For states that truly care about making it easy for all to vote with confidence that elections are secure, they should give serious consideration to  Colorado's legislation model.. There has been no evidence of fraud increasing since mail-in voting was instituted in 2013 per a study conducted by a professional statistical organization. .https://www.westword.com/news/colorado-mail-ballots-voter-fraud-american-statisticians-study-11835239   

Stopping fraud is not the real game; it is a cover for another agenda.  However, keeping the lie of widespread voter fraud alive is part of the strategy to garner public support for restrictive voter legislation.    Coded words delivered with a wink to those in on the joke are no longer necessary because some in the GOP actually spilled the beans to the rest of us..  ‘Everybody Shouldn’t Be Voting,’ Republican Blurts Out (nymag.com)  An Arizona state legislator, Representative John Kavanagh, a Republican  who chairs Arizona’s Government and Elections Committee was not the first to publicly claim only "quality" voters should vote and. the goal was not quantity. What the rest of us need are quality legislators who can comprehend and honor the Constitution and legislate fairly and intelligently.  I am trying to find the word "quality" in the Constitution as a condition for approved voters. It just is not there. Literacy tests were declared unconstitutional years ago and intelligence tests and current affairs knowledge, we can assume, would be off-limits, too. What those like Kavanaugh really mean is no secret now, thanks to his slip of a loose tongue. Black and browns are just assumed to be "low quality", it appears.  That may be what the GOP thinks or wishes, but the emperor now has no clothes  Until then, the GOP had been cloaked in the piety of preventing fraud, real, imagined, fantasy, or feared. Their real goal is now bared naked for the world to see. Their agenda is to make it inconvenient for  particularly those of low wealth and limited access to transportation who are more likely to be black or brown and not likely to vote for Republicans.

The left calls the Trump loyalist claim that Biden was elected because of widespread voter fraud "the big lie".  Their justification of concluding this  is  there was no evidence of any significant numbers to make a difference in the outcome in the presidential race. they pointo to the fact that the GOP had 60 chances before judges of all ideological ilk to present their evidence of enough widespread fraud to change the local or state outcome, and they failed. Trump loyalists still controlling the GOP have attempted to explain this inconvenient truth away by a series of "what ifs" and "what abouts" and a few  anecdotes   Those who  made such arguments in court in November and December and provided no evidence were tossed out of court by judges.  In response, even to this day Trump loyalists are attempting to prove Qanon type theories are true. In Arizona, the fantasy continues with a partisan-backed attempt to recount ballots cast five months ago to show fraud, that Trump really won that state, and should be sworn in as president unhorsing Biden somehow. There are no provisions in the Constitution for that kind of action after Congress certifies the vote, as they did in the evening of January 6.  Those in Arizona recounting the ballots hired a conspiracy theorist-headed company to try to prove theories advanced by QAnon that indeed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.  No non-partisan independent observers were not permitted in this process well after the count was underway when the State finally sent in such qualified observers. The fear was that in their ballot handling, these partisan counters could be altering the original ballots. The exercise could not result in overturning the election of already sworn in Joe Biden since there is no provision in the Constitution for that. 

  Here are some of the techniques included in the legislation already passed in Georgia and now in Florida. Shortening in person voting hours, closing in-person polls after 5 pm so 9 to 5 or four tens employees cannot make it to the polls on time, removing drop boxes for mail in ballot returns and polling places for those voting in person, in certain targeted neighborhoods, causing them to stand in line for hours without drink or food,  making mail-in ballots go away, ending no-fault absentee voting, or requiring an excuse and the extra step of applying for an absentee ballot, or requiring government issues photo identification even for mail-in ballots. Such dirty tricks are to reduce the number of those with limited transportation, who have no driver's licenses,  and have low income who are more often brown or black than White.  The new Georgia law is backed by the GOP with a bogus claim African American voters would not be harmed."Just read the law's text, they claim. That is not the view of the victims of these new laws, but so many of these tricks noted  above are included in it, they are too many to list here. Instead, go to.  https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/546099-georgia-election-law-prevents-african-american-latinx-others. This is Jim Crow 2021 by another name.

In Arizona, the fantasy continues with a partisan-backed attempt to recount ballots cast five months ago to show fraud, that Trump really won that state, and should be sworn in as president unhorsing Biden somehow. There are no provisions in the Constitution for that kind of action after Congress certifies the vote, as they did in the evening of January 6.  Those in Arizona recounting the ballots hired a conspiracy theorist-headed company to try to prove theories advanced by QAnon that indeed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.  No non-partisan independent observers were not permitted in this process well after the count was underway when the State finally sent in such qualified observers. The fear was that in their ballot handling, these partisan counters could be altering the original ballots. The exercise could not result in overturning the election of already sworn in Joe Biden since there is no provision in the Constitution for that. 

The danger of such suppression and false claims now is not only questioning democracy as the best system of reflecting governance by the people's will, instead of by some self-serving autocrat, but what it would portend for the future. The danger is that partisans will use this same excuse in the future to question any election outcome. This same lie the election was stolen was used to incite the January 6 rioters who tried to scare Congress into overturning the 2020 fifty state-certified election results that endured extensive court scrutiny and were motivated by their allegiance to their leader, Donald Trump with their blind belief that the vote was stolen by fraud because he told them so, ignoring lack of evidence and/or such lack of evidence being excused by  "what if" unproved theories. The peaceful transition of power as provided in the Constitution was at stake, opening up further violent acts of sedition conducted by any disgruntled group who wants to overturn an election and established some dear leader as their ruler, instead of adhering to the system that has served us for so well for 250 years. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/experts-call-for-federal-monitors-of-arizona-election-audit-citing-violations-of-voting-laws/ar-BB1gfMMh?ocid=msedgdhp  

https://fortune.com/2021/04/14/ceos-republican-voting-laws-voter-suppression-apple-amazon-blackrock-facebook-warren-buffett/

.https://www.westword.com/news/colorado-mail-ballots-voter-fraud-american-statisticians-study-11835239 


https://www.ft.com/content/f15d39d8-7261-4d59-bea5-b318e56775a1  Roger Altman explains why big business opposes voter suppression laws....demographics of employees and customers

https://coloradosun.com/2021/02/22/republicans-propose-changes-colorado-mail-voting/


https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/28/politics/brendan-hunt-guilty-threatening-assault-murder-members-congress/index.html


  https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-colorado-grand-junction-elections-pat-toomey-37210b8c548325a7976be4bff2f87d00

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/25/us/politics/rudy-giuliani-dominion-tru

https://www.businessinsider.com/everyone-dominion-smartmatic-suing-defamation-election-conspiracy-theories-2021-2

_____________________________________________________________

 But that is really not these GOP goals. We know that now because they could enact such workable laws if they wanted to. There are successful models to follow if they cared to encourage all to vote and still guard against fraud.. Since 2013 I have been voting by mail in Colorado and I am a big city  (Denver) former election official.  I marvel at the checks and double-checks built into the system to prevent fraud. It can be done. It was devised by a GOP-dominated legislature and shaped by a GOP Secretary of State and the implementation continued by a Democrat Secretary of State with an agenda to make it easy to vote and to prevent fraud. You have to get into the weeds of rule making and administrative procedure conforming to the legislation to grasp it, but given the history of a lack of voter fraud since the Colorado law was enacted years ago, it has worked to protect against fraud.

Better informed voters are not really  GOP goals either. We know that now. If that kind of quality is your concern, do it by mail. I have found that I am also able to take time, study the issues and candidates, at home. The Blue Book and whatever information  I need to understand the issues and candidate is sitting on the kitchen table as I go through the ballot since I got the ballot in the mail sent to registered voters.  I do not need to get a doctor's permission slip or take the extra step to fill and send a mail request to get an absentee ballot. I have no excuses. There it is staring at me on the table so I can get it right without having to wing it in a voting booth.. I am making more informed decisions than ever have.  If the quality of decision-making is defined as an informed voter is the goal, doing it by mail makes it more possible. But that is not what those legislators mean by "quality", is it?  We know that now, don't we.

These suppression attempts are springing up in over 40 states. This points to a need for passage of federal legislation like HR-1 and SB-1to stop these voter suppression tactics. They cropped up because Supreme Court decisions gutted many enforcement provisions of prior voting rights laws and GOP leaders felt free to revert to past laws.  Many formerly slave states with GOP-dominated legislatures and statehouses were alarmed that nonwhite voters made the difference in their Senate and House races and cost them elections. Other states whose politics were dominated by Trump-aligned state government officials have followed Trump's party line or used their sponsorship of such voter suppression tactics to establish their Trump follower bonefides.

 Colorado Vs. Georgia Voting Laws: What Are The Differences? | Colorado Public Radio (cpr.org)  The MLB will play their All-Star game at Coors Field in Denver as a protest to Georgia's proposed voter suppression laws.  Colorado is considered the gold standard on voter participation laws and there is a very significant difference, per the CPR article. Fraud fears in Colorado?None: Colorado does require voter ID to vote in person but it does not require voter ID to vote by mail, unlike Georgia. Voter ID in Colorado permits 16 kinds of ID, but in Georgia, only 6 kinds.  Georgia's new law does enlarge early voting in person a few days more than Colorado, but  99.3 of Colorado voters vote by mail with out the two step hassle of request ballot, provide ID mail in voting as in Georgia. Per the CPR report" Kemp and others also have said that Colorado requires photo identification to vote, which is false."  .https://www.5280.com/2020/05/no-fraud-isnt-rampant-in-colorados-mail-in-voting-system/ Colorado has mail-in voting and it has very effective ways to deal with fraud.  

Per the NYT aritcle "Representative John Kavanagh, a Republican legislator w

ho chairs Arizona’s Government and Elections Committee and is shepherding through a bill to make voting more cumbersome and therefore rare, described his party’s motives with blundering candor."“There’s a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans,” he told CNN. “Democrats value as many people as possible voting, and they’re willing to risk fraud. Republicans are more concerned about fraud, so we don’t mind putting security measures in that won’t let everybody vote — but everybody shouldn’t be voting … Not everybody wants to vote, and if somebody is uninterested in voting, that probably means that they’re totally uninformed on the issues. Quantity is important, but we have to look at the quality of votes, as well.”


         

Saturday, April 3, 2021

Much ado about nothing: GOP's agenda

While Joe Biden proposes and gets passed a parcel of Congressional legislation with public opinion approval of 60 to 70%, the last thing the GOP wants you to focus on is exactly that.  Instead, their supportive media want you to be wrapped up with Dr. Suess, a misbehaving Biden dog, and the national debt. That is the much ado about nothing to take your mind off of much ado about much.  Some political wags have had the temerity to suggest that if the GOP wants to take on the Biden agenda head-on, they should come up with their own plan.  That's a laugh since the GOP caucus in Congress has another agenda that has nothing to do with solving their constituents' problems with constructive and effective plans.  Instead, their game is to make Biden look like a failure and just say no to whatever he proposes, regardless of its merit or popularity.  Their only rationale to say no is that Biden is being way too generous toward their constituents because it piles on too much debt and it contains public policies that are not conservative. It might even cause inflation, though that is a matter of which economist you ask.  That's a laugh, too, because the price tag of the COVID relief bill was exactly the same as Trump's tax cut to the rich, 1.9 trillion. It appears the GOP has no problem with the debt if it benefits the wealthy, but they object to the same amount if it benefits the poor, middle class, and small business. as the COVID relief legislation does.  The infrastructure proposal is another chunk of change, but an argument that can be made is that jobs will be created and the return on investment is long term, but necessary before roads and bridges collapse. and the weather disasters brought on by climate change hasten expensive mitigation measures. As the old saying goes: a stitch in time saves nine. The proposed infrastructure costs would be paid by increasing taxes on the wealthy and raising corporate taxes a bit ( from 21 to 28%, but not to prior high levels of 35%), also a popular approach.  Nonetheless, the GOP policy is just to say no for the same old reason. Stop the Democrats so we can get in power again to do nothing except approve judges.

  In one of my favorite movies, Amadeus, the emperor criticizes young genius Mozart's compositions for having too many notes.  To meet the critics' comment, there was no follow up in the movie script,, and the obvious conclusion was "what silliness!". It was Mozart's choice of notes that made him an icon of musical genius for centuries.   My take on that was, if so, which notes would the emperor have Mozart take out? Likewise what part of Biden's COVID relief law and infrastructure bill would the GOP want to cut out or reduce?    They will never advocate anything specific because they will tick off some important constituent group or other and business interests who would lose something from which they would benefit.  

The GOP has one goal, to take back the House and Senate in the 2022 midterms, but they are using a risky strategy with their obstructionism.  First, wiley Senate veteran Biden has a tiny majority,  the Presidential decision power of whether to use or not use the veto pen, and priceless knowledge of how to get around a filibuster. Given the one-vote margin Democrats have in the Senate means so far it is not enough to reach the  60 votes needed to pass  Ending the filibuster is not a wise move because what goes around comes around if the Senate flips in 2022.  However there are other tricks up Biden's sleeve that would reduce the enthusiasm for a filibuster such as returning to the prior rule of requiring the person invoking the filibuster and the senators to listen until all drop from exhaustion, Senate rules can be changed with a simple majority vote or a parliamentarian rule interpretation such as increasing the number of times the complicated reconciliation process could be used when the proposed legislation has a budget impact.  

The GOP is also taking a risk with their just say no approach. Not only are they trying to make Biden fail, but they are also failing to meet the day-to-day needs and wants of 60 to 70 percent of their own constituents. That makes for a tough-to-sell platform which will be mostly," vote for me because I am like Trump". I can see the 2022 campaign ads run against GOP incumbents by Democratic challengers. One-third of the Senate and all of the House are on the ballot in 2022.  A Democratic candidates' ad might look like this:" Hey, you like the help you got, the relief checks, the access to COVID shots, and the new bridge?. Well, your GOP incumbent voted against it, and had the GOP  been in the majority,  you would have been out of luck." 

Poll: 72 percent approve of Covid relief law - POLITICO

Voters Want to Pay for Infrastructure With Taxes on Wealthy: Poll (businessinsider.com)

CBO Confirms GOP Tax Law Contributes to Darkening Fiscal Future | House Budget Committee Democrats

COVID-19 stimulus: How much do the coronavirus relief bills cost? (usatoday.com)

The difference between the Trump tax cuts and the Biden relief bill, in one chart - The Washington Post

Biden breaks with Obama, as well as Trump, on everything from Afghanistan to spending (yahoo.com)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/data-show-majority-of-trump-s-2020-support-came-from-women-and-people-of-color/ar-BB1gCakd?ocid=msedgdhp