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It's the voter supression [1]
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Date: 2025-02-28
Huge crowds. Unprecedented donor levels. Off the charts enthusiasm.
And then...she lost. We lost.
Why?
In this utterly depressing and infuriating video, journalist Greg Palast has the answer.
Voter suppression.
Since the Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act, Republicans have moved to enact repressive laws that make it difficult for certain categories of voters to register, vote, and have their votes count. In terms of voter suppression, we are back to the situation of approximately 1946.
Those categories are, of course, the kinds of people who tend to vote for Democrats.
Republicans in Congress are pushing the SAVE Act (which has fortunately stalled in the Senate at present), which would make it extremely difficult for millions of Americans to reregister to vote—and every year people need to reregister due to moves, name changes, etc.
So, what can we do about it? Palast is short on actual answers.
We can, of course, encourage our Congressional representatives to reject the SAVE Act.
But according to the leading lawyer in the field Marc Elias, we can’t out-organize voter suppression measures, and it might even be dangerous to try.
The way to defeat voter suppression is by defeating it head on, not by celebrating working around it. The first step to fighting it is to call voter suppression what it is: the deprivation of constitutional rights, often based on race, ethnicity or age. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have spoken forcefully and in blunt terms about it. We need to all follow their example. Second, we need to label those who support voter suppression as vote suppressors. We need to accept that a vote suppressor who opposes an unconstitutional insurrection is still a vote suppressor. It is not heroic to reject an invitation to commit treason. It is villainous to make laws that prevent your fellow citizens from voting. Finally, we must call out and challenge voter suppression everywhere it is found — in red states and blue states, in safe states and in swing states. All tactics must be on the table. This means legislating where we can, civic action and protests where we must, and litigation where there is no other alternative. If we organize ourselves to fight voter suppression, we won’t have to try to organize voters to overcome it.
The (somewhat) good news is that the SAVE Act, which would disenfranchise millions of women voters, might be the overreach that wakes more people up.
I do think the answer for this moment is to call things what they are, openly and often. Evil dies in the light. Bullies shrink when confronted and exposed. I want to end with some inspiration because we deserve it, we need it, and this is a real reason to hope.
Not to be optimistic. Optimism should be based on evidence, and the evidence in this situation is more of a glass less than half full range right now. But to me, hope is a spiritual practice of visualizing positive outcomes and then working toward what is possible. Not necessarily probable. But possible. And when we speak up, it empowers others.
So this is your moment of inspiration, from an NPR interview of AOC. She is tirelessly bringing the fight to the Republicans every day, and she is also bringing hope to millions.
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