King Donald
Many Americans realized previously that Donald Trump considered himself above the law, a king ruling the nation but evading major responsibilities for running it. His handling of the Covid 19 virus pandemic reinforced the perception that he considered himself American royalty, above the fray and able to do anything he wanted. With the catastrophe of Covid decimating Americans, Trump refused to formulate any centralized plan to contain the virus, leaving it to the individual states. When asked whether he felt at all responsible for the disaster, he replied no.
However, his negligence was responsible for tens of thousands or more deaths, as protective equipment, testing ability, ventilators, masks, and therapeutic modalities were in short supply for months and months. The lack of a federal plan meant that the states had to compete against one another for equipment, driving up the prices and making necessary products more difficult to obtain. Remarkably, 11 months after the onset of the pandemic, there still is not enough testing available to meet the needs of all citizens. Trump's behavior reminds one of Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution. When told that her subjects were hungry and had no bread she replied, then let them eat cake. Trump's lack of understanding of the medical and economic effects of the pandemic are at the same level of denial and lack of caring.
And with the pandemic the most important issue for Americans, Trump has not attended a meeting of the Covid advisory committee for months. In addition, he held multiple rallies during the campaign that were super-spreader events with numerous supporters of his coming down with the disease after the rallies. Last weekend, there was a remote meeting of the G-20 to address the Covid problem. Trump did not attend, deciding to play golf instead. He also did not have an American representative attend the meeting.
Though Trump played golf frequently throughout his presidency, it appears that is all he is doing since the election, along with making false claims about the election being stolen from him and tweeting like mad. Constructing all sorts of bizarre conspiracy theories of how Biden seems to have won the election, that is all he appears to think about, paying no attention to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who are dying from the pandemic. Until yesterday, he prevented Biden as president-elect from moving ahead with the transition, but at the same time is not playing any of the expected presidential roles himself.
There has been nothing on Trump's schedule since the election for him to handle as president, so it's just golf, watching television and complaining about the election being stolen. In all likelihood, Trump thought of himself of being like a king and could not imagine losing the election. So he will take any action, legal or illegal to remain on his throne. Right now, his chances of success appear remote. King Donald the First.
Buy the Uninformed Voter on Amazon or Barnes and Noble
Posted at 10:30 AM in 2020 presidential election, Biden, cheating, con, Corruption, Covid 19, Cult of personality, Current Affairs, Donald Trump, election rigging, Lame Duck Government, narcissism, Political corruption, Politics, racism, refusal to concede, Republican Party, tax evasion, Voter Suppression | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: 2020 presidential election, Biden, claims of fraud, refusal to concede, Republicans, transition, Trump
Tsunami, Small Wave or Calm Waters
While most of the polls have Biden way ahead of Trump in the race for president, some have it fairly close. In addition, many Democrats refuse to believe the results of the polls, remembering the 2016 debacle with Hillary ahead in the polls for most of the campaign. Many Democrats are still shell-shocked from 2016 and will not accept any predictions of a Biden victory until all the votes are counted.
The way most of the polls have it, Biden should win the election with a Blue Tsunami, though the analysts predict that the race should tighten up before Election Day. But aside from Biden's lead in the polls, more Democrats have already voted than Republicans, more young people than previously and more older people whose support appears to have shifted from Trump to Biden. This is likely because of the president's handling of the Covid 19 virus and his frequent super-spreader events with no concern for those attending.
Democrats are hopeful that Biden will win the election by a substantial amount so that Trump will have less opportunity to contest the outcome. But there are a number of factors that must be entered into the algorithm that are actually unpredictable. How effective will the Republican's attempts at voter suppression be? Will all the mail-in ballots come in early enough to be counted? Will Trump's minions be successful at voter intimidation? How many votes will be thrown out by the monitors because of minor discrepancies between the ballot and the registration? How many voters will have been purged from the voting rolls?
And of course we do not know how Trump will react if he loses big or loses small. He has already refused to say that he will be willing to be part of a peaceful transition, stepping down if he loses. In fact, he has declared that if he loses, the election must be rigged. He may go to the courts and try to get a portion of the mail-in ballots thrown out because they came in too late or came in too early. Or he may come up with other reasons to invalidate ballots that did not favor him.
And will he pressure Attorney General Barr even more to indict Joe Biden on some trumped up charges so that he is not a legitimate candidate. Trump is desperate and there is no predicting to what lengths he will go to remain in office. No matter what happens, Trump does not want to be known as a loser. And if he goes down to defeat, he may wind up in prison because of tax evasion and fraud charges brought by the Manhattan DA or the New York attorney general.
We also have to remember that if Trump loses, he will still occupy the Oval Office for another three months before Biden is inaugurated. What kind of mischief could Trump devise during that period? Could he get some of his white supremacist militias to kidnap Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, allowing Trump to remain in office? There is nothing he won't do to stay as president and the country should be wary of his accepting defeat even if there is a Blue Tsunami. But the larger the Trump deficit, the more difficult it will be for him to challenge the results of the balloting.
The Uninformed Voter- great reviews. Buy on Amazon or Barnes and Noble
Posted at 10:55 AM in Biden, Budget Deficits, cheating, climate change, Conspiracy theorists, Corruption, Court appointments, Covid 19, Cult of personality, Current Affairs, Donald Trump, economy, election meddling, global warming, Health Care, Hypocrisy, Inequality, infrastructure, Iran, justice system, mail-in votes, absentee ballots, narcissism, North Korea, Political corruption, political spending, Politics, populism, racism, Republican Party, Russia, Science, social media, Supreme Court, tax evasion, tax returns, Voter Suppression, white supremacists | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Biden, Covid 19, Democrats, election, in person voting, mail-in ballots, polls, Republicans, Trump, tsunami, voter intimidation, voter suppression
Will Trump Step Down?
First things first. Before considering whether Trump will step down, he has to lose the election. And even if the numbers show that he lost, he may not agree and contest the election. If Trump actually loses the election and steps down, there's a good chance he's going to wind up in jail in New York State. He cannot pardon himself over state charges and cannot step down and have Pence pardon him. So given the fact that Trump will likely go to prison, he has everything to gain by contesting the election if he loses.
Will Trump claim that the election was fraudulent because of the mail in ballots and try to get those thrown out? And how aggressive will Trump be in refusing to step down and contesting the election. Will he call on his militia supporters to come to his aid and start a civil war? Will he use the militias to prevent him from going to trial, being found guilty and going to jail? Armed civilians in the United States are mainly Trump supporters, many of them militantly so. Will they come out and fight to keep him in office?
Because Trump is an irrational narcissist, no one really knows how far he will go to keep from being called a loser. In all likelihood, even he does not know what measures he will take if he loses the election. He will probably just decide with his gut on the spur of the moment and make a bigly decision that could fracture our democracy.
We have to also remember that even if Trump loses, he has almost three more months as president to wreak havoc on the nation before Biden takes over. That also gives him time to mobilize his militant supporters if he wishes and refuse to surrender his position as president. It is unlikely that the military would back him, but there might be battles in the streets of American cities between the military and the Trump militias.
There are three other remote possibilities. One is that he steps down peacefully and relinquishes the presidency and faces the New York justice system. Another is that he flees to Russia prior to the end of his term. A third is that he kills himself, refusing to accept his loss and the possibility of jail. Trump is significantly ill emotionally and his actions are unpredictable. Whether his advisors and his children will be able to convince him to step down like every other president and accept the will of the people is not currently discernable? If Trump loses, he may do something that no one has yet imagined.
The Uninformed Voter- buy on Amazon or Barnes and Noble
Posted at 11:29 AM in anti-government groups, Biden, cheating, Conspiracy theorists, Corruption, Covid 19, Corona virus, Current Affairs, demagogue, domestic terrorism, Donald Trump, economy, election rigging, Health Care, justice system, mail-in votes, absentee ballots, military, misogynist, narcissism, pandemic, peaceful transition, Political corruption, Politics, Republican Party, tax evasion, Voter Suppression | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: contesting election, losing, militias, peaceful transition, refusing to leave, stepping down, Trump
Trump and Social Norms
His base calls it "speaking his mind," or "telling it like it is." People with even one iota of intelligence call it breaking down social norms and using the bully pulpit as a platform to assert his power. In the guise of speaking his mind, Trump trumpets all kinds of lies as facts, chastising those who disagree with him as liars or spreaders of false information. This includes the "mainstream free press" that Trump labels as the enemy of the people.
America knew what it would get with Trump during the 2016 campaign when he spouted stories about his greatness and financial success. It was during that time that he promised the public that he would soon release his taxes which we still have not seen almost five years later. Every presidential candidate for the last half century has released his or her taxes to the public except for Trump.
Some of his sexual transgressions became public in 2016 through his comments on the Access Hollywood tapes. Trump said because he was a celebrity, he could go up to any women he desired and grab her by the pussy and there would be no repercussions. He also mocked a disabled reporter and a Muslim gold star family that had lost a son fighting for the U.S. in Iraq. John McCain was mocked because he had been a prisoner-of-war, with Trump saying that he did not like Americans who were captured by the enemy. These words came from a man who weaseled his way out of service during the Vietnam War, with claims that heel bone spurs prevented him from being in the military.
Trump also declared that if he were elected president, he would throw Hillary Clinton in jail for destroying her emails and for using a non-secure server. He asked Russia to help him by finding Clinton's emails while his supporters chanted "Lock her Up," at every Trump rally.
Over the next few years, Americans also learned that he had paid off two women with whom he had had affairs so they would not release their stories to the public. Trump refused as well to condemn a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a woman had been killed, saying there were fine people on both sides. He tried as well to blackmail the Ukrainian president to give him information (true or not) on Joe Biden's son Hunter and the latter's involvement in a Ukrainian energy firm. While the Ukraine was fighting a war against Russia, Trump withheld badly needed weapons from the Ukrainians until they complied with his wishes. These actions got him impeached but his protectors in the Republican controlled Senate bailed him out.
Through the tapes made by Bob Woodward of his conversations with Trump, we learned that the president knew back in January or February how deadly the Corona virus was, that it was airborne and easily transmissible. But Trump refused to give this information to the public, claiming it would have sparked panic, even though it would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. We also discovered that Trump had called the men and women in our military who had fought and died for our nation, "suckers and losers."
More recently, when MSNBC reporter Ali Velshi was shot in the knee by a rubber bullet while covering a demonstration, Trump said to a crowd at one of his rallies, "wasn't that beautiful" as the crowd cheered. And Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power when questioned by a reporter at a press conference, claiming that if he lost, the election had to be rigged. This was the first time in American history that a president would not commit to being a graceful loser and peacefully transfer power to the winner.
These are just a few of the many Trump disregards of established norms for our democracy. Will he step down if he loses and insure a peaceful transfer? We'll have to wait and see. But this election and its aftermath will be a climactic moment for American democracy.
The Uninformed Voter available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Called "thought provoking and well sourced work of political analysis," by Booklife
Posted at 11:04 AM in 2016 election, 2018 elections, American soldiers, Biden, Corruption, Court appointments, Covid 19, Corona virus, Cult of personality, Current Affairs, Donald Trump, draft avoidance, election rigging, fake news, Hillary Clinton, Hypocrisy, lying, cheating, privileged parents, mail-in votes, absentee ballots, North Korea, Political corruption, Politics, porn star, racism, Republican Party, Russia, sexual predator, social norms, Supreme Court, tax returns, Ukraine, Voter Suppression | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: disregard social norms, Hollywood Access tapes, liar, refusal to release taxes. committing to peaceful transfer, sexual predator, social norms, Woodward tapes
The Corona virus has provided the Republicans with new ways to suppress minority voting, which they automatically assume will be Democratic. GOP leaders have openly said that if everyone in the United States got to vote, it would be the end of the Republican Party, as the Democrats would win every major election. In two of the last three presidential elections won by Republicans in 2000 and 2016, the Democrats won the popular vote though the GOP won the Electoral College. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 by nearly three million votes. Is it any wonder Republicans do not want to abolish the Electoral College and elect presidents by the popular vote. It is only going to get worse for the GOP in the future, which is why Republicans are doing everything possible to skew the vote in their favor (except of course appealing to minorities.).
Gerrymandering has been the favorite way for Republicans to make white votes count for more than those of minorities, helping them control state legislatures and acquire extra seats in Congress. But numerous other tricks has been used to suppress the votes of minorities. Voter ID laws have allowed Republican state officials to disqualify minority voters and students if the IDs and state records do not match exactly. Even a comma out of place can cause a person to forfeit his or her vote if he or she is the wrong color. Republican Secretaries of State in many states have purged voters from the voting rolls if they did not vote for two elections. In some states, hundreds of thousands of voters have been removed from the rolls, overwhelmingly minorities. Kemp won the Georgia election for governor over Stacy Abrams because of these dirty tricks, as he was the Secretary of State while running for Governor against Abrams. Was that fair? Of course not.
The latest move by Trump and the GOP is cutting back on mail delivery so absentee ballots won't arrive on time. They removed mail boxes, mail sorting machines and cut back on work hours for people in the postal service to try and destroy voting by mail. The Republicans believe that more mail-in ballots are posted by Democrats than their own adherents. And if the mail service becomes chaotic with poor delivery of medications and Social Security checks because of Republican cut backs, so be it.
Trump claims that if voting by mail is allowed, the election will be rigged against him. No proof, but that doesn't matter for the president. Postmaster DeJoy, a Trump donor and groupie, was appointed by Trump to make the postal service less efficient to make sure that mail-in ballots are all screwed up. So far, he's doing his job well.
One question that Republicans are asking is will rural residents who depend on the mail system accept its demise to help Trump get re-elected. Thus far, the answer is unclear. I wouldn't bet on it. The mail service has been a part of American life for far too long to allow its destruction to back Trump's re-election bid. Be wary of what you ask for.
www.robertlevine books.com
The Uninformed Voter- available on Amazon.
Posted at 10:15 AM in 2016 election, 2018 elections, cheating, Corruption, Covid 19, Corona virus, Current Affairs, Donald Trump, election rigging, fake news, gerrymandering, Lobbyists, mail-in votes, absentee ballots, narcissism, Political corruption, Politics, populism, Republican Party, sexual predator, social media, tax returns, The Wall, Trump administration, Voter ID laws, Voter restrictions, Voter Suppression | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: absentee balloting, gerrymandering, mail-in ballots, Republicans, Trump, voter ID laws, voter suppression
Voter Fraud, Voter Suppression
Both the Republican and Democratic candidates for president in this election are concerned about the possibility of voter fraud. However, the origin of this supposed fraud differs markedly between the candidates. Trump and his Republican buddies are raving and ranting about voter fraud coming from ineligible voters in America who vote to support Joe Biden and the Democratic ticket. These supposed fraudsters consist of illegal aliens who have no voting rights and convicted felons who have not been certified to vote again. The latter in some states have to pay criminal penalties and court costs before being allowed to cast a ballot.
Trump and the GOP are worried that these felons will choose to vote by mail and will not pay their debt to society before voting again. For poor people who may be unemployed, this is like paying a poll tax before they can vote. In a state referendum in Florida, felons were given the right to vote, but the Republican legislature took it away from most of them by passing payment legislation before allowing felons to vote. Trump and the Republicans are focusing on absentee or mail-in voting as the source of fraud. This is so even though Trump and his family have been voting by mail for years along with millions of other citizens. There has never been any hard evidence that fraud is a problem in mail in voting.
However, we must remember that the Republicans have been the force behind voter suppression for years and mail-in voting is another opportunity for them to foment discord. Trump and other Republicans have said that if every American were allowed to vote, the Republicans would never win another election. They know that changing demographics certainly makes it more difficult for Republicans to legitimately win elections, so they do what they can to change the rules to make it more difficult for Democratic voters to cast ballots. Thus we see voter ID laws in some GOP controlled states and other mechanisms to suppress Democratic turnout and voting, along with gerrymandering.
And with the increased numbers of mail-in and absentee ballots because of the Corona virus, the Republicans see this as a way to claim fraud and to sew doubts in the minds of their supporters. We hear this repeated over and over and expect it to continue to be repeated until the time of the election so Trump can claim the voting was rigged.
On the other hand, Biden and his backers are concerned about fraud in the election coming from different sources. They are worried about foreign interlopers playing a role in the election, hacking into the voting software of some states, spreading false information and misinformation on social media sites and doing whatever they can to have Americans distrust the election results. In addition to Russian interference, there is concern about China, North Korea and Iranian involvement. These nations want Americans to lose even more faith in American institutions and show the world that democracy does not work.
Thus there are worries about fraudulent elections in both the Republican and Democratic camps. However, there has been no evidence to date about fraud occurring due to absentee or mail-in balloting. And we know that the Russians already played an important role in getting Trump elected in 2016. With Trump currently at the helm of American democracy, one wonders just how aggressive he will be to make certain that other nations do not interfere in America's elections. So far, everything he does appears to be for his own benefit and his handling of the Corona virus and race relations have been disastrous. Why should anyone expect him to uphold the integrity of the American electoral system when it is likely that it will land him out of the White House and onto the street? And will Congress supply enough money to provide protection on state levels against foreign hacking? So far, Republicans don't seem inclined.
The Uninformed Voter available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble
Posted at 11:24 AM in 2016 election, Biden, Congress, Conspiracy theorists, Corruption, Covid 19, Current Affairs, Donald Trump, economy, election rigging, felon voting, Russian interference, gerrymandering, hacking, Immigration, James Comey, narcissism, Nationalism, Obama, pandemic, partisanship, Political corruption, political spending, Politics, Poll Tax, populism, Putin, Republican Party, Russia, sexual predator, social media, tax returns, trade war, Trump administration, Voter ID laws, Voter Suppression | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: Foreign interference, presidential election, rigged voting, Russian involvement, voter ID laws, voter suppression
Pseudo-Democracy
When is a democracy not a democracy? When it's a pseudo-democracy.
The Founding Fathers did not envision the United States as a democracy, but as a Republic, with the right to vote restricted to men of property or tax payers. Did the Framers not consider that property-holders might vote in ways to help them preserve or increase their wealth, rather than in the best interests of the nation? Actually, it was probably a matter of social class that determined who would have the franchise. Those writing the laws perceived members of their own stratum as most suitable to assess candidates for office. They were afraid demagogues might convince the mass of people to vote for them by stoking their fears and making outlandish promises. There was also concern that votes of poor people might be bought by politicians or that those less affluent might vote in ways injurious to property-holders.
James Madison noted in Federalist Number 10- "The most common and durable source of factions has been the various and unequal distribution of property." In favoring a republic over a democracy for the United States, Madison further said that "It may well happen that the public voice, pronounced by the representatives of the people, will be more consonant to the public good than if pronounced by the people themselves." His words reflect the distaste Madison and the other Founders had for mass democracy.
Over time, the state that the Founders had established was converted into a partial democracy. All white men were given the franchise, then black men with the XV amendment in 1870, and eventually women with the XIX Amendment in 1920. However, blacks in South were restricted from voting with various political maneuvers until the Civil Rights laws in the 1965 provided federal Department of Justice oversight for state voting that was deemed discriminatory. However, the Supreme Court in 2013 ended federal oversight of voting, deciding that there was no longer any obstruction of voting based on race.
The claim that every American was now able to vote as he or she desired with every election was a fantasy propelled by those on the right who wanted to end federal oversight. As Trump and other Republicans have noted, if every American who wants to vote is able to do so, the Republicans can expect to lose every future election. Thus, the only way that Republicans can win national elections is through voter suppression or manipulation of the vote as occurs with gerrymandering.
Active voter suppression occurs regularly in many GOP controlled states. Voter rolls are purged of people who have not voted for one or two elections, or whose address has changed and they did not re-register. In states like Georgia or Florida, hundreds of thousands of voters could not vote in the last election. Voter ID laws have also been passed where people have to have legal IDs like drivers' licenses with information that is exactly the same as their registration forms, or they can be disqualified. Places to vote have also been cut significantly in some states, forcing people to have to wait in long lines if they vote in person. And the polling stations are often set up in white neighborhoods, distant from where minorities live. Voting hours and days when people can vote have also been reduced making it more difficult for minorities to vote. And voting by mail, which would make things easier for all voters has been opposed by many Republicans who feel that fraud would increase, though there has never been any proof of this.
The Electoral College is further evidence that the United States is not democratic, the president able to lose the popular vote and still get elected. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 and still wound up in the White House. Electing Senators is another instance of an undemocratic system where a vote in Wyoming is worth 40 or more than a vote in California. Populous states need to be represented by more than two senators if the system is to be more democratic.
Demographic change in the United States is inevitable with the birth rate higher among minorities than among white households, even though immigration is being restricted. Instead of Republicans trying to change their ideology to appeal to these current minority voters, they have been working to prevent these citizens from voting which has to hurt the GOP in the long run by alienating minorities. America will be a pseudo-democracy until every persons' right to vote is protected and everyone's vote has equal power.
Posted at 09:17 AM in 2016 election, 2018 elections, Citizens United, Congress, Court appointments, Current Affairs, Democratic principles, Donald Trump, gerrymandering, Plutocracy, Political corruption, Politics, Republican Party, Voter ID laws, Voter restrictions, Voter Suppression | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: democracy, gerrymandering, pseudo-democracy, unequal voting, voter suppression
Voting in the Era of the Corona Virus
Since Reconstruction ended a century and a half ago, the white power structure, particularly in the South but in other states as well, have used various mechanisms to try and suppress black and minority voting. Initially, those in power were conservative white Democrats, but over the last half century they have been supplanted by conservative white Republicans. Starting with poll taxes and threats to black voters by the KKK, it has morphed into gerrymandering, voter ID laws, purging of voter rolls of minority citizens and making voting more difficult for blacks. This was achieved by decreasing the number of polling places in black neighborhoods and cutting the number of hours polling places were open. And any slight deviation from the registration forms and the voter's ID would immediately disqualify that voter.
In this era of the Corona virus, where people are afraid of contact with strangers, one would have thought that attempts to make the voting process easier and faster, and remotely when possible, would have been pushed by politicians. Instead, President Trump and the Republicans have been trying to make voting as difficult as they can. Trump has said on numerous occasions that voting by mail would increase fraud without providing any proof of this and the Republicans have followed his lead. With many people housebound or reluctant to come out and wait on line, especially older voters, voting remotely by mail would seem to make perfect sense. And there is no reason to think that mail voting would encourage fraud. But Trump and the Republicans do not want to make voting easier for blacks and minorities, for then they would be more likely to vote. Actually, voting by mail with a paper ballot as a record of everyone's vote would appear to make it less likely that fraud would occur.
But it is not just Republican politicians who are suppressing votes. Citizen's apathy is also playing a role. (From new book- The Uninformed Voter.)- Many Americans are uninterested in voting and lack knowledge of the candidates and issues for which they should be casting their ballots. There are a number of reasons voters are devoid of information about the government, candidates and issues in the United States. A critical factor is the absence of national standards in the schools seeking proficiency in history and civics. And lack of civic knowledge due to deficient education is connected to a decrease in voting, volunteering, and more distrust of government among younger citizens. A decline in the quality of journalism in America also contributes, where there are attempts at false equivalency regarding the ideas of the two parties: ie the reality of global warming and its effects on the planet vs denial and support for fossil fuels. The proliferation of online news sites spewing fake news also advances political ignorance. And political advertising may confuse Americans. It is estimated the Koch brothers spent from $300 to $400 million dollars promoting their political ideas in the 2018 election cycle, up from about $250 million in 2016. A Bloomberg Poll in 2015 revealed that 78 percent of respondents wanted the Supreme Court to turn off the spigot of political spending.
In addition, since many voters believe their votes are inconsequential, it may be considered rational for them not to spend their time learning about government and politics. And it is likely that most of these voters do not analyze the reasons why they are uninformed. Though America is seen by much of the world as the prototype of an advanced democracy, many of its citizens are disinterested or lazy when it comes to vetting the candidates they support and understanding important issues. Tribal allegiance often replaces information. The ignorance of the electorate is actually breathtaking when Americans are asked questions about politics, history, geography, and current events. Thus uninformed and misinformed voters and those who neglect to vote because of apathy are responsible for the nation's dysfunctional government.
It would seem that with or without the Corona virus pandemic, voting by mail would be the preferred method, making it easier for everyone so that a higher percentage of citizens would vote, and lessening the incidence of fraud. But we must remember that Trump and the Republicans do not want more people to vote, particularly minorities who would be more likely to vote for Democratic candidates. Universal voting by mail will eventually happen but it may take a while.
Posted at 10:11 AM in 2016 election, 2018 elections, Citizens United, Corruption, Covid 19, Corona virus, Current Affairs, Disease Prevention, Donald Trump, election rigging, Election theft, , gerrymandering, Immigration, narcissism, Nationalism, pandemic, partisanship, Police brutality, Politics, populism, Republican Party, stories, lies, fake news, Trump administration, Voter ID laws, Voter Suppression | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: citizen apathy, Corona virus, gerrymandering, remote voting, vote by mail, voter ID, voter suppression
Uninformed Voters, BLM and the Covid 19 Pandemic
The nation today is in the midst of two crisis- the Covid 19 epidemic and the Black Lives Matter demonstrations due to police brutality and the death of George Floyd. Both of these problems have spiraled out of control due to ineffective leadership resulting from uninformed voters. For democracy to function properly, voters must be knowledgeable about the candidates running for office, their positions on the issues, what the issues are, and how the government operates. Unfortunately, a large proportion of voters today are uninformed about these matters when they cast their ballots, making their decisions on the basis of tribal affiliations. Thus we have leaders who are ill-equipped to deal with problems of the current magnitude.
If the Covid 19 pandemic had been addressed earlier and properly, tens of thousands of American lives could have been saved. Even now after months of contagion, the nation still does not have adequate testing available no matter what lies spew from the White House. Nations like South Korea, Taiwan and Germany have handled the epidemic much more effectively than the United States which has the highest number of deaths in the world.
The problem with police brutality directed at African-Americans has been around since slavery was abolished over a century and a half ago. While bias towards blacks may not be as overt as in the past, it is still present, with law enforcement unfairly targeting blacks for various offenses and non-offenses. And at times it results in death or serious injury to black men and women which is completely unwarranted. Every person in this nation should be accountable for his or her actions including the police. Until qualified immunity for the police is struck down and they must answer for their conduct, justice will not be served. Politicians must take on the police unions to reform the laws and voters must be aware of the failures of our elected officials when they vote.
The following is from my book- The Uninformed Voter- Another example of voters' lack of information are in those areas of the country where large segments of the population are dependent on federal government largesse for their survival but vote for politicians who want smaller government and to cut programs the people need. That is, if they vote at all. In general, people who most require government transfers are least likely to vote. In Harlan County, Kentucky, 54 percent of resident's income came from government programs in 2016 such as Social Security, Medicaid, food stamps (SNAP), and earned income tax credits. Yet the voters in 2016 cast their ballots overwhelmingly for Trump and the Republicans who wanted to curb these programs.
The voters seemed unaware how they got the food stamps and other federal benefits that help them live day to day, backing the GOP because of cultural issues and gun rights. In other words, they are motivated by right-wing tribalism which works to their economic detriment. And this is true year after year in many rural counties throughout the nation where the people do not understand the ways government helps them. They listen to conservative radio and television stations that rail against big government and wasteful spending and believe whatever they hear. Though they are receiving government welfare, they associate that with blacks and minorities in urban areas, not with what they are getting. And they resent the fact that the government has been unable to stem the decline in their communities.
The phenomenon of an uninformed electorate explains why the present democratic model is incompatible with capable governing, despite its freedom and the system's attraction for many of the world's peoples living under oppressive regimes. Citizens in the dark regarding the issues when voting, frequently elect officials who are unprepared, inept, partisan, and sometimes venal to run the nation's government. Not surprisingly, these officials often do not perform competently in the positions for which they have been chosen, evident in their handling of the Covid 19 pandemic, police brutality, criminal justice reform and bias against blacks.
Posted at 06:20 AM in 2016 election, Betsy De Vos, Brazil, broken promises, Budget Deficits, cabinet members, climate change, con, Conspiracy theorists, continuous campaigning, Corporate welfare, Corruption, Covid 19, Current Affairs, DACA, demagogue, Donald Trump, economy, fake news, Foreign Affairs, global warming, gun control, Health Care, Inequality, justice system, Mike Flynn, military, narcissism, NATO, North Korea, partisanship, Plutocracy, Police brutality, Politics, populism, Putin, racism, Republican Party, Supreme Court, tax returns, The Wall, trade war, Trump administration, unprepared, Voter Suppression, white supremacists | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tags: black lives matter, Covid 19 pandemic, incompetent leadership, police brutality, unnecessary deaths, unprepared