“GOP’s Plot Against Democracy”: Why It Really Wants To Depress The Vote
The Presidential Commission on Election Administration has released its report and recommendations, and reasonable people everywhere rejoice. The bipartisan commission was formed by Barack Obama following the 2012 election, which was a bit of an embarrassment for a nation that considers itself something of a model democracy. Across the country (but mainly in urban areas and black and Latino neighborhoods), Election Day featured hours-long lines, broken voting machines, inaccurate voter rolls and confusing ballots.
“The Editors” of Bloomberg View declare the report “so resolutely practical that it’s hard to imagine its recommendations stirring much debate, much less controversy.” (They acknowledge that “not all politicians want to make it easier for Americans to vote,” but they fail to specify that that’s more or less part of the Republican Party platform.) Jeffrey Toobin calls it “an unexpectedly bold document.”
The commission’s key recommendations are eminently reasonable: Expand online voter registration, expand early voting, improve and modernize voting machines, and improve efficiency and alleviate wait times at polling places with better training and techniques that have been proven to work elsewhere. Everyone should be able to support all of this, and, best of all, the commission’s recommendations don’t require any federal action at all. They just need to be voluntarily implemented by state and local officials. And how hard could it be to convince state and local officials to make voting easier?
Here’s the first problem with the commission’s report: We already know what’s wrong with American elections and we already know how we should fix those problems. The last bipartisan commission on American elections released its report and recommendations less than a decade ago. That report followed up a major piece of federal election reform, the Help America Vote Act, which was the bipartisan response to the travesty that was the 2000 election. The Help America Vote Act created another bipartisan commission dedicated to making voting easier, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. That commission is supposed to have two commissioners from each party. Republicans in Congress have effectively killed that commission by refusing to appoint or approve any commissioners at all.
Despite that obstruction, the problems with American elections, and potential solutions, were already well-known to voting rights experts. The No. 1 culprit is our absurdly decentralized system, which makes implementing good ballot and registration and access and voting machine standards effectively impossible. But we knew that making registration easier and allowing early voting and voting by mail would improve turnout and make voting easier for the elderly and disabled. We knew urban election districts were at a disadvantage due to population size and density, and insufficient funding. We knew ballot size and clarity was lousy all over the country because of archaic or poorly written laws. The problem has always been finding the resources and political will to fix any of this. Because unless we nationalize voter registration and federal elections, the fixes will have to come not just in 50 separate state legislatures but also at thousands of city halls and county governments.
Which brings us to the second, bigger problem with the report: The commission was tasked with making it easier for Americans to vote. One of the two dominant American political parties is adamantly opposed to that goal. Despite the bipartisan trappings of the commission, despite the fact that Mitt Romney’s campaign lawyer was the co-chair, it is still the case that making it easier to vote is a priority of the Democratic Party. The more honest right-wingers make the argument explicit, but implicit in every voter ID law and attempt to shut down voter registration drives and restriction of early voting is the core conservative belief that voting should be as hard as possible, so that only the right people vote. It is only occasionally said out loud but most conservatives believe in the old saw, usually incorrectly attributed to de Tocqueville or a founding father, about democracy dying when the looters begin to “vote themselves largess from the public treasury.” Throughout American history, conservatives have opposed extending the franchise.
In addition to their philosophical opposition to democracy, Republicans have a more pragmatic reason to making voting as difficult as possible: Recent national election results show an unmistakable correlation between turnout and Democratic Party success. As Dave Weigel points out, some of the commission’s recommendations will make it easier for traditionally Republican blocs like religious voters (and military voters! and the elderly!) to vote, but Republicans believe, with plenty of supporting evidence, that in America in 2014, bigger turnout means more Democratic voters. A bipartisan commission won’t convince Republicans to abandon their campaign to use every tool at their disposal to depress the vote.
By: Alex Pareene, Salon, January 24, 2014
“Isolated From The Rest Of The Public”: The Tea Party And The Hammock Theory Of Poverty
The increased focus on inequality has shifted the conversation away from deficit/austerity mania and towards a discussion of what government should be doing to boost the economy and protect people from economic harm. And it’s also prompted good new polling that goes deep into public views of the economy, the safety net, inequality, and what government should do about it.
On these topics, this week brought two new polls from Pew Research and CBS News.
I’ve asked both firms for a detailed breakdown of their data, and here’s a striking finding: The ideas and assumptions underlying the GOP economic and poverty agenda are far and away more reflective of the preoccupations of Tea Party Republicans. Meanwhile, non-Tea Party Republicans are much more in line with the rest of the public on these matters.
In short, the Tea Party economic worldview, if such a thing exists, is isolated from the rest of the public, and even to some degree from non-Tea Party Republicans – yet it has an outsized role in shaping the GOP’s overall agenda.
Both the Pew and CBS polls find large majorities believe the income gap is growing, and both find that more Americans want government to do something about it. Both also find solid majority support for raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment benefits, and (in Pew’s case) taxing the rich to help the poor.
Both polls also find that far larger numbers of Republicans don’t think government should act to reduce inequality. This is reflected in the GOP economic agenda. As Jonathan Chait explains, this agenda continues to be premised on the ideas that there is, if anything, too much downward redistribution of wealth, that government shouldn’t interfere in the market by, say, raising the minimum wage, and that safety net programs lull people into dependency (Paul Ryan’s Hammock Theory of Poverty).
But here’s the thing. That basic set of assumptions — and the resulting positions on some of the individual policies being discussed – are held overwhelmingly by Tea Party Republicans; and not nearly as much by non-tea party Republicans. Key findings:
On government action to combat inequality:
* The Pew poll finds Republicans divided on whether government should do a lot or some to reduce inequality, versus doing little or nothing, by 49-46. But tea party Republicans overwhelmingly tilt against government doing something by 66-28, while non-tea party Republicans overwhelmingly favor doing something by 60-35.
* The CBS poll is less pronounced, but even here, Tea Party Republicans overwhelmingly oppose government acting to reduce the gap between rich and poor by 82-17, while non-Tea Party Republicans believe this by 66-29 (so nearly a third of non-Tea party Republicans believe it).
On unemployment benefits:
* The Pew poll finds Republicans oppose extending unemployment benefits by 53-44. But Tea Party Republicans overwhelmingly oppose this by 70-29, while non-Tea Party Republicans support it by 52-44.
* Similarly, the CBS poll finds that Republicans oppose extending unemployment benefits by 49-40. But Tea Party Republicans overwhelmingly oppose it by 58-31. Non-Tea Party Republicans favor extending them by 46-43.
On the Hammock Theory of Poverty:
* The CBS poll finds that Republicans believe unemployment benefits make people less motivated to look for a job by 57-40. But Tea Party Republicans overwhelmingly believe this by 67-32. By contrast, only a minority of non-tea party Republicans believe this (47-51).
* The Pew poll has a similar finding: Republicans believe government aid to the poor does more harm than good by making people dependent on government, rather than doing more good than harm, by 67-27. But Tea Party Republicans overwhelmingly believe this by 84-11, while non-tea party Republicans are somewhat more closely divided, 59-35.
On the minimum wage:
* The Pew poll finds that Republicans favor raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 54-44. But Tea Party Republicans overwhelmingly oppose this by 65-33. Non-Tea Party Republicans overwhelmingly support it by 65-33. (All the above Pew numbers include Republicans and GOP-leaners).
* The CBS poll is less pronounced, but even here, Tea Party Republicans tilt against a minimum wage hike by 52-47, while non-tea party Republicans favor it by 50-48.
A number of conservative reform types, such as Michael Gerson and Peter Wehner, and Michael Strain, have written at length about the need to break from tea party orthodoxy on economic matters, and to begin to envision an affirmative government role when it comes to strengthening (and reforming) the safety net, and even spending government money to combat the near term jobs emergency. I don’t know if non-tea party Republicans can be reached and split off from the tea party on these matters or not, but it does seem at least plausible, if the above numbers are an accurate picture of things.
Meanwhile, some Republican lawmakers do seem sincere about charting a new course on poverty. But the party agenda remains in thrall to a set of ideas that remain largely the province of a small tea party minority, and are not nearly as widely held among Republicans overall.
By: Greg Sargent, The Plum Line, The Washington Post, January 24, 2014
“Poor Pitiful Persecuted Bullies”: From A Position Of Feigned Weakness, Conservatives Portray Themselves As Victims
On the 41st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it seems the antichoice movement is focused less on extending its recent state-level gains than on denying their significance as a rollback of basic reproductive rights. Sarah Posner captured their rhetoric nicely at Religion Dispatches yesterday:
What with autopsies and rebrandings, and a new Pope decrying “obsessions,” you would think that tomorrow’s March for Life might not be such a big event. But on the anniversary this week of Roe v. Wade, the Pope is still Catholic, and the GOP is still Republican. The rebranding, if there is one, is to portray anti-abortion absolutism as mainstream, not extreme.
This effort at rhetorical but not substantive repositioning is the GOP’s big message today, notes Posner:
When the RNC convenes for its winter meeting, it will take up a proposed resolution, CNN reports, “urging GOP candidates to speak up about abortion and respond forcefully against Democratic efforts to paint them as anti-woman extremists.” The “Resolution on Republican Pro-Life Strategy” calls on the party to only support candidates “who fight back against Democratic deceptive ‘war on women’ rhetoric by pointing out the extreme positions on abortion held by Democratic opponents.”
Antichoice pols are the victims here, you see. That’s why they’ve seized on comments by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo about the consensus in his state supporting abortion rights as evidence they are poor pitiful refugees against intolerance (an act Charlie Pierce aptly calls “driving nails into their own palms”).
It’s all a shuck, though, as Posner concludes:
The March for Life is still a big deal. One of the nation’s two major parties supports it, and will later in the week that party will consider whether its candidates should be punished for being too weak in response to “deceptive” charges they are waging a war on women. Rebrandings, truces, lamentations about singular obsessions–none of that changes the Republican and the conservative movement commitment to making abortion illegal, and, barring that, to making it inaccessible.
The silly foot-stomping over Cuomo’s comments are from a defensive posture, but it would be a mistake to engage in much schadenfreude about the conservative position being weak. The foot-stomping is strategic: an opportunity to portray themselves as victims strengthens the resolve of their followers. (See, there is no war on women, only an elitist war on conservatives!)
Interesting, isn’t it, that from this position of feigned weakness the antichoicers are gearing up for another election cycle of bullying Republican politicians into doing their will, all in the broader cause of bullying women to give up control over their reproductive systems.
By: Ed Kilgore, Contributing Writer, Washington Monthly Political Animal, January 22, 2014
“Pipe Dreams Do Come True”: Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Completes His Epic Political Fall
Bob McDonnell’s only been out of office for 10 days, but his post-gubernatorial life is already off to a rough start.
On Tuesday, federal prosecutors charged the former Virginia governor and his wife, Maureen, in a corruption case over gifts the two received from the head of a dietary-supplement company. The former first couple is charged with requesting clothes, money, trips, golf accessories, and private plane rides from former Star Scientific CEO Jonnie R. Williams in exchange for their influence in helping get Star Scientific off the ground.
The most infamous favors were a $15,000 catering tab that Williams footed for the McDonnell’s daughter’s 2011 wedding and a $6,500 Rolex which Williams bought for Maureen to give to her husband. A Washington Post investigation last summer found that Williams had given more than $120,000 to Maureen McDonnell and a corporation owned by Bob McDonnell and his sister. In July, McDonnell said he would pay back all gifts from Williams.
Maureen McDonnell had bought thousands of shares in Star Scientific in 2011, and met with potential investors for the company in Florida, in addition to helping Williams get meetings with Virginia health officials. The McDonnells also hosted a launch event for the company’s dietary supplement at the governor’s mansion that fall.
The indictment lists $140,805.46 worth of property subject to federal forfeiture, including multiple pairs of Louis Vuitton shoes, two sets of golf clubs, two iPhones, and a silver Rolex engraved with “71st Governor of Virginia.”
Williams resigned as Star Scientific CEO in December. Bob McDonnell is the first Virginia governor to ever face criminal charges. He and his wife face 14 felony counts.
Even though the charges aren’t a total out-of-the-blue surprise, they are still astonishing for someone who had so many Republican hopes pegged to him. It was only a few years ago that Bob McDonnell was being mentioned as a potential future Republican vice presidential or presidential nominee. McDonnell was touted as a possible GOP savior as recently as last February. Even as late as last fall, Politico found that the governor was “defying political gravity” and was pulling off a “remarkable feat of political survival.”
In November 2009, the governor called questions about his presidential aspirations “pipe dreams down the road.” Just over four years later, “pipe dreams” seems pretty apt.
By: Matt Berman, The National Journal, January 21, 2014
“A Moral Issue”: Blacks, Latinos To Pay Disproportionate Price Over Blocked Medicaid Expansion
Minorities are disproportionately affected by 25 states’ decision to opt out of Medicaid expansion, a report finds.
Blacks make up 13 percent of the nation’s population but will represent 27 percent of those who will lose out on Medicaid coverage because of these states’ refusal to expand the program’s eligibility to the national standard under Obamacare, according to the 11th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. State of the Dream Report.
Latinos make up 15 percent of the population and 21 percent of the coverage gap. Whites, meanwhile, will be underrepresented—they are 65 percent of the population but have only 47 percent in the gap.
Had the Affordable Care Act been fully implemented, half of the 50 million people who were uninsured before the 2010 law was passed would gain access to coverage through the state and federal health insurance exchanges or the Medicaid expansion. Because of the 2012 Supreme Court decision that ruled states’ expansion of the program optional, 25 states have chosen not to expand Medicaid to include wage earners up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line.
The Medicaid coverage gap will leave out 5 million of the 10 million who would have gained coverage, exacerbating existing racial health disparities in the United States, a focus of Thursday’s report from the equal-rights group United for a Fair Economy.
Poor blacks are 7.3 times—and poor Latinos 5.7 times—as likely as poor whites to live in high-poverty neighborhoods that aggravate health problems. That gap is because of minorities’ limited access to health services and good food, as well as the great stresses from crime and racism, according to the report.
The data also find that 29 percent of Latinos, 19 percent of blacks, 15 percent of Asians, and 11 percent of whites were uninsured in 2012.
Republican governors are leading many of the states that have declined to expand the entitlement program. The federal government has committed to paying 100 percent of the expansion for the first few years, but the governors say they fear the feds will go back on their word, leaving states with unsustainable budget costs.
Other GOP governors have declined to expand the program out of ideological objections to an expansion of the nation’s social safety net.
The report’s authors are frustrated by the blocked expansion.
“With no expanded Medicaid, and little or no assistance to purchase insurance in the health exchanges, the actions of these elected leaders in these states are creating a vast hole in the new health care law—a 25-state coverage gap—through which nearly 5 million low income Americans will now fall,” UFE writes.
“Access to health care is, first and foremost, a moral issue,” the report continues. “It’s a question of right and wrong. Tolerating vast inequalities in health and health care along the lines of race or class sends the disturbing message that we as a society value the lives of people in various groups differently.”
Despite the blocked Medicaid expansion, the Affordable Care Act diminishes the racial health gap by expanding programs to promote diversity in health professions; supports cultural competency training to help doctors communicate with patients of color; and establishes research initiatives to explore the cause of health inequality. It also allows people with preexisting conditions—more common in impoverished neighborhoods due to the quality of life—to gain access to coverage.
But some people who do not have health insurance will continue to live without it. Others will be ineligible because of their immigration status. Still others won’t qualify because of their employment situation. Blacks and Latinos are more likely to work in lower-wage or part-time jobs where they are less likely to receive employer-sponsored coverage.
In addition to the lack of insurance and access to affordable health services, residential segregation and the stress of living in poverty are primary factors contributing to poor health in the black and Latino communities. Those types of communities are commonly found in “food deserts,” or areas of the country where people have little access to a grocery store with fresh produce and instead are surrounded by fast food joints. The report says that half of black neighborhoods lack a full-service grocery.
Among UFE’s recommendations to permanently close the racial health gap are the continued pursuit of a single-payer, universal health insurance system, where employment and work situations would no longer play a role in access, quality, and cost of care. They also, of course, hope to see all 50 states expand Medicaid and take the lead on fully implementing and supporting the Affordable Care Act.
They also propose increasing funding to permanently fund Medicaid at the federal level, heighten funding for outreach and education efforts, and allow undocumented immigrants to take part in the system. More systemic policies—more diverse housing, improved access to services in areas of extreme poverty, raising the minimum wage—would also help address the disparity between the races in overall population health.
By: Clara Ritger, The National Journal, January 16, 2014
Share This Blog
Unknown Feed- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
mykeystrokes.com 