You see, here's an example of the difference between Democrats and Republicans.
heather is a Democrat and it's very easy for her to find something that
Republicans say that is so extreme, that in comparison, Democrats look good
even while they are doing disgusting things. They can rightfully criticize
Republicans while putting forth plans that sound revolutionary which are
temporary half measures and increase the country's debt rather than properly
taxing the wealthy and corporations. Your friend, Heather, and the rest of the
Democratic mainstream whom I read, like folks from The New Yorker and other
liberal magazines, are all just Democratic Party propagandists paid to keep us
in line. And by and large, they're successful.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, April 8, 2021 11:14 AM
To: blind-democracy <blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: goathog57 <goathog57@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Fwd: April 7, 2021
If we trust our neighbor to pack a weapon, then we should also trust him/her
the right to vote.
carl Jarvis
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American
<heathercoxrichardson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2021 05:43:30 +0000
Subject: April 7, 2021
To: carjar82@xxxxxxxxx
View this post on the web at
https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxtkMtuhSAQhp_msDuGiyAsWHTT1zBcRqVVMIBtffvicdWkyTBDmBv_50yFOeVT76lUdLmxnjvoCN9lhVoho6NAHoPXigpJuERe957IdgllnDLAZsKqaz4A7YddgzM1pHg1UMwZQ4uWbHBW4mYTIdIz450QXpiJO9lb7-615vABogMNX5DPFAGteql1Lw_29qDvzRYwdYHs0k8ObjHZlxS7cthSjfvsXNpazd6O2XNYn8OTYkpQ0FfAPZbtN5KTjnTSezVQISiblBXKEqacMtPAKWHUKPvo8TbTP5NR1s7kD5Mlbdn5kvx6borHFrcjhnqOEI1dwd8w6o30hWecIUJuqP1oqiaCDFJgQfCA-1t8o8V6qbjkHLW9PrWuqP8T_Au3CpFf
Last night, commentator Kevin Williamson published a piece in National Review
justifying voter suppression by suggesting that “the republic would be better
served by having fewer—but better—voters.”
Representatives, he says, “are people who act in other people’s interests,”
which is different from doing what voters want.
This is the same argument elite slaveholder James Henry Hammond made before the
Senate in 1858, when he defended the idea that Congress should recognize the
spread of human enslavement into Kansas despite the fact that the people living
in that territory wanted to abolish slavery. Our Constitution, Hammond said,
did not dictate that people should “be annoyed with the cares of Government,”
but rather directed that they should elect leaders who would take those cares
upon themselves.
It is the same argument wealthy men made in the 1890s when they illustrated
that laws calling for “better” voters meant that white registrars would
hand-pick the nation’s voting population. In the South and the North both,
legislators wrote new state constitutions to keep Black men, immigrants, and
poor workers from the polls. Leading Americans argued that such men “corrupted”
the vote by electing lawmakers who provided public infrastructure like schools
and hospitals, paid for with the tax dollars of hardworking white men. To keep
poor voters and men of color from the ballot, new state laws called for
literacy tests, in which white registrars personally judged a man’s ability to
read; poll taxes for which one had to keep the receipts; grandfather clauses,
in which a man could vote if his grandfather had, and so on.
Williamson’s is the same argument Arizona Senator Barry’s Goldwater’s
ghostwriter made in 1960 in The Conscience of a Conservative, when he wrote in
frustration about the New Deal government that was wildly popular despite
businessmen’s hatred for it. The framers had absolutely not created a
democracy, he wrote, but rather had worried about “a tyranny of the masses” who
would vote for laws that redistributed tax dollars into projects that would
benefit themselves.
The theory of government that lies behind the argument for limiting the vote to
“better” voters was also articulated by Senator Hammond in his 1858 speech. He
explained that the South had figured out the best government in the world. It
had put a few wealthy, educated, well-connected men in power over everyone
else: those he called “mudsills,” workers who produced the capital that
supported society but had little direction or ambition and had to be controlled
by their superiors. In the South, Hammond explained to his northern colleagues,
the mudsills were Black, but in the North they were wage workers. It was
imperative such men be kept from political power, for “[i]f they knew the
tremendous secret, that the ballot-box is stronger than ‘an army with banners,’
and could combine, where would you be? Your society would be reconstructed,
your government overthrown, your property divided… by the quiet process of the
ballot-box….”
In 1859, Abraham Lincoln rejected this vision of government by wealthy elites
and replaced it with one of his own. Government worked best not when it
protected the property and thus the power of a few wealthy elites, said this
poor man’s son, but when it protected equality of access to resources and
equality before the law for everyone. Rather than concentrating wealth upward,
society should protect the rights of all men to the fruits of their own labor.
Throughout our history, adherents of these two different visions of what
constitutes the best government for the U.S. have struggled. On the one hand
are those who say that the country operates best when the government is
controlled by a few wealthy, educated, well-connected, and usually white and
male leaders. The argument goes that they are the only ones with the skills,
the insight, and the experience to make good decisions about national policy,
particularly economic policy.
And it is important that wealth concentrate in their hands, since they will act
as its stewards, using it wisely in lump sums, while if the workers who produce
wealth get control of it they will fritter it away.
On the other hand are those like Lincoln, who believe that government should
reflect the will of the majority, not simply on principle, but because a wide
range of voices means the government has a better chance of getting things
right than when only a few people rule.
In today’s world, Americans appear to be siding with the popular measures of
the Democrats. A Morning Consult/Politico poll today says that 65% of Americans
support higher corporate taxes to pay for infrastructure and that 82% want
infrastructure in any case. To make matters worse for the Republicans, counties
that voted for Biden provide 70% of the nation’s gross domestic product, the
value of goods and services in the nation. The large corporations Republicans
used to be able to count on for money and support are now eager to court these
young, liberal producers.
So, to combat the nation’s drift toward popular government, it appears the
current-day Republican Party has taken up the cause of elite rule.
Williamson is not the only Republican to muse about how getting rid of voters
might be good for the nation. Arizona state representative John Kavanagh has
said of voting that “[q]uantity is important, but we need to look at the
quality of votes as well.”
Today, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) reacted to a story about rising crime rates
during the pandemic by tweeting that “[w]e have a major under-incarceration
problem in America.” He appears to think that we need more people in jail
despite the fact that we already imprison our people at a rate more than 5
times higher than that of the rest of the world. We imprison nearly 2.3 million
people, with another 3.6 million on probation and another 840,000 on parole.
More important for the current struggle over government, though, his statement
is that of an authoritarian rather than a democratic leader, and fits nicely
with the idea of a strong-handed elite rule.
In Florida, Republican lawmakers appear ready to silence their opponents with a
law that would, according to the Miami Herald, “require public colleges and
universities to survey students, faculty and staff about their beliefs and
viewpoints.” It would also permit students to record their professors without
their consent for a civil or criminal case against their school. A lobbyist for
the measure, Barney Bishop, told journalist Ana Ceballos that “the cards are
stacked in the education system… toward the left and toward the liberal
ideology and also secularism — and those were not the values that our country
was founded on…. [T]hose are the values that we need to get our country back
to.” “The truth of the matter,” he said, “is that kids are being indoctrinated
from an early age.”
Also today, a member of the Boogaloo Bois who attended a “Stop the Steal” rally
at the state capitol in Minnesota as part of the attempt to overturn the
results of the 2020 election was arrested and charged with illegal possession
of a machine gun. He had used a 3D printer to alter a semi-automatic weapon to
make it shoot automatically.
The Republican attack on democracy is not playing well at home (although a
number of our adversaries like it well enough). A new Gallup poll shows that an
average of 49% of Americans consider themselves Democratic or
Democratic-leaning Independents while only 40% identify as Republicans or as
Republican-leaning Independents.
This is the highest split since 2012.
Still, in the end, if Republicans manage to rewrite the voting laws to silence
their opponents, how their actions play with the majority of American voters
won’t matter in the least.
—-
Notes:
https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkMmOhCAURb-m2JVhVFiw6E3_hmF4Kt0WGMCy_fvGMiE88qbLPc5UmFM-9ZZKRdc11nMDHeEoK9QKGe0F8hi8VrSXREjkNfdEtkco45QBXiasuuYd0LbbNThTQ4rXAMWCMbRoSo1l1gkvnJuknKzkijtCGbdkIGy4Zc3uA0QHGt6QzxQBrXqpdSsP9vWg3-0cx9HFz3azZngHODqXXq1AMSUtYH41Leczpvqc4ID8fKfmoLQ0CvrqwhzL9ispSEc66b0aaN9TNinbK0uYcspMg6CEUaPsg-PXTLuy21KN-73EUNbO5B-TJW3V-bL-STfnY4uvPYZ6jhCNXcHfUOqN9oNpnCFCbsj9aKomPRlkj3uCB8xvCI0a41IJKQRquj61qagXMHWB7NJfDm4x2ZcU_wHw0ZLP
[https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkMmOhCAURb-m2JVhVFiw6E3_hmF4Kt0WGMCy_fvGMiE88qbLPc5UmFM-9ZZKRdc11nMDHeEoK9QKGe0F8hi8VrSXREjkNfdEtkco45QBXiasuuYd0LbbNThTQ4rXAMWCMbRoSo1l1gkvnJuknKzkijtCGbdkIGy4Zc3uA0QHGt6QzxQBrXqpdSsP9vWg3-0cx9HFz3azZngHODqXXq1AMSUtYH41Leczpvqc4ID8fKfmoLQ0CvrqwhzL9ispSEc66b0aaN9TNinbK0uYcspMg6CEUaPsg-PXTLuy21KN-73EUNbO5B-TJW3V-bL-STfnY4uvPYZ6jhCNXcHfUOqN9oNpnCFCbsj9aKomPRlkj3uCB8xvCI0a41IJKQRquj61qagXMHWB7NJfDm4x2ZcU_wHw0ZLP]
https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwtkE1uxCAMhU8zLCN-EgILFt30GhEBJ6FNABnSNLcvM1PJsi1b1vP7nK2wJrxNTqWSZ5rqncFEuMoOtQKSswBOwRvNpWKDIt70nqnWhDItCHDYsJuKJ5B8zntwtoYUnwecDkKQzbB-lqPoF6aYGEdnZ6kHbYVUfnZ61P1b1p4-QHRg4AfwThHIbrZac3mIjwf_bHFdV5cxlBRzajp3l3BtY4ScsJbW5QCcctpt9dhJaPqc0Z6q9oYaWMc65b0euZRcLLo9MTOhnbbLOHAmuNXzo6fHyrtyzqVa9925dBA0zuKXRcXbdn16fY2b1anV44yh3hNEO-_g3xTqm-WLy7RCBGyM_WSrYZKNSlLJ6Ej_XTdMold6UMNAmq5P7SqaDWzdAF36xeA2i755_gOn3I5L
[https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwtkE1uxCAMhU8zLCN-EgILFt30GhEBJ6FNABnSNLcvM1PJsi1b1vP7nK2wJrxNTqWSZ5rqncFEuMoOtQKSswBOwRvNpWKDIt70nqnWhDItCHDYsJuKJ5B8zntwtoYUnwecDkKQzbB-lqPoF6aYGEdnZ6kHbYVUfnZ61P1b1p4-QHRg4AfwThHIbrZac3mIjwf_bHFdV5cxlBRzajp3l3BtY4ScsJbW5QCcctpt9dhJaPqc0Z6q9oYaWMc65b0euZRcLLo9MTOhnbbLOHAmuNXzo6fHyrtyzqVa9925dBA0zuKXRcXbdn16fY2b1anV44yh3hNEO-_g3xTqm-WLy7RCBGyM_WSrYZKNSlLJ6Ej_XTdMold6UMNAmq5P7SqaDWzdAF36xeA2i755_gOn3I5L]
https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkMtuhiAQRp_mZ2m4CwsW3fQ1DJdRaRUMYK1vX_6akGEyk8nJ-bxtsORymyPXht5lavcBJsFVN2gNCjorlCkGo6lURCgUDA9E9SbWaS4Au42baeUEdJxui962mNP7gGLBGFrNLKl3inIugwANSsyjctxjJQkTIMiDtWeIkDwY-IFy5wRoM2trR32xjxf97O-6ruEoseZ05M65h1yWPl627OzWGxQ7khLMsepkJchABhWCHqmUlM3aSe0I017beRSUMGq1e3G8L3Sop6vN-u_B5x0V4235skXRvl3eev_jbjf1fz9TbPcEyboNwiPenvj-o5gWSFB6rGGyzRBJRiWxJHjE_BHtyTCutFBCoM4NuV8ls4JtKxSff0v0qy2ha_4BiHSJ9Q
[https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkMtuhiAQRp_mZ2m4CwsW3fQ1DJdRaRUMYK1vX_6akGEyk8nJ-bxtsORymyPXht5lavcBJsFVN2gNCjorlCkGo6lURCgUDA9E9SbWaS4Au42baeUEdJxui962mNP7gGLBGFrNLKl3inIugwANSsyjctxjJQkTIMiDtWeIkDwY-IFy5wRoM2trR32xjxf97O-6ruEoseZ05M65h1yWPl627OzWGxQ7khLMsepkJchABhWCHqmUlM3aSe0I017beRSUMGq1e3G8L3Sop6vN-u_B5x0V4235skXRvl3eev_jbjf1fz9TbPcEyboNwiPenvj-o5gWSFB6rGGyzRBJRiWxJHjE_BHtyTCutFBCoM4NuV8ls4JtKxSff0v0qy2ha_4BiHSJ9Q]
https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUcuO5CAM_JrOLVGAQODAYS77GxEPJ2GWQMRjevvv1z0tWXbJJcuusjMNjlxe-s61De-0tdcNOsGzRmgNytArlC14raiQhMvB68UTiSDUbS8AlwlRt9JhuLuNwZkWcnoP0JkzNpzas50J6ZRdDKNyJbMjfBYL33eruFPys9Z0HyA50PAD5ZUTDFGfrd31wb4e9A_G8_mcvnttwcF05B_s9GryeCVEd8FUIe6jh-pKsODHCy4LZbQ5HybmjCDU0ZQCtSHrTlMOrCFGQH7EIyrUirePl3FnSDAePQ0BZVAyL7NENZKTiUzSe7VSISjblRXKEqacMvvKKWHUKPtY5uugU-22NuP-Ti5fQ9HOlG9TJEX2eFv220bHNqxXT6G9NkjGRvAfM9vnJb_2bgckKPgqv5mmiSCrFLMg8zovH_PQbbZIxSXnA-71GaeSPsG0E4rL_0p4y_U1p_9LyamM
https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJw1kE2O5CAMhU9T7DriJyGwYNGbvkZEwEnoTiACZ2rq9uN0aZCFrWdZfv6CR1hLfbmzNGT3N-HrBJfh2XZAhMquBnVK0VmpjRgMi66PwlCR2rRUgMOn3WG9gJ3XvKfgMZV8D0g-KMU2Zyw93ke1LFZrMKJXInoIsx09F1K91_orJsgBHPyB-ioZ2O42xLM91OdDflE8n8_uSP5IG1S_xy6Ug9TbKaWz7AlTaB9rofl8QEZSG9J9H_97JPhKxQ5y4P3ItdTdhsfOEnmVgvfckGUziE50JkY7Sq2lWuys7SyUDdYv4yCFkt7Oj54fq-zaNdOO8HObYdUFX799NZK6683lVyYsE-XjyglfE2Q_7xDfxPDN_ZfhtEKmwxDi5NEJLUajuRZ85P2bECFVvbGDGQZGe2Ohqew28EhAQvlbU9h8ja3kf7ZNnek
[https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJw1kE2O5CAMhU9T7DriJyGwYNGbvkZEwEnoTiACZ2rq9uN0aZCFrWdZfv6CR1hLfbmzNGT3N-HrBJfh2XZAhMquBnVK0VmpjRgMi66PwlCR2rRUgMOn3WG9gJ3XvKfgMZV8D0g-KMU2Zyw93ke1LFZrMKJXInoIsx09F1K91_orJsgBHPyB-ioZ2O42xLM91OdDflE8n8_uSP5IG1S_xy6Ug9TbKaWz7AlTaB9rofl8QEZSG9J9H_97JPhKxQ5y4P3ItdTdhsfOEnmVgvfckGUziE50JkY7Sq2lWuys7SyUDdYv4yCFkt7Oj54fq-zaNdOO8HObYdUFX799NZK6683lVyYsE-XjyglfE2Q_7xDfxPDN_ZfhtEKmwxDi5NEJLUajuRZ85P2bECFVvbGDGQZGe2Ohqew28EhAQvlbU9h8ja3kf7ZNnek]
https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkE1uxCAMhU8z7GbEf2DBopteI3LASWgTiIC0M7cv6Ujo2TLYfnweGi65vNyRayOXjO11oEv4WzdsDQs5K5YxBme5NkwZEpwMzPQk1nEuiDvEzbVyIjnOaYseWszpauBUCUFWZ_U8C68k2MFPMlilrQCgFiRSjVy_18IZIiaPDn-wvHJCsrm1taPexMeNf_az55JiWnxO9dzaw-e9FznlrAcqLxm6xDQXqN2Pb2fBu8_lyKX_8t7geV_jN9b7kbetD-qPSXTXACqp6WaNYg_2MCHYgWvNxWwnbScmrLcwD4ozwcFON0n3hT_qOdUG_vvyQYrzUL6gGN5vl4vIf7kDGXvczxTba8QE04bhzaq9if_TGxdMeHkMIzTHNBuMpprRgco3mw5TSGOVUYr0vSH3ruRWhLZi8flZol-hhJrTH1mmm1w
[https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkE1uxCAMhU8z7GbEf2DBopteI3LASWgTiIC0M7cv6Ujo2TLYfnweGi65vNyRayOXjO11oEv4WzdsDQs5K5YxBme5NkwZEpwMzPQk1nEuiDvEzbVyIjnOaYseWszpauBUCUFWZ_U8C68k2MFPMlilrQCgFiRSjVy_18IZIiaPDn-wvHJCsrm1taPexMeNf_az55JiWnxO9dzaw-e9FznlrAcqLxm6xDQXqN2Pb2fBu8_lyKX_8t7geV_jN9b7kbetD-qPSXTXACqp6WaNYg_2MCHYgWvNxWwnbScmrLcwD4ozwcFON0n3hT_qOdUG_vvyQYrzUL6gGN5vl4vIf7kDGXvczxTba8QE04bhzaq9if_TGxdMeHkMIzTHNBuMpprRgco3mw5TSGOVUYr0vSH3ruRWhLZi8flZol-hhJrTH1mmm1w]
https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkcuupCAQQL-m3Wl4KMKCxd3Mb5gCSmWGBi_g3PbvL3YnhHqQSp0cLFTcUr70kUrt7mup14E64k8JWCvm7iyYF--0YkLSSXZOj47KlviyrBnxCT7omk_sjtMEb6H6FO8BRibOu13DSKbZUOfMKBwaZyRQKlFIozifCfushdN5jBY1_sd8pYhd0HutR3nwrwf7087NNGwQwnkMNj1b50ghtMBHrmbRku8TckMOV7_B0R-tuHpYVx_8G6oPkDcstWeEsgHK8ep8o2SUjEQ2WDnRgQ7SOTUzIRhflRHKUK6sgnWeGOUMlHmM5LmxoZymVLD_bpQuawv5L2TJ2ut2G3m3m5ClxecZfb0WjGACuo-r-jH-trdsGDG3n3ALVE0FnaUggpKZjB83TSYfpZrkNHVtr0ttKuodoe6YbXplb3fIrqT4C6Jzm48
Unsubscribe
https://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxtUsuumzAQ_RrYNcI2OGbBIm0aKVEgUu_Nqxtk7AEMBJAxl5Cvr5N0U6mS7RmfmfFY54zgBopOz1HfDcZ9HqmZe4hamIYGjAHtjgPoVMkoxJShgLky8iVi1lFDmmuAG1dNZPQIbj9mjRLcqK59FmAvIMQtIwEyFIwE9gHPzzPJGLU7yGVuI8Dkuy0fpYJWQARfoOeuBbeJSmP6wSErB2_sKoGbErTo7lqJkms5dO1iGLPBcFEvRHezOVw8u1tHqoFnDaSv7zlk03dS8ME4ZO1garoaWuvCvEMCn-YLbupt1QVxdfXjz6O__7GbMpJ4f_FHsi6C5LNAycek-HnjWeyeVD_JYX2drJ1sfi9IrA5qN8nz1sTVCsWPWFn8Ye9PvOaXpLze7s0Fn8z13Azb1lukPN0ldL__Ler0W7jxDuHZn_Kv-vjh4-pAf30_6JnGp3h1LFxl-cTI8z1maWUBWqAFkzJcYkoxycOMhhkioQh5vgwwIpiHmeN7twL_Q5GrI8F1xTXDNlo8yXnBVrrU2tvYKjOn0D65k29VzXs2XkSmBbSg7czIlJsIUbRk1KPIW3r-W0UrO_FZGLAgcG1f2dmqNvqfcn8AguXWCw
I believe that we should trust the right to vote, to every person we trust to
carry a weapon.
