Congressmen Pocan and Ellison Introduce “Right to Vote” Constitutional Amendment
This is an exciting development. The only way to secure voting rights from political attack is a Constitutional Amendment. That such an amendment is necessary, however, is a sad comment on the state of affairs in America today when political warfare rather than loyal governance dominates the political sphere.
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Progressive Democrats of America
Another effort by major political players to protect their PAC money. This is a Band-Aid on a critical wound in an effort to make the patient think the wound is being attended to.
Catkin,
Your comment isn’t sensible. A voting rights amendment responds to (and adequately, I might add) Conservative attempts to restrict individuals from voting. An Amendment to the U.S. Constitution a band-aid? A Constitutional Amendment is the only way to secure voting rights for all eligible Americans from state encroachment and curtailment. Not to mention that the Progressive wing of the Democratic Party is hardly a major player in the political sphere. It is not the driving force behind the Democratic establishment by any means.
PJ, the barriers to voting thrown up by right wing groups that I’ve noticed can be rather handily passed through with local progressive action. International Corporate monetary influence is as secretive and devastating as an uncontrollable plague and it has a death grip on the effectiveness of the individual vote.
I hate to throw cold water on such a potentially happy event, but as a life long marketing executive I seen such strategies applied against every new and potentially effective product or service to come along. Maybe I’ve just been around too long.
IMNSHO, if we don’t get a handle on this unrestrained, ubiquitous monetary influence over our legislature the voting rights amendment won’t make “a dime’s worth of difference.”
Catkin,
I agree with you wholeheartedly regarding money in politics. It needs to be eliminated, removed altogether. But it isn’t the only threat to democracy. Nor will curbing money in politics resolve the attacks on voting rights that the Pocan-Ellison amendment addresses. Incessant battles at the local level over a right so patent as suffrage is precisely what we need to prevent. We need a multi-pronged approach and really, we need to be examining the judiciary, and really, we need to be thinking ahead to where the next right-wing attack might surface.
Right, right and right, PJ. But how do we reach busy, uninformed voters with this kind of media culture?
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/05/27/130527fa_fact_mayer?intcid=obinsite
Whoa! I can’t believe you just posted that link! 🙂 I’m including it in an upcoming post. It’s one of the best commentaries on the evolution of PBS that I’ve seen. I’ve gotten into a number of scuffles over PBS by noting their content of late has been distinctively tinged… and I stopped watching the News Hour long ago for the same reason. The atrocities revealed in this article are not a new phenomenon for PBS, I’m afraid.
How do we reach busy, uninformed voters with this kind of media culture? Well, that’s the real question, isn’t it? I’d say add a prong or two to the approach. There’s no denying that Americans have more on their plates than ever, subsistence existence is a full-time + job. Those are conditions where democracy cannot survive, and quite frankly, hasn’t survived. We must be ever vigilant at securing a stable employment environment for all Americans as one prong. That means recalibrating the balance of power in the work environment and supporting legislation that does just that. Another prong might be direct engagement through something like Benjamin Franklin’s Juntos – with a Progressive focus – or assembling Citizen Think Tanks, if you will, for people to meet, discuss, strategize – regularly and routinely. As busy as Americans are, we always seem to add something onto our plates. Adding an afternoon or evening devoted to reclaiming our democracy seems to me no sacrifice at all. Another prong would be reclaiming public media (this article pointedly reminds us of the need to do so). John Nichols has discussed the need for public-funded journalism as critical for preserving our democracy. I agree.