Will Democrats Turn Out Enough Votes this Fall to Overwhelm the Republican Anti-Democracy Machine?
By Thom Hartmann A...
George W. Bush and Donald Trump both lost the popular vote, by a half-million and 3 million votes respectively, yet occupied the White House even though a majority of Americans didn't want them there.Similarly, in 2012 Democrats got 1.4 million more votes nationwide for the House of Representatives, yet that body was controlled by Republicans with a 33 seat "majority."
There are numerous states where the majority vote goes for Democrats, producing a Democratic governor, but, because of gerrymandering, the state legislatures and their congressional delegations are still controlled by Republicans.
Fully 59 million Americans, in fact, live under such "minority rule" in states where Republicans control their legislatures even though a majority of the legislative votes in the past election were cast for Democrats.
And now, according to reporting in the Guardian, corporations like Chevron and Citigroup are pouring money into Republican operations to not only maintain minority rule, but to expand it.
And billionaire-funded rightwing groups like Freedomworks are actively reaching out to millions of Americans saying that allowing us to vote by mail during this pandemic would amount to "voter fraud," the largely nonexistent bogeyman they have used for years to throw tens of millions of Americans off voting rolls and prevent people from voting.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg is reporting that China has decided they want Donald Trump to stay in the White House. This report follows by just a few days the release of John Bolton's book in which he says that Donald Trump begged China's President Xi to help him get reelected.
Donald Trump in losing in poll after poll, but Republicans continue to rule numerous states where republicans got the fewest number of votes. And the last two Republican presidents were not elected by the majority of Americans because of the electoral college.
The Supreme Court has ruled that Americans don't have a constitutional right to vote, which is a large part of the reason for this situation. If we don't get money out of our politics and enforce the laws against foreign meddling in our elections, we may well see the end of the American experiment in democracy. The stakes have never been higher.
-Thom
Comments
#2
Thom, you are my hero bro, but I couldn't vote for Hillary! This is not about left vs right! Our political system has been hijacked by "celebrity" brainwashing name recognition repetiton! (I blame the irresponsable voters) Sadly, they know not what they are doing!
#3
That's your mission in life, to enlighten!
#4
I think that it is 22 smaller population states that add up to California's 40 million population. They get 44 senators, California gets 2. 6 states have less than 1 million poulation. California is 12% of the population. The Senate is to powerful for what it represents.
#5
Thom, your whining because you lost an election is sad. Our forefathers had wisdom and foresight that people of today cannot imagine. Your attempting to change that because you lost is pathetic and childish.
You do not like the rulings of the Supreme Court? Let's add enough so they do what YOU want. Can't accept a presidential election? Let's see. We can add more states, but only if we know they will vote YOUR way.
In America, there are ten million encounters with the police every year. A handful of blacks are killed during those encounters. Let's see, cops are bad and the entire system needs to be disbanded, defunded, and disassembled. Oh yea, let's loot and burn down the businesses and stores in the very neighborhoods they need them the most.
That statue of progressive Teddy Roosevelt on horseback with an American Indian and an African man beside him on the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History may be removed based on nothing more than stupidity. Just for the hell of it Thom, look up the history of that statue, its creator James Earle Fraser, and why he added those other two historic figures to that piece of art. You will never have the guts to defend the presence of that statue in NYC even though Teddy Roosevelt should be a hero of those on the left.
Aunt Jemimah, Uncle Bens, the images on a box of Rice Krispies, best of all Eskimo Pie? WTF is going on in your heads people? Is this all your white guilt or is it just election year pandering. If it is the latter, the polls show more black support for Trump than ever before.
The current progressive path appears to be attempting to stop supporting law and order, dismantling police departments, and promote the violence by pushing groups into more protesting which begets more violence and looting. Not a popular position with working Americans.
If you think bashing police and supporting the tearing down of our country's statues and monuments, in an attempt attempting to erase and rewrite history is a path that will win your side elections I would strongly recommend you reconsider your position.
Strict law and order and support for our second amendments are two of the cornerstones of the Trump campaign platform and your attempting to use this against him is foolish as even the sane on the left are now buying guns, forming neighborhood watch groups, and showing support for the police in their communities.
Sorry for the long rant but you deserve far more than my few paragraphs.
#6
"Our forefathers had wisdom and foresight that people of today cannot imagine." Can you explain why? Or how?
How many statues of Hitler do you think there are in Germany. Or anywhere for that matter. Why?
#7
Thom:
Please encourage others to sign the petition requesting that the UN monitor the US elections, especially in states that are unwilling or incapable of holding free, open, and fair elections.
#8
I worry that Biden will blunder his way into losing to the orange clown. He should take a page from the Republican playbook and have every answer rehearsed since it doesn't matter if the answer exactly matches the question.
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Never one to shy away from the truth, Thom Hartmann’s collected works are inspiring, wise, and compelling. His work lights the way to a better America."
From Screwed:
"The powers that be are running roughshod over the powers that OUGHT to be. Hartmann tells us what went wrong — and what you and I can do to help set American right again."
From Screwed:
"Thom Hartmann’s book explains in simple language and with concrete research the details of the Neo-con’s war against the American middle class. It proves what many have intuited and serves to remind us that without a healthy, employed, and vital middle class, America is no more than the richest Third World country on the planet."
I don't understand how another country, in this case China, can determine who gets to be in the White House of OUR country. They shouldn't meddle in our elections. If they can do that, then we no longer have a country. Then we are no longer the United States, but just a piece of land that is free for any one or country, or corporation to dominate.