democracymovement

democracymovement https://www.dailykos.com/news/democracymovement News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Tue, 28 Jan 2020 02:02:09 +0000 Tue, 28 Jan 2020 02:02:09 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Showing Respect for the Democratic Process? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2017/1/10/1618990/-Showing-Respect-for-the-Democratic-Process Democratic Party leaders are talking about a traditional transition of power in Washington. They talk about decorum and showing respect for the democratic process. Leading Democrats, such as the Clintons, will attend the inauguration. They and the media speak of the "president-elect" and the "winner of the election." Respect for democracy is exactly why this behavior and language is wrong. 2.1% fewer voters picked Trump than picked Clinton. Making Trump president is not respectful of democracy. Trump did not "win the election" - if "the election" is what happens on Election Day. Trump was appointed by the Electoral College. He is the Electoral College-designated executive. He's the president-appointee. It's important the American people be clear about this. The Electoral College chooses the president. It's not merely that there is an intermediary between Election Day in November and the choosing of the president. The composition of the Electoral College is biased by giving each state a number of electors which isn't proportional to its population (each state gets two more electors than its number of Congressional districts.) The Electoral College's selection process is biased because states' electors don't have to split their votes to reflect the relative amount of popular vote for each candidates. An elector designated to support one candidate can even back the other candidate. For reasons such as these, there can be a huge gap between popular vote and Electoral College choice. It has sometimes been argued that the Electoral College protects the country from poor choices by the voters by having a wiser group have the final say. The 2016 election should conclusively disprove that. In 2016, the Electoral College gave the presidency to the candidate who badly lost the popular vote, and who had no government experience, and had had many failures as a businessman, and behaved in ways that could embarrass the country, and had a temperament which could put the country in jeopardy. Not only did few Electors defect from Trump, but about as many Electors defected from Clinton. The House of Representatives doesn't accurately reflect Americans' wishes because of gerrymandering, voter suppression, selective voter roll purges, selectively providing too few voting stations / voting machines / other resources to poor communities, etc. Unlimited campaign spending also biases elections for all elected offices. And so on. This is what is outrageously disrespectful of the democratic process. Being "respectful" of gross disrespect isn't really "respectful." So, what would be properly respectful or appropriate? The first thing is to acknowledge that the US doesn't have true majority rule, and the American people believe in majority rule. And that means avoiding the wording which implies voters choose presidents and political offices are truly chosen by majority rule. The next thing is to understand that the current political system is rigged. Sure, if 70% of the people support a certain candidate, maybe 60% of those who aren't prevented from voting will cast ballots for that candidate. And after the Electoral College (in presidential elections) or gerrymandering (in Congressional elections) reduces the effective vote totals, the candidate may win with 52% or 55%. But that's a tough hill to climb - and a hill we shouldn't have to climb. Majority rule doesn't mean only 70% majorities get their way. Meanwhile, every year we are "respectfully" quiet about this rigged system, the politicians who would have lost if elections were fair use their position to further rig the system. To only focus on running candidates as a means to change this is deeply mistaken. The system is rigged to make it difficult to work that way. We need as many Americans as possible to show the powers-that-be they know the system is rigged and make clear they won't just limit themselves to the rigged system's biased rules. We need a movement that uses picket lines, demonstrations, sidewalk information distribution, labor action, boycotts, etc. Few changes to increase democracy have ever been legislated without such a movement. Which is another way of saying that when the efforts to expand democracy are limited to acting "respectful" of the existing undemocratic system, change rarely, if ever, comes. rss@dailykos.com (workingwords) democracymovement Inauguration RiggedSystem _1618990 Tue, 10 Jan 2017 20:56:38 +0000 New Anti Citizens United Victories! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/5/1466334/-New-Anti-Citizens-United-Victories Only a few days into the new year and there has already been exciting updates for the democracy movement. This week, California’s top court <a href="http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S220289.PDF" target="_blank">ruled</a> that Californians can officially vote on a statewide measure calling on Congress to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. This ruling is groundbreaking, and it essentially decrees — voter input matters. Thanks to this statewide measure, Golden Staters can instruct their government to put a stop to the unlimited money flooding our elections—officially and formally—at the polls. <figure class="image-captioned align-right"><img alt="citizens-united-bribing-politicians-stamp-stampede.jpg" src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/192742/large/citizens-united-bribing-politicians-stamp-stampede.jpg?1452030780" title="citizens-united-bribing-politicians-stamp-stampede.jpg"> <figcaption>This bill found in a cash register is rubber-stamped with the message, “Not 2 B Used 4 Bribing Politicians,” from <a href="http://www.stampstampede.org/">StampStampede.org</a>.</figcaption> </figure> Plus, a victory in Washington State! Over 330,000 <a href="http://www.wamend.org/our_progress" target="_blank">signatures</a> were collected and filed—well over the number of required signatures—to insert a statewide initiative in Washington's 2016 ballot, which will press Congress to end the days of Citizens United. This means Washington State can soon become the 17th <a href="http://www.stampstampede.org/pages/state-resolutions">state</a> to pass a resolution in support of this cause. All across this country, voters are mad as hell with ultra-wealthy groups buying influence and access to our representatives. These victories in California and Washington are clear signs that Americans are coming together to fight back and ensure our government remains of, by, and for the people. In the New Year, expect more victories, <a href="http://www.stampstampede.org/" target="_blank">more stamping</a>, and more growth in the democracy movement – stay tuned! rss@dailykos.com (BenCohen) 2016 2016Election BigMoney bigmoneyinpolitics BigOil BigPharma CampaignFinance campaignfinancelaw CampaignFinanceReform citizenaction CitizensUnited CitizensUnitedVFEC CitizensUnitedvsFEC Corruption Democracy democracymovement GetMoneyOut i735 initiative735 Lobbyist prop49 Proposition49 Recommended Republic SCOTUS StampStampede SuperPac _1466334 Tue, 05 Jan 2016 22:00:15 +0000 A uniquely poignant Hong Kong democracy protest https://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/16/1352197/-A-uniquely-poignant-Hong-Kong-democracy-protest A member of the pro-democracy movement sent me this beautiful video performance of art students in Hong Kong protesting to draw attention to the anger over "how unfair the system and the cops are," and to show they "fully support all the people who fight for their freedom." Be sure to read their entire note below the video. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dN6DhnolPLs" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <blockquote>"hello we are the art students in Hong Kong and I hope you can take a few minutes to watch what is happening in Hong Kong. and help us to share what is the meaning of occupying democracy! We really need your help! We also feel angry for how unfair the system and the cops are. We fully support all the people who fight for their freedom. please feel free to tell us your thought in comment! Thank you!"</blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (ProseAndThorn) Civil Rights CivilRights democracymovement Human Rights HumanRights OccupyHongKong Police Brutality PoliceBrutality _1352197 Tue, 16 Dec 2014 15:47:30 +0000