Republicans are determined to take full control of this country and its government, but there is one thing that stands in their way. It’s the American democracy. Though under fierce attacks by authoritarians, it still stands.
These lying, scheming, manipulative Republican politicians, who long have used various forms of voter suppression to remove specific voters from voter rolls, have now passed additional laws in many Republican-controlled states to take voter suppression to new, much greater heights.
The problem for Democrats is that they have allowed Republicans to go on the offensive while they have been reduced to playing defense. This dire situation has to be completely reversed with Democrats going after Republicans like a bunch of banshees. They have to kick their ass-s.
Democrats should understand that they bear the chief responsibility for putting the brakes on this voter suppression. They have to stop the Republicans in their tracks because of what they failed to do in the past.
But how can they? Democrats thought that it could be done by coming up with powerful new legislation. That’s why they created H.R.4, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021. It was passed in the House but now is stalled in the Senate.
The problem is that Senate Democrats can’t fully agree on what exactly should be in the bill. Even if they find some way to agree on its coverage, the dark specter of the filibuster still hangs above them.
But that should be no great problem since all they have to do is eliminate or modify the dreaded filibuster and the act will become law, right? Nope, because the next obstruction in the way is the combination of Demo senators Manchin and Sinema who insist that it’s very important to preserve that “sacred” Senate rule.
If one were to ask the two of them, if they had to choose between either preserving the filibuster or our democracy, I’d say they would choose the filibuster, without question. Modern-day patriots aren’t they?
My advice to Democrats is to WAKE UP, stop banging your heads against the wall; get moving, use your heads to think deeper for a change.
Just forget about passing a Voting Rights bill and go in an entirely different direction, one which has the potential to repeal the Republican voter suppression effort. Let’s call this new strategy The “grassroots method” of connecting solidly with the American people.
This looks like the most promising, effective way to stop Republican voter suppression, preserve our election systems, and save our democracy.
Here’s how to get this grassroots method underway: The #1 objective is to: get out the vote like never before, using a variety of methods to contact Democratic voters. Get them fired up and primed to protect their voting rights, get them damned angry at those who would dare to try to take them away.
Make certain that powerful lawsuits have been started or are ready to be initiated in all of the states that are under Republican suppression. They should win in courts, for what could be more Constitutional than preserving American’s voting rights?
Arrange meetings with some of the main Democratic supporters/donors and ask them to fund a large part of this very costly process. Michael Bloomberg and his fellow billionaires can and should come up with big bucks for a myriad of commercials designed to inform Democratic voters of the seriousness of this situation and to motivate them into action.
These commercials should clearly explain how Republican suppression tactics will create havoc in the election system, prevent many thousands of Americans, primarily African Americans and Hispanics, from voting. They should motivate these Democratic voters to come out to the polls determined not to allow anyone to stop them from casting their ballots.
The commercials should also be used as educational tools to educate voters relative to all of the election rules such as proper voter ID, voting by mail, and other important requirements that must be followed.
The bulk of the efforts must be concentrated on the key electoral states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, Georgia, and Arizona. These states are the battleground states where Democrats have to use most of their firepower.
Democrats need to send out several hundred canvassers into these states several weeks before the midterms to knock on doors, hold neighborhood meetings and communicate with the media. Nothing is more important than personal contact.
President Biden, VP Harris, and other high-level officials need to make numerous visits to key, highly important areas of each of these swing states. This will help greatly to inform the people about the great dangers that voter suppression poses.
Democrats in the Senate have been making a monumental mistake in continuing to play by the rules in this Congress that has become entirely dysfunctional and has fallen into a state of paralysis and gridlock. What to do?
Just shove the Senate aside and put the plan detailed above into action. Connect directly with the American people to dismantle the Republican voter suppression strategies. When that is done successfully, and it will be, the Republican Party will be buried in the biggest turnout and landslide in U.S. history in the next election.
The lesson to be learned here? When you are faced with a massive obstacle, aka, the Republicans in U.S. Senate blocking your way, then you must either go around it, over it, under it, or right through it.
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