The Democratic Party ALSO suppresses voters, but unwittingly and in different ways.

Many people denounce the Republican Party for DELIBERATELY INTERFERING WITH PEOPLE’S RIGHT TO VOTE.

State and local governments that are dominated by Republicans pass laws and regulations that make it hard for the “wrong” kinds of people (people likely to vote for Democrats) to vote.  Republicans DELIBERATELY remove polling places in minority neighborhoods, purge voting rolls, limit early voting, require excessive ID, prevent returned felons from voting, etc., etc., etc.  Republicans DELIBERATELY SUPPRESS voters because Republicans’ overall policies are so cruel and unjust that they cannot win on the issues, so they resort to restricting voting rights so their true believers will be able to vote, but poor people, minorities, students, and other Democrat-leaning constituencies will NOT be able to vote.

Everyone who cares about honest democracy is correct to denounce Republicans’ voter suppression tactics.

 

The Democratic Party also suppresses voters, but unwittingly and in different ways.

In many ways the Democratic Party is too clueless to win elections.  The Democratic Party is dependent upon Big Money donations from rich individuals and Big Business.  These forces keep pushing the institutional Democratic Party AWAY FROM its progressive base (working class, middle class, environmentalists, peace supporters, minorities, students, etc.) and into “centrist” positions that support the status quo.

Indeed, that is exactly what happened in 2016 when MANY VOTERS WERE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT BERNIE SANDERS, and MANY NEW PEOPLE STARTED VOTING IN ORDER TO SUPPORT BERNIE.  But the institutional Democratic Party (and the powerful economic and political forces that support the status quo (the rigged economic system, the endless war machine, etc.) crammed Hillary Clinton down our throats instead of Bernie, who was the candidates that the voters really wanted.

In 2016 the VOTERS WERE ANGRY AT THE STATUS QUO, but Hillary Clinton campaigned in support of the status quo (with just a little tinkering around the edges).  Trump recognized that the voters were angry at the elites (including the Wall Street elites who had been paying Hillary Clinton a total of many millions of dollars for her to give speeches to them before her formal campaign).  Hillary’s campaign supported the economic elites, but Trump campaign against the economic elites.  (Trump was lying, of course, but his message resonated with voters.)  Hillary has always enthusiastically supported war, but Trump had the political good sense to question the need for NATO.  On several issues Trump campaigned to the LEFT from Hillary’s positions.

Many times throughout the 2016 campaign I e-mailed and phoned the institutional Democratic Party and told them that they were UNWITTINGLY SUPPRESSING THE VOTE and UNWITTINGLY electing Trump.  I told the Democratic Party that if they want to win they must nominate Bernie.  I told them that BERNIE WOULD WIN IN A LANDSLIDE by inspiring many, many people to come out and vote for a candidate they were enthusiastic about — and when Bernie wins in a landslide, BERNIE WOULD ALSO HAVE LONG COAT-TAILS THAT WOULD ELECT DEMOCRATS THROUGHOUT MANY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.

The institution Democratic Party persisted with its horribly unpopular candidate.

Now in 2019 and 2020 the Democratic Party is frantically trying to INCREASE TURNOUT, but THE PARTY IS REBUFFING THE PROGRESSIVES (Sanders and Warren) who actually inspire new people to come out and vote.  The Party is promoting boring candidates who FAIL TO ARTICULATE CLEAR POSITIONS ON THE ISSUES (Biden, Buttigieg, and other “centrists”).

PUBLIC OPINION POLLS KEEP SHOWING THAT THE PUBLIC IS TRULY PROGRESSIVE ON MANY, MANY ISSUES.  MOST VOTERS WANT:

  • Universal Single Payer
  • Green New Deal
  • Bold climate action
  • Prohibiting big money from corrupting elections
  • Stopping Dick Cheney’s endless wars

But the institutional Democratic Party and its powerful politicians (Pelosi, Schumer, Biden, Buttigieg, etc.) ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THESE CRUCIAL ISSUES!

“Centrists” are ANTAGONIZING AND REPELLING VOTERS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

About GlenAnderson 1499 Articles
Since the late 1960s Glen Anderson has devoted his life to working as a volunteer for peace, nonviolence, social justice, and progressive political issues. He has worked through many existing organizations and started several. Over the years he has worked especially for such wide-ranging goals as making peace with Vietnam, eliminating nuclear weapons, converting from a military economy to a peacetime economy, abolishing the death penalty, promoting nonviolence at all levels throughout society, and helping people organize and strategize for grassroots movements to solve many kinds of problems. He writes, speaks, and conducts training workshops on a wide variety of topics. Since 1987 he has produced and hosted a one-hour cable TV interview program on many kinds of issues. Since 2017 he has blogged at https://parallaxperspectives.org He lives in Lacey near Olympia WA. You can reach him at (360) 491-9093 glen@parallaxperspectives.org