Days after print publication, Bill Knight’s syndicated newspaper column, which moves twice a week, will appear here. The most recent will appear at the top. (Columns before Sep. 11, 2017, are archived at http://billknightcolumn.blogspot.com/).

Sunday, November 29, 2020

True democracy suffers under ‘minority rule’

 

Bill Knight column for 11-26, 27 or 28, 2020

 

The old saying – from backyard football rules to United Nations measures – is “the majority rules!”

But some say that’s a myth, at least in the United States now.

“In America today, the majority does not govern,” wrote political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, authors of “How Democracies Die.”

Most recently, the myth took graphic form, as media showed maps with election results depicted as red or blue states illustrating Electoral College votes for Trump or Biden. They imply overwhelming Republican support, but they’re misleading. People vote, not acreage.

Before Nov. 3, some commentators reminded people about reality.

“In our political system, the majority does not govern,” said Levitsky and Ziblatt in The New York Times. “Constitutional design and recent political geographic trends – where Democrats and Republicans live – have unintentionally conspired to produce what is effectively becoming minority rule.”

Roadblocks to a genuinely democratic republic include the Electoral College that skews presidential results, a Senate structure that grants all states the same representation regardless of population, voter manipulation and suppression, including gerrymandering that essentially lets politicians choose their voters instead of vice versa, and the outsized influence of money in campaigns.

Electoral College: Republican presidential candidates failed to win the most votes in seven of the last eight races, winners instead depended on the Electoral College to prevail. (The Electoral College is made up of appointees equal to the number of states’ congressional delegations.)

“This is a side effect of the Founders’ desire to, among other things, keep a geographically disparate nation united by giving less-populated areas an audible voice,” wrote Philip Bump in the Washington Post. “Now, though, it’s become a cudgel for a political minority to continue to wield power.”

 Levitsky and Ziblatt said, “Normally, political parties change course when they lose elections. But in America today there is a hitch: Republicans can win and exercise power without building national electoral majorities.”

Senate. The U.S. Constitution was written to favor low-population states – small states (especially slave states, influential in the 18th century) demanded representation to compete with large states. But over the centuries, the South and states with fewer people gained not equality but superiority, a huge overrepresentation of rural areas. Wyoming (pop. 580,000) has two Senators, as does California (pop. 39.5 million).

Both major parties once had urban and rural bases for decades, but now Democrats are concentrated in big metropolitan centers – where most people live. In the Senate, the GOP since 2014 has controlled the chamber although Republican Senators altogether represent less than half the population.

“Democrats easily won more overall votes for the U.S. Senate in 2016 and 2018, and yet the Republicans hold 53 of 100 seats,” Levitsky and Ziblatt wrote. “The 45 Democratic and two independent senators who caucus with them represent more people than the 53 Republicans.”

Gerrymandering/Suppression. On state levels, Republicans have taken control of enough legislatures to create districts that favor them, not their constituents. Michael Schmidt in the Wisconsin State Journal reported that state legislative races there this month had Democrats getting 46% of votes cast for Assembly seats but winning just 38 of 99 positions.

The problem is made worse nationwide by GOP efforts to suppress votes, especially younger, lower-income, senior and Black and Brown voters. Suppressing votes isn’t new. Republican Paul Weyrich (the arch-conservative who helped launch the Heritage Foundation) in August 1980 said, “I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” But suppression has increased

Starting with the problem of money in politics – the influence of the 1% in campaigning and governing – advocates to restore “the majority rules” ideal say the Republic needs Americans to enact campaign-finance reform to distinguish between people and money, defend and expand the right to vote, eliminate the Electoral College, and require independent redistricting commissions to draw congressional maps.

Opponents may claim such changes would establish a “dictatorship of the majority,” discriminating against rural residents or maybe white male billionaires. But individual liberties and civil rights are protected by the Bill of Rights and judicial review.

“For Democrats today, winning a majority of the vote is not enough,” Levitsky and Ziblatt wrote. “And a political system that repeatedly allows a minority party to control the most powerful offices in the country cannot remain legitimate for long. Democracy requires more than majority rule. But without majority rule, there is no democracy.”

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Giving thanks, giving more for ‘food insecurity’

 

Bill Knight column for 11-23, 24 or 25, 2020

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, but at this time it’s maybe a time to give, period.

As people say grace over holiday meals, some may think of others struggling during the pandemic and the economic challenges that resulted from precautions against infections. More of us all ought to realize that includes difficulties in putting food on the table.

Nationwide, such a challenge for families – “food insecurity” it’s called – is at an all-time high. The Census’ most recent “Household Pulse Survey” shows that 18.2 million U.S. households “sometimes” have difficulty accessing food, and another 5.5 million households “often” do.

Those numbers from the last week of October are, respectively, 7.3% and 2.2% of the nation’s 249,170,916 households.

“More than 50 million Americans are food insecure this year, including about 17 million children,” says Craig Gundersen, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois.

Elsewhere, the U.S. Health & Human Services’ Planning & Evaluation division last month estimated 9.8 million more people will fall below the federal poverty line in coming weeks as unemployment benefits expire without further relief from Congress.

Meanwhile, the possibility of another pandemic relief package passing the Senate and signed by Trump before Dec. 31 is increasingly unlikely. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is adjourning the Senate this week, and President Trump continues to focus on overturning the election results (although shortly before the election, the Trump administration was active in a related matter: going to court to block emergency food assistance for the county’s poorest families).

McConnell has said Republicans want a limited, “highly targeted” relief package similar to a $500 billion proposal that Democrats rejected months ago as insufficient for the nation’s needs.

Of course, food insecurity is made more difficult as well as more prevalent in a pandemic.

“One of the key things about COVID-19 is how there’s differential impacts across the country and by demographic groups,” Gundersen said. “People with college education generally have not seen much of an impact on either unemployment rates or incomes. However, people in lower-wage jobs tend to be impacted a lot more.

“We would expect greater impact of COVID-19 in areas with a high concentration of service industry jobs,” he added.

For instance, in recent months Nevada went from 20th to 8th highest food insecurity rate by state, he said.

“Areas like Nevada, which has a strong emphasis on the service industry and tourism, will have substantially higher rates of increase in food insecurity than areas with fewer service sector workers,” Gundersen said.

Illinois is about in the middle of the states, but it needs hundreds of millions of dollars to meet its food needs, according to a study, “Map the Meal Gap,” from Feeding America, the nonprofit network of hundreds of U.S. food pantries. Also, a sampling of its data for eight downstate counties in Illinois show five of them have higher rates of food insecurity than the state overall (10.1%).

Percentages of food insecurity in Fulton County is 12.5%; Henderson 9.6%; Henry 9.7%; Knox 13.1%; Livingston 11.2%; McDonough 12.3%; Peoria 12.0%; and Warren 9.7%.

“We have to recognize that during the pandemic situation there are areas of the country which may need more emergency assistance in the near term,” Gundersen said. “Furthermore, some of these jobs may not come back, so these impacts could also have longer-term ramifications.

“Resources should continue to be directed toward those areas with greater needs before, during and after COVID-19,” he added.

In Illinois, many food pantries try to meet neighbors’ needs, with assistance from the Midwest Food Bank, churches, charities and generous individuals and organizations.

So, again, millions of adults and kids — almost 1 in 10 U.S. households – occasionally or often don’t have enough to eat (compared to just 3.7% of households in 2019, incidentally).

This Thanksgiving – especially during this pandemic and its dire economic consequences – people are encouraged to give thanks and maybe give some nonperishable food, a little time or a bit of money to nearby food banks or the local food pantries working hard to serve the less-fortunate in our communities.

Sunday, November 22, 2020

COVID precautions: We’re on our own?

Bill Knight column for 11-19, 20 or 21, 2020

 I’m as sick of writing about the doom-and-gloom pandemic as you are sick of reading about it.

But I’m not SICK sick.

As Monday’s news noted Illinois Congresswoman Cheri Bustos testing positive for COVID-19, it had been months of dithering, dishonesty and dissembling from Washington, and I realized it’s apparently necessary to remind everyone: Neither the virus nor public safety is political; it’s makes no sense to say “I won’t live in fear” as the country passes the 11-million-cases mark Sunday, when the death total approached 250,000 people; and the Midwest reported the most cases per capita.

Folks frustrated with a virus beyond their control can put “Pritzker Sucks!” signs in their yards, but COVID-19 is still the problem, not any official. And eliminating the problem requires vigilance and cooperation, not the defiant, denying attitude that may as well wear a “MASA” baseball cap: “Make America Sick Again!”

(I also realize that most doubters and deniers will scoff; maybe some on the fence will change.)

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently said that the pandemic has resulted in almost 300,000 “excess deaths” compared to typical years. The 250,000 COVID deaths “might underestimate the total impact of the pandemic on mortality,” the CDC reported, and some experts warn that fatalities could double by March.

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN, “We are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe and approaching potentially 400,000 Americans who could perish by the early part of next year.”

Recognizing the threat, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker recommended restrictions to protect public health AND RESTORE THE ECONOMY. It wasn’t a lark or a bid for power.

“The thing that's maddening is country after country and state after state have shown us how we can contain the virus,” said Dr. Jonathan Quick of the Duke Global Health Institute. “It’s not like we don’t know what works. We do.”

Despite many of us now also knowing a victim of the virus, there’s the ordinary human impatience at inconveniences, rules or advice. Whether toddlers or adults, some resist naps, shake their fists at sharing, or scream at rain or gravity or who knows what all?

Facing mitigations, responses from Illinois’ local officials run the gamut from fearlessness to foolishness. Peoria’s mayor and sheriff pledged to enforce the measures; Galesburg and East Peoria leaders won’t, East Peoria Mayor John Kahl said, “I’m a big believer that people can make personal decisions and choices on their own.”

Huh. What about enforcing the drinking age or smoking in public places? Food labeling or preparation standards? Stop signs and speed limits? How about “No shirt, no shoes, no service”?

You want to drive home from the bar too drunk to see pedestrians (without a seat belt, of course)? “THAT’S FREEDOM, BABY!”

Understandably, some worry about their businesses. (“Fear,” even.) And there may be legitimate confusion about guidelines, or conflicting scientific findings. Brown University economist Emily Oster says her research shows schools aren’t super-spreaders, but Europe closing schools while opening restaurants and taverns seems to work there. Data from cellphones show restaurants, gyms, hotels and houses of worship without occupancy limits contribute to spread, but in Illinois, contact tracing shows factories and manufacturers often led all sites with multiple infections.

Regardless of the din, it’s abundantly clear that masks protect wearers as well as others; a University of Washington paper said “expanding mask use is one of the easy wins” and 130,000 lives could be spared with universal adoption; and courts have supported Pritzker’s authority to act on behalf of public health.

Lastly, there have been families of COVID casualties who’ve blamed President Trump, such as the next-of-kin of David W. Nagy of Texas, and Mark Urquiza of Arizona. Even one-time deniers of the pandemic’s seriousness have fallen ill or died: Tony Green (Texas), Ruben Mata (California), John W. McDaniel (Ohio), Gov. Mike Parson (Missouri), Karen Kolb Sehlke (Texas), Tony Tenpenny (Tennessee),

Tim Walters (Maryland), and, undoubtedly, many more.

In a crisis where people face an insidious, invisible foe, an airborne transmission that can kill, we can’t expect to be unaffected. If we’re “on our own,” we’re vulnerable to others who may not yet know they’re infected and to those who’ve endangered communities with their own personal sense of freedom.

Have we just given up? Are we doomed?

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