Even corporations oppose voter suppression

 

Bill Knight column for 4-15, 16 or 7, 2021

More than 100 leaders from airlines, manufacturers, the NFL and retailers on Saturday met online to discuss action to fight state bills they see as discriminatory. Corporations including Coca Cola, Delta Air Lines and UPS are considering delaying investments in states trying to suppress the voter or curtailing campaign contributions.

Recent struggles concerning the right to vote in free and fair elections – key to self-governance – include the U.S. Supreme Court on March 2 hearing arguments about an Arizona law limiting voting access; the House on March 3 passing the “For the People” Act (HR 1) protecting voting; and President Biden on March 7 signing an executive order to promote voting access.

Outside Washington, dozens of states are considering Republican proposals to limit voting, including Georgia, where lawmakers on March 25 enacted a law limiting mail ballots and early voting, adding ID requirements, prohibiting giving water and food to people in line at polling places, and giving the state more power over local election boards.

However, Illinois is defying the reactionary movement.

The state’s General Assembly approved a measure that runs counter to the national trend (and negative effects of other bills in Springfield). House Bill 1871 allows the use of ballot drop boxes, curbside voting, and the acceptance of ballots regardless of insufficient postage. Passing Illinois’ House March 18 with 70 Democrats voting yes and 41 Republicans voting no, it was OK’d by the state Senate 48-7 on March 25, with all no votes from GOP Senators. Gov. Pritzker signed it April 2 – in time for this month’s elections.

Likewise, the federal HR 1 would lower barriers to voting through automatic, online or same-day registration, making Election Day a federal holiday, establishing a 15-day minimum for early voting for federal elections, expanding ways to vote by mail, and ensuring paper-ballot records. Of course, Senate passage is unlikely.

GOP opponents complain that counting mail-in ballots arriving after Election Day – even those cast on time – would lead to uncertainty about results on election night. (So? It’s more vital to count all the votes, regardless of delays beyond voters’ control, than to oblige impatient viewers.)

Other foes, such as Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Peoria), voted against H.R. 1 because it infringed on states’ rights (which for years was the excuse for discriminations like segregated schools).

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court could uphold Arizona laws banning out-of-precinct voting and restricting collection of early ballots despite the 9th Court of Appeals saying that violates Sec. 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which prohibits procedures that discriminate, saying, “Racial discrimination was a motivating factor in enacting” Arizona’s rules.

The high Court in 2013’s “Shelby v. Holder” voted 5-4 to weaken another provision of the VRA, Sec. 5, which required federal approval for voting changes by states with a history of voter discrimination. That let states seek new restrictions on voting. Now, the Court isn’t ruling against voter suppression, but what kinds violate what’s left of the VRA, and what kinds of voter suppression are OK!

Oddly, in inadvertent honesty before the Court, GOP lawyer Michael A. Carvin admitted that easier voting makes winning harder on Republicans. Striking down Arizona’s restrictions, he said, would put “us at a competitive disadvantage.” Also, Arizona State Rep. John Kavanaugh told CNN, “Everybody shouldn’t be voting.”

Kenneth Mayer, a University of Wisconsin voting expert, told the New York Times, “The typical response by a losing party in a functioning democracy is that they alter their platform to make it more appealing. Here, the response is to try to keep people from voting.”

Elsewhere, the non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice says that Republicans in 24 states have introduced some 55 bills to restrict voting, adding, “In a backlash to historic voter turnout in the 2020 general election – and grounded in a rash of baseless allegations of voter fraud and election irregularities – legislators have introduced three times the number of bills to restrict voting access as compared to last year.”

In Illinois’ House of Representatives, nine Republican lawmakers unsuccessfully introduced 16 bills affecting access to the polls.

The GOP tries to justify this by embracing false claims of a “stolen election” and old, phony claims of widespread voter fraud – longtime Republican Christopher Krebs, U.S. Cybersecurity chief, said 2020’s election was “the most secure in American history,” and election officials from EVERY STATE said there was no proof of voter fraud when contacted by the New York Times.

Issuing his executive order commemorating the 56th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches for civil rights, Biden said, “Every eligible voter should be able to vote and have that vote counted. If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let the people vote.”

Immigration urgency has many causes - it’s STILL urgent

Bill Knight column for 4-12, 13 or 14, 2021

 One of our son’s Cub Scout friends showed up at our door one winter night without a coat or shoes, asking to come in. We let him in and gave him hot chocolate and called his mom, who picked him up.

So, I feel for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris responding to 18,000 times that number. as the Border Patrol grabbed 18,663 last month.

Yes, it’s daunting and confusing at the U.S.-Mexico border, but it doesn’t matter much that the previous administration left a mess from inhumane policies. It’s still a mess, and the skills Biden shows in the vaccination rollout must be used there. Now.

At least reporters last week were allowed access to detention centers for the first time, so people will have observers more reliable than politicians or loudmouths on talk radio or cable, where stoking rage and fear helps ratings and revenues.

There’s an urgency, but it’s less AT the border than ABOUT the border, whether ignored in Washington or Central America.

There’s no “open border,” but the number of people apprehended has grown from about 300 a day to more than 500, and thousands are held by the Border Patrol longer than the court-ordered limit of 72 hours

The border is tight (despite less than 50 miles of new wall construction done in four years), mostly due to pandemic restrictions. Analysts from the conservative Cato Institute conceded, “At no time in American history has immigration been as legally restricted as it is currently.”

Kids can’t just be freed, but facilities are outdated, underfunded and understaffed – so that 72-hour incarceration limit is impossible to follow.

Blame Biden, but don’t stop there.

Blame Trump and previous administrations, too.

Blame repressive home countries where poverty, corruption and violence threaten regular people fleeing from disasters, economic catastrophes and political unrest.

And blame U.S. employers who illegally hire undocumented immigrants to cut payrolls, companies that very rarely face consequences for their criminality.

Now, criticism comes from Democrats’ complaining about a slow-walked reversal of Trump’s illegal, inhumane policies, and repeating their long-held argument that lengthy detention of children is outrageous, and from Republicans accusing Biden of encouraging immigration.

“This didn’t happen overnight,” said Sawyer Hackett, an aide to former Housing Secretary Julian Castro. “It’s extremely irresponsible to even accept that this is related to Biden. There weren’t people in Honduras or Guatemala who suddenly thought, ‘It’s time to start that 2,000-mile trek to the border’.”

Elsewhere, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas objected to calling the situation a crisis, saying, “A crisis is when a nation is willing to rip a 9-year-old child out of the hands of his or her parent and separate that family to deter future migration. That is a humanitarian crisis.”

Further, arrivals of unaccompanied minors started increasing last spring, tripling between May and October, according to U.S. Customs, and it’s had similar influxes during the Obama and Bush years.

Reuters reported more than 100,000 people overall apprehended at the border one month last year, higher than the worst during Obama’s terms (about 50,000/month twice), but not as bad during the Bush years, when apprehensions reached 200,000/month – with few GOP complaints.

Republicans who praised the kids-in-cages family separation deterrence policy now fake concern. Shrugging off obvious hypocrisy, the GOP is prepping a 2022 campaign issue.

Meanwhile, Harris may use proposed deals to loan Mexico extra COVID-19 vaccines and provide $4 billion to develop the region to pressure Mexican President Obrador to accept more Central Americans turned back under pandemic orders AND close its borders to nonessential travelers.

But engagement can’t stop there. The U.S. government must improve messaging to discourage those considering coming north; set up better, expanded channels for refugees; enact a guest-worker program; expand the existing asylum process; and pass comprehensive immigration reform including a pathway to citizenship – especially for adult “Dreamers” brought here years ago as kids. (At least the House in March passed bills to legalize farmworkers and enact ways to become citizens – if only the Senate would even hear such ideas.)

“There’s no open border here,” said Texas Judge Richard Cortez. “The border is shut down to most everyone. How can we tell the rest of America to wake up and tell your congressional people that what we need is comprehensive immigration reform?”

Socialism is an idea, not the Boogeyman

 

Bill Knight column for 4-8, 9 or 10, 2021

 In today’s divisive climate, if there were no public libraries and you proposed the idea of using tax money to buy books to loan out for free, imagine the response from some cynics: “What? Free books? How would that work, STALIN?!”

Public libraries are just one common-sense notion that puts community before commerce.

It’s socialistic.

Of course, for people of certain ages or political preferences, “socialism” sparks fear, confusion or regret at corrupted attempts. And small minds use the term against political foes, unfairly labeling them unpatriotic, authoritarian or worse. For what? Prioritizing everyday folks instead of campaign contributors and the rich?

Knee-jerks generalize social-oriented ideas with heavy-handed regimes depriving citizens of health care, food or freedoms. Yet many Republicans want to cut Social Security, food stamps, Medicare, etc.

Socialism is an economic philosophy preferring resources and businesses be run for the benefit of the public. However, its real-world application ranges from garden co-ops to municipal-owned electric companies. Other alternatives to capitalism enriching owners (who control resources, labor and markets) run the gamut from communist dictatorships to Israeli kibbutzes.

The power structure for years equated socialism with totalitarian regimes such as Russia or Venezuela while ignoring capitalism also has authoritarian states: Singapore, Turkey … Further, Right-wingers don’t recognize nations with socialist programs without repression, like the Nordic countries.

In fact, during the Cold War, many of the United States’ allies had strong socialist parties and policies like universal health coverage – Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom – along with traditional private-sector economies and free democracies.

“Social democrats use government to oversee the economy so that corporations and the wealthy are prevented from dominating and exploiting society,” wrote Joe Conason, author of “Big Lies: The Right-wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth.”

“Social democrats see health care and education as public goods that should be provided to everyone, because that benefits society as well as individuals,” he continued. “And social democrats view the natural environment, including breathable air and potable water, as birthrights for government to safeguard.”

Despite scare-mongering, U.S. socialistic programs are common, from farm subsidies to fire departments. And recent polls show that Americans have warmed to socialism. Last year, a Gallup poll said 43% of Americans say socialism would be a good thing. Among 18 to 34 year olds, 58% welcome the idea.

Until 2015 – when Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist, campaigned for president and made socialism seem to be an idea more interesting than threatening – socialism was rarely discussed, so many were unfamiliar with it. Besides Sanders, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and scholar Cornel West, past figures considered themselves socialists or promoted socialist goals. Francis Bellamy wrote the Pledge of Allegiance and also preached socialism and Christ’s teachings; Albert Einstein blasted capitalism in his essay “Why socialism?” and said capitalism was detrimental to humanity.

Others include journalist George Orwell and author Sam Clemens, philosopher Bertrand Russell and activist Helen Keller, artist Pablo Picasso and revered rebel/statesman Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King, who in 1952 wrote, “Capitalism has out-lived its usefulness. We have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor.”

The 2020 documentary “The Big Scary ‘S’ Word,” recalls its rich heritage. Abraham Lincoln and Karl Marx corresponded; writers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne tried small colonies built around communal structures; Milwaukee from 1910 to 1960 was governed by socialists (including Carl Sandburg, an aide to socialist Mayor Emil Seidel); socialist Congressman Victor Berger of Wisconsin in 1916 introduced the country’s first proposal for “old-age pensions”; later in the 20th century, socialists such as Norman Thomas and Michael Harrington influenced New Deal and Great Society programs, respectively; and organized labor had avowed socialists Eugene Debs (who got a million votes for U.S. President in 1912) and A. Philip Randolph of the AFL-CIO, a civil rights icon.

U.S. President (and anti-Communist Cold Warrior) Harry S Truman in Syracuse, N.Y., in October 1952 put it best: “Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.

“When the Republican candidate inscribes the slogan ‘Down with Socialism’ on the banner of his ‘great crusade,’ that is really not what he means at all. What he really means is ‘Down with Progress – down with Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal,’ and ‘down with Harry Truman's Fair Deal.’ That's all he means.”