Tag Archives: politics

“The ethical health of peoples is preserved in their indifference to the stabilization of finite institutions; just as the blowing of the winds preserves the sea from the foulness that would be the result of prolonged calm, so the corruption of nations would be the product of prolonged, let alone ‘perpetual peace’.” -#Hegel

You can strip the VRA of its protections against racial animus in voting rules.

You can gut welfare, affirmative action, voting protections and municipal rights.

You can excuse it all by saying that “slavery and racism are over, so pull yourself up by your own bootstrap!”

But don’t you ever take away that sweet, sweet Electoral College from “Middle America”.

Reading Vann Newkirk’s Atlantic piece on how North Carolina’s Moral Monday “identity politics” coalition helped defeat McCrory, and then reading an alt-weekly editor’s comment underneath the article saying that McCrory was more defeated by those outside of the Moral Monday coalition who were disgusted by McCrory’s bullshit but not disgusted enough by Trump, I don’t know who to believe.

I dunno, maybe it’s a combination of BOTH? #IdentityPolitics #p2

Minority Voting in Initiatives and Refrendums

Politics, Uncategorized,

Another factoid. Out of the 21 states which have an African-American population over 10% as per the 2010 census:

  • 13 states allow only legislatively-referred initiated constitutional amendments;
  • Mississippi allows legislatively-referred, indirect, and direct initiated constitutional amendments;
  • Maryland allows legislatively-referred state statutes, or legislatively-referred initiated constitutional amendments or referendums;
  • Florida allows legislatively-referred, and direct initiated constitutional amendments;
  • Illinois allows legislatively-referred initiative statutes, or legislatively-referred and direct initiated constitutional amendments or referendums;
  • Michigan and Ohio allow legislatively-referred and indirect initiative statutes, or legislatively-referred and direct initiated constitutional amendments or referendums;
  • Arkansas and Missouri allow direct and indirect initiative statutes, as well as direct and indirect initiated constitutional amendments or referendums.
  • Similarly, out of these same 21 states, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan and New Jersey are the only states which allow recall elections, with Georgia requiring narrower grounds for recall.

I bring this up because, in light of the Colorado referendum which failed to repeal “slavery-as-punishment” from their state constitution, the relationship between people of color (especially African-Americans) and a U.S. state’s exercise of direct democracy is something which has yet to be fully analyzed.

Electoral flexibility should matter to people of color, especially when it comes to changing our laws and our officials.

Standing Rock

Politics, Uncategorized, , ,

#StandingRock is an example of a protest movement which knows what it is protecting, its tactic of protection, and how it would not be externally policed in its tone.

Standing Rock is an example of a small, manageable protest target becoming a flash point for news media.

It’s not a grand, terrifying arch-target like police brutality, mass incarceration or income inequality. The protection is centered around a piece of land, and the goal is to stop something from happening to that land.

And it is not a frustrated reaction against a grievous incident, but a proactive protection against grievous plans.

And until the directive from the Army Corps of Engineers is made flesh before President Obama leaves office, those plans remain prone to reversal.

But Standing Rock is possible and proactive. As violent and scandalous as the suppression has been (and as scandalous and glib as the denial of Standing Rock’s claims have been), Standing Rock has been small enough to attain and big enough to attract citizens and logistical support from all walks of life. Nothing more, nothing less than this specific goal.

If the Standing Rock movement survives the winter and DAPL is permanently rerouted after Trump takes office, this will be a hard-fought victory for nonviolent protest akin to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This victory will be studied for years to come.

This is where #Occupy failed, and why it didn’t survive the winter of 2011. This is what many in the #BlackLivesMatter movement can learn about, so that we can stop people from becoming hashtags.

Goals matter. Name the future that you wish to protect, what you will do to protect it, and the outcome which you will go through hell and high water to prevent.

#NoDAPL

The Need for Liquid Democracy

Politics, Uncategorized, ,

So let’s talk about democracy as a tool of “small-r” republican governance, and what it is in 2016.

Right now, democracy is a zero-sum game. The two models of democratic exercise we use – representative and direct – are limited in their scalability.

Representative democracy is cheap but hierarchical, in which we select a very small class of people – legislators – to vote on the bills that regular folk don’t have the time to properly process.

Direct democracy is broad but expensive, in which every eligible voter is encouraged to vote, whether or not one is fully informed about a bill or has had a chance to properly process the legislation.

So I think that we need to talk about a third type of democracy, a democracy which takes from the strengths of both representative and direct democracy. One that I have read about is known as “delegative democracy”, also known as “liquid democracy”.

A liquid democracy would look like this: a referendum in which you – Voter 1 – can designate someone else – Voter 2 – to cast a vote for the referendum on your behalf, and Voter 2 can also designate someone else – Voter 3 – to cast the votes which have been assigned to Voter 2 to be cast. A person can accumulate multiple votes from many people to be cast on their behalf, but every individual can take their vote back to vote by oneself for the referendum.

It’s proxy voting on steroids, and it’s being used and advocated by several branches of the Pirate Party movement in Europe for their in-party decision making process. I think it is a third way of decision making that we should hear about more in the years to come.

I think it would also be adaptable to multiple levels of democratic governance, from the national to the municipal. And, even better, I think it would allow for public referendums to be held every day, almost as frequently as in a representative legislature.

If you’re studying political science, this is something to look into.

Nancy Pelosi Stays On

Politics, Uncategorized, ,

This win by Nancy Pelosi is immediately being spun in social media as every ugly stereotype of 2016’s elected Democrats: “Coastal”, “elitist”, “aging”, “out of touch with Middle America”, “Dems will keep losing”, “thanks for another 4 years of Trump”, “identity politics”, etc. Journalists and pundits are hedging toward this narrative, from Chris Cilizza to Krystal Ball to Matt Drudge.

Tim Ryan came in as a challenger, but I don’t think he promoted himself enough to the rank-and-file caucus members. His optics turned off quite a few politicos seeing him as a “working class white man is best to fix it” arrogant type. His interview with Lawrence O’Donnell may have strengthened that perception.

But this is also a flashpoint. A lot of people wanted a working class-descended white man from the “flyover” Rust Belt to lead the party in the House in order to shunt “identity politics” and give succor to Middle America’s Trump voters in the short term. They *really* wanted this, if at least for the political gratification of a progressive leadership in one’s likeness.

But, for better or worse, they aren’t elected Democrats.

FUN FACTOID: The 115th Congress will also be the second time that Nancy Pelosi has served as House Minority Leader under a Republican presidency. She served as Minority Leader from 2003 to 2007 under George Bush’s presidency, then became Speaker after leading the Dems to a majority.

For over 13 years and counting, Pelosi still remains the highest-ranking elected female politician in U.S. history. She was the first and only female Speaker, first and only female House Leader of a major party, and the first and only female whip of a major party in the House (2002-2003).

The 115th Congress will also remain slim and lopsided in women’s representation: the number of women in the House will drop by 1 member to 83/435 (20% of the body, compared to 50% of the U.S. population), while the Senate’s share of women will go up by 1 to a record 21/100.

Changing How Superdelegates Work

Politics, Uncategorized, ,

For those who are interested: Under the 2016 DNC Rules Committee’s reform package, a 21-member unity commission, chaired by Clinton supporter Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and vice-chaired by Sanders supporter Larry Cohen, is to be appointed “no later than 60 days” after the 2016 general election. The commission would report by January 1, 2018, and its recommendations will be voted on at the next Democratic National Committee meeting, well before the beginning of the 2020 Democratic primaries.

The commission is to consider a mix of Clinton and Sanders ideas, including:

  1. expanding ‘eligible voters’ ability to participate in the caucuses in caucus states, a Clinton campaign concern
  2. encouraging ‘the involvement in all elections of unaffiliated or new voters who seek to join the Democratic Party through same-day registration and re-registration'”, which is one of Sanders’ demands
  3. In future Democratic Conventions, about two-thirds of superdelegates would be bound to the results of state primaries and caucuses. The remaining one-third – Members of Congress, Governors, and distinguished party leaders – would remain unpledged and free to support the candidate of their choice.