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Political Discord Delivered Right to Your Door...How Demonizing Political Opposition in Pursuit of Campaign Contributions is making America Ungovernable

6/24/2016

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If you’re at all politically disposed, chances are that you receive the occasional (or not so occasional) entreaty for money from a candidate, political party or interest group. These solicitations usually focus on a recent hot-button issue or make a more general ideological-driven appeal…but invariably urge the recipient to pledge money.
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The one constant in these mailings is that political opponents are usually portrayed in the most unflattering way possible (to say the least). Is it any wonder America is so polarized when, in addition to increasingly vitriolic campaigns, we must also endure non-stop appeals begging for money to stop the demonic hordes of the opposition party?
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Delivering today's 2 minutes of hate. Enjoy!
Can we really be surprised that compromise has become such a dirty word when people are led to believe at every turn, in the basest terms possible, that the other side is to be despised and feared?

The relentless and never-ending effort to finance the campaigns of those seeking office has fed this beast; coarsening discourse to the point where we are now barely governable. You often hear people talk about speech needing to remain free for a republic to function, and that is true, but respectful discourse which allows for mutually beneficial compromise is pretty darn important as well!

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Our system has become a biennial contest of mutually assured destruction… no matter which side wins, the public’s belief in the government’s ability to work for them erodes just a bit more. In the end, it doesn’t much matter who’s in charge if all that remains to rule are the scorched remains of a once-great country undone by our inability to cooperate.
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Do YOU ever feel all alone...surrounded by enemies?
So how do we improve the quality of discourse without infringing on freedom of speech? As long as the driving force in elections is money, then the pursuit of money will continue to trump all else. Lessen or eliminate the need for that money, and the incentive to pull out all stops in pursuit of donations lessens as well.

A few potential solutions:
~ Create a federal clean-money system which provides qualifying candidates campaign funds in order to compete against the well-financed establishment candidates who are typically little more than mouthpieces for special interests…corporate, union or otherwise. This would offer voters alternatives to candidates beholden to special interests, although it wouldn’t completely forestall fundraising efforts. However, it very well might make going negative more difficult as the conversation expands beyond the narrow (special-interest approved) paradigm currently constricting most election discourse.

~ Similarly, universal transparency of political donations and/or spending might discourage some of the nastier stuff campaigns and PACs will sometimes mail out. Just as candidates often tend to be slightly more civil at debates when their target is standing there ready to defend themselves, so too would the tone modulate if people knew who was financing all political activity. Politicians surely know who’s behind these ads (they have to so the back-scratching loop can be closed) – increased transparency would allow voters, media and regulators (or whatever passes for one at the completely worthless FEC) to operate on a more-level playing field. This alone would not significantly improve the quality of discourse, but among its many other benefits, it might take some of the harder edges off political rhetoric.

~ There are numerous other proposals out there to lessen money’s influence on elections & public policy, up to and including constitutional amendments. In fact, Senate Democrats recently unveiled a bundle of reforms they intend to use as an election issue. Of course, they're willingness to openly admit this should give pause to progressives and reformers before they charge blindly behind Democrats who will happily reap the benefit without ever delivering any tangible results if allowed to do so (more on that another time).

~ As for a constitutional amendment, most proposals suggest taking private money out of elections entirely and/or allow Congress to regulate political spending. Either would surely have an impact, but given the way money always seems to find a way in, it would likely only be a partial one at best. Further, some of the amendment proposals being floated could easily lead to unintended consequences should they ever be ratified.

Additionally, an amendment limiting speech or granting Congress extended powers is extremely unlikely to gain the broad public support necessary to gain passage when conservatives have a much different idea about how to fix the problem of money in politics via an amendment (term limits are another popular conservative solution). 


Thus, the text of any amendment needs to be precise, and for this reason alone it is unlikely any amendment capable of actually passing would close even half of the avenues currently being used to funnel money into the political process.
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The likely result of any actual campaign to amend the Constitution.
Clearly this is not a problem easily solved, but something vitally important that everyone can do right now is to take note of the constant negative barrage being endured by the most politically active people in this country.

We would all do well to remember that this onslaught is designed to paint the opposing side in the worst possible terms. This has an immensely corrosive effect on our perception of our fellow citizens, and on our ability to effectively govern ourselves, and it hits the most politically active the hardest.

Under such relentless reinforcement of the ‘Us vs Them’ narrative, it takes a conscious effort to remind ourselves that most people who disagree with us politically are not our enemies; they are simply people just like us working towards a similar goal. Their ideas for how to get there might differ from our own, but they are not our enemy; they are our brothers and sisters...who we just happen to sometimes feel like hitting upside the head with a whiffle-ball bat.

Unfortunately few are willing (or capable?) of making this effort with any sort of consistency, and the quality of discourse and governance alike have suffered accordingly…and will continue to do so until we recognize the severity of the problem and stand up to demand change.


The ironic part is that we don’t even like the people shoveling this swill. Opinion polls would not be so universally low if most Americans agreed with the platforms of either of the two major political parties. Yet it is our unrelenting acquiescence to this two-party dynamic which helps to ensure that little ever really changes.
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Ready for something better than the lesser of two evils?
The problem isn’t that people on the left and right can’t compromise, it's that the Democratic & Republican Parties and the machinery propelling them both forward through vitriolic elections and inept governance all stand squarely in our way of doing so. 
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Politicians cannot effectively cooperate so long as they must raise money by portraying their opponents in the absolute worst possible terms. Unfortunately money rules all in Washington D.C. and cut-throat operators run most well-funded campaigns, so there is zero incentive to do anything but viciously demonize political opponents in order to secure votes and inspire maximum contributions.

This winner-take-all, scorched earth campaign unleashed on the American public every two years is without a shadow-of-a-doubt a major contributor to the widening partisan divide in this country. The fact that it is delivered so innocuously doesn’t make it any less of a threat.
In fact, it makes it a far, far graver one.

Cooperation shouldn’t be a dirty word, and those whose political beliefs differ from our own shouldn’t be our sworn enemies demonized at every turn. Money in political campaigns creates a direct motivation for political campaigns to perpetuate a harmful narrative…
especially when voters keep rewarding them time & again for doing so!
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Petition to End gossip Journalism

6/22/2016

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Is anyone else out there ready for a media that serves America, rather than the big money elite currently served by 'journalists' who rarely ever practice actual journalism? If so, please sign the petition (linked below) to revoke access/accreditation for media outlets whose political coverage exceeds 20% punditry; aka 'gossip journalism'.
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Garden Walls vs. a Tsunami of Public Opinion...Reframing The Voter ID Debate

6/16/2016

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Sorry, but most people don’t care that Voter ID laws are actually intended to rob minorities, the poor and elderly of their vote. They’re not heartless; they simply don’t see the harm.

…and the vast majority probably never will.

Certainly politically active progressives care a great deal, seeing how these laws disproportionately target constituencies which tend to vote Democrat. This group has been making a compelling, impassioned case about how voter fraud isn’t actually much of a problem, and that in solving this non-problem via Voter ID, we are in turn denying thousands upon thousands of citizens their right to vote.

Unfortunately, they have now been making this case for well over half a decade and not only do existing laws remain on the books, but new ones keep popping up.


The Root of the Problem
What makes Voter ID laws so easy to sell, and so difficult to combat, is how thoroughly pervasive photo IDs are in the lives of most Americans. We show ID when using a credit card or writing a check; we show ID when checking in at the gym or when we get a library card. Some people even wear pictures of themselves around their necks all day long. Most Americans produce a photo ID for a myriad of reasons all the time.

So when right-wing politicians and their media lapdogs come along with anecdotal horror stories of people stuffing ballot boxes and dead people voting…and then proceed to tell voters who aren’t really paying much attention that this enormous problem can be solved simply by showing a photo ID when voting. Well, that’s a no-brainer to a society mostly conditioned to present ID for a whole host of reasons we care about far less than cheats and zombies stealing our elections.

Democrats and their allies can scream the truth about what these laws are actually designed to do until they’re blue in the face, but they will keep losing time and again if that is their only strategy. While there are legitimate reasons why people don’t have ID and that requiring them to obtain one is a much greater ordeal than most would imagine, none of that really matters a bit in the broader court of public opinion.
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It’s time for a new approach.
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A Brief Background…As If It Mattered
PictureNo ID, No Access
For those who don’t know, Voter ID laws are ostensibly designed to prevent election fraud whereby a person attempts to cast multiple ballots in the same election. This is extremely rare thanks to stiff penalties already in place to deter anyone foolish enough to try. While there are rare instances of this (and again…stiff penalties when caught), is preventing a handful of extra votes being cast worth the enormous cost to society when doing so disenfranchises voters by the thousands?

Of course, this isn’t how the issue is framed by Republican-controlled statehouses eager to deny the vote to large blocks of voters who just so-happen to lean heavily to their opponents’ side. Instead, the threat of voter fraud is overblown enough to justify the law, and then American’s ambivalence about being required to show photo ID does the rest.

If the professed intent of these laws were really to prevent voter fraud as stated, then why simultaneously make it much more difficult to obtain the same ID now suddenly required to vote, as multiple states have done? Basically these politicians robbed people of their right to vote in broad daylight, told a story they knew to be complete garbage, and dared anyone to call them on it.

While a few Republicans have spoken out against the practice, exposing insider details behind the laws’ true motives, most seem comfortable sticking it to the ‘other side’. The justification that Democrats would do the same if given the opportunity probably shouldn’t be a surprise given the current partisanship and tribalism in a deeply divided America.

Yet with the passage of each new Voter ID law, another batch of American citizens is denied their right to vote. Not all of these voters support Democrats, but Republicans are clearly comfortable strategically sacrificing a number of their own voters to eliminate a much higher number who would oppose them given the opportunity. It’s a smart play by a political party looking out for its own self-interest, but it is also a cynical and morally bankrupt practice, and an absolute catastrophe for our system of self-governance.

In a democratic republic such as ours, voters choose the people who represent their interests within the framework of our government. When those in power flip that script and instead start choosing their voters -whether it be through Voter ID laws, gerrymandering, or any other ethically challenged method- that form of government is nothing but a sham; an illegitimate institution likely to ultimately collapse under the weight of its own corruption.

In the meantime, most voters with their ever-present photo IDs simply do not care that Voter ID laws are currently disenfranchising countless thousands of their fellow citizens. The sooner we all accept this fact, the sooner we can begin countering these laws in ways which might actually have a chance of success, rather than continuing down the same futile path.
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A Better Approach
PictureVoting is Smurf-Tastic!
So if the current strategy of dragging Voter ID laws into the sunlight is doomed to failure, what are the alternatives?

The first step would be to expand the vote in other ways; making it easier for all citizens to cast a ballot. This strategy has already been taken up by several states, with Illinois recently becoming the sixth state to automatically register voters when interacting with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or other select public agencies; unless a person declines to do so. 

Oregon, the lone state to have run an election with this system in place, saw a notable uptick in voter participation in this year’s May primary from 2012.

Many are now calling for automatic registration nationwide, as well as a federal holiday on Election Day to give all voters full and equal opportunity to participate in our democratic process. Both are fantastic ideas and should enjoy broad support. That said, neither would do much to help people in Voter ID states who currently don’t possess ID and would have difficulty procuring it.

Being registered to vote and having that vote be counted are two very different things.


To aid those who are running afoul of Voter ID laws, I propose that the federal government provide funding to local post offices and libraries to act as intermediaries between low-income and rural voters and their state DMV.

Both currently serve a similar function in aiding the State Department in issuing passports. Why couldn’t they do the same for voters in need of photo ID?

Post offices especially could aid in reaching rural voters for whom traveling to a metropolitan area to obtain ID is a burdensome requirement. Why not allow letter carriers, or a designated person from the post office or library, to visit these people, take a photograph and then ensure that the necessary paperwork is properly delivered to the state DMV for processing and issuance of ID?


For residents who lack the documentation to prove they are who they say they are, the government could also mandate that states must accept as proof-of-identity, a signed affidavit from a letter carrier willing to vouch for that person. 

Throw in a little extra money to subsidize the cost of acquiring ID for the poor or indigent, and most of the damage done by Voter ID laws will have been undone, while strengthening post offices and libraries across the country in the process. This seems like a much easier idea to sell than trying to convince most Americans that producing photo ID when voting is a genuine burden to anyone.


Finally, federal lawmakers considering a slate of election reform would be wise to address voter fraud, seeing as how that’s how this whole thing began. Voters are correct to be concerned about the sanctity of their vote, and the government should do everything within its power to ensure voting results to be as secure and accurate as possible.

Voter fraud at the ballot box seems pretty well covered between Voter ID laws and the legal penalties that predated them. What about other forms of voter fraud which Voter ID does nothing about?

As Stalin wryly noted, “The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” We need to strengthen protections at voting’s ground level to ensure the vote is conducted fairly and above board, and that all ballots are accurately counted.

Across the country, the infatuation with electronic voting machines seems to (thankfully!) be fading. These machines are notoriously easy to hack, and in cases where no paper trail is produced, the vote count is equally easy to manipulate by unscrupulous election officials. It seems that given the lengths we are willing to go to address a mostly nonexistent problem like in-person voter fraud, we should devote at least some attention to votes being stolen on a potentially much greater scale.

…and with an ease that in-person fraudsters could only dream of.

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​Meanwhile, election officials with a bias -whether for their party in the general election, a specific candidate in the primary or something else entirely - can easily influence election results in countless other ways both subtle and obvious.

Thus, the final part of any reform should ensure that, at a minimum, a verifiable paper trail exists when voting machines or electronic counters are being used, while also establishing national standards for our elections and those entrusted with conducting them.


These standards should cover a wide range of issues, including but not limited to base-line standards for voting equipment; minimum requirements for access to the ballot and/or polling places; as well as finer details like basic training requirements for poll-workers and the information they are required to provide voters.

Reforms of this nature would help shore up a broken system sorely in need of repair…as this year’s primaries demonstrated with uncomfortable clarity.


Of course, getting the government to act is admittedly the weak link in this plan; especially given how much both major political parties seem to view voting rights as a struggle between sides, rather than a fundamental American institution.

Still, that doesn’t mean people of conscience shouldn’t continue making the case for protecting the sanctity of the vote without denying entire groups of people their vote in the process. 

All I ask is to stop framing the issue in a manner which clearly doesn’t concern most voters. Focus instead on a broader picture of which Voter ID is only a small slice. Focus instead on creating an electoral environment where anyone who wants to vote can do so easily and the accuracy of that vote is unimpeachable.

That’s an idea most Americans can get excited about!
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    Author

    Jeremy Peters is a father, a veteran and a deeply concerned citizen who has been working to rid government of the undue influence of money for over a decade now.
    (Formerly blogged as CommonSenseMan - an homage to Thomas Paine)

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