An Intervention?
Interventions can take many forms: individually and collectively. In this issue I will suggest a few possible examples.
In a recent issue I discussed Robert Putnam’s new book, The Upswing, which provides extensive coverage of our recovery from the gross inequities of the so-called (by Mark Twain) Gilded Age, at the end of the 19th century. Quoting from that issue:
“…the only way we can recover our sense of community is a substantial renewal of what created the first recovery: a ground swell of activism by millions of regular citizens determined to join together to change the culture. Bottom-up, in other words, not top-down. Our putative leadership has failed, too busy trying to protect their privileged status.”’
The administrator of my digest (who just happens to be my sister!) has suggested four specific areas that require our urgent attention: (1) Gerrymandering, The primary tactic that the Republicans have used to maintain their minority rule is gerrymandering–the redrawing of state legislative districts to minimize the voting power of areas that usually vote for Democratic candidates, mostly urban areas with large minority demographics, and maximizing the voting power of rural districts which are more likely to vote for Republicans. Thus, many state legislatures are now passing absurd and unjustified voting requirements that would usually be ruled unconstitutional by courts if they had not been salted with so many extreme right-wing judges by McConnell and his colleagues in the Senate. God only knows what this current Supreme Court (6-3 extreme right-wing justices) will rule when they eventally get the appeals.
(2) Stacy Abrams. Her new book, Our Time is Now, explains how she engineered the election of two Democratic Senators in order to insure the putative Democratic majority in the Senate, I call it putative because at least two of the 50 nominal Democrats are acting more like Independents, refusing to agree to vote fror any of President Biden’s proposed bills. Nevertheless, Abrams proved that it is possible to convince enough voters to overcome Republican obstacles and vote. Which leads me to….
(3) Make every effort at the local level to motivate our voters to get out and vote, no matter how difficult it may be. Offering rides is good, encouraging those who can’t (or won’t) actually vote in person to submit absentee ballots, writing letters to editors, etc.