Black voters are democracy’s most reliable engine for progress, so an attack on our power is the first move in a broader assault on everyone the powerful decide is expendable.
Thank you. I earned $320 as an election judge for the primary in Chicago. I just got the check. I will donate the entirety of it to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
I had a nightmare last night that I believe was triggered by the recognition that once they are successful in taking away the rights of Black people, as is now happening, none of us are safe. This is just the beginning for them. You say it very well. My dream informed me that I am feeling this at a deep personal level as I should be. It is personal not only because I am a woman, but I value this country’s multiculturalism and diversity. It is core to who I am.
Thank you so much Nadine for detailing the far reaching impact of the recent Supreme Court decision to further gut the Voting Rights Act. I am a baby boomer and well remember the idealism I once shared with so many young Americans. We were pushing for change that would make our country better for all ... change that would be forever, I thought. Into my seventh decade now, I see the good that came of those changes to have been an anomaly over the course of history. How disappointing and frightening it is to witness the erosion of the principles and values that I've stood for and thought our country did too. For the sake of us all, I hope to see a complete turnaround come November.
I have reached the sad conclusion that Red and Blue America are like a couple stuck in a bad, rapidly becoming abusive, marriage that’s ruptured beyond repair. We’ve reached the point where the best solution is a (friendly, I hope—but doubt) divorce.
Think of it—Blue America can set up a modern country, with a modern economy based on technology and information. There will be equal rights and representation in a democratic (small d) government. Everyone will have the final say in controlling their own bodies except where endangering others is involved (so we will have immunization mandates). There will be a strong social safety net so nobody goes hungry, un-housed or without health insurance. Nobody will impose their religious beliefs on anyone else, and everyone will be free to follow whatever religion they want, or no religion if they so desire.
And the bumpkins, morons, Yahoos, misogynists, bigots, racists, rubes and boobs of Red America can have their hearts’ delight setting up their very own Third World country, right here on the North American continent! The government will be authoritarian, with no free elections and with few rights. Women will be considered the property of their fathers (or oldest male blood relative if dad is dead) until they marry, and then they will be property of their husband. It will have a Third World economy, based on extraction (agriculture, mining, timber, heavy manufacturing) with a very few ultra-rich people who live apart from society and feel no responsibility toward it. They won’t be in the government because they don’t have to be—the government will be at their beck and call. There will be a small middle class, running ever faster on the economic treadmill just to stay even. There will be a good-sized working class, working several jobs, none of which has benefits, just to make ends meet. And there will be a large underclass, living in shantytowns, just trying to survive. There will be epidemics of (and deaths from) measles, German Measles (with its attendant lethal birth defectcs), Hepatitis A and B, and many other vaccine-preventalbe diseases so the morons can have their freedom to spread disease.
I don’t pretend that the divorce will be easy. First, all of us have been living high on the hog from other people’s borrowed money so we’ll need to split up the national debt. We’ll also need to divvy up Federal property. Harder still will be the fact that even in deep Blue states, rural areas are solidly red—like the Eastern Shore and Appalachia in Maryland. Similarly, in ruby-Red Texas, the big cities (Houston, Austin, San Antonio) are solidly Blue and even Dallas is competitive. The disruption will be akin to setting up India and Pakistan when British South Asia was partitioned in 1947. But we’ll work it out.
Thank you. I earned $320 as an election judge for the primary in Chicago. I just got the check. I will donate the entirety of it to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, ACLU, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
I had a nightmare last night that I believe was triggered by the recognition that once they are successful in taking away the rights of Black people, as is now happening, none of us are safe. This is just the beginning for them. You say it very well. My dream informed me that I am feeling this at a deep personal level as I should be. It is personal not only because I am a woman, but I value this country’s multiculturalism and diversity. It is core to who I am.
Yet he STILL walks a free man!
Oh, the shame.
We fiddle while our countries democracy burns. What thousands have stood up and defended with their lives we now turn our back on.
He still walks a free man.
We are above our head in SHAME!
None are free until we all are free.
It was an honor to attend Dr. King's speech and convocation in August 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial. He was right then, and is right today.
Thank you so much Nadine for detailing the far reaching impact of the recent Supreme Court decision to further gut the Voting Rights Act. I am a baby boomer and well remember the idealism I once shared with so many young Americans. We were pushing for change that would make our country better for all ... change that would be forever, I thought. Into my seventh decade now, I see the good that came of those changes to have been an anomaly over the course of history. How disappointing and frightening it is to witness the erosion of the principles and values that I've stood for and thought our country did too. For the sake of us all, I hope to see a complete turnaround come November.
I have reached the sad conclusion that Red and Blue America are like a couple stuck in a bad, rapidly becoming abusive, marriage that’s ruptured beyond repair. We’ve reached the point where the best solution is a (friendly, I hope—but doubt) divorce.
Think of it—Blue America can set up a modern country, with a modern economy based on technology and information. There will be equal rights and representation in a democratic (small d) government. Everyone will have the final say in controlling their own bodies except where endangering others is involved (so we will have immunization mandates). There will be a strong social safety net so nobody goes hungry, un-housed or without health insurance. Nobody will impose their religious beliefs on anyone else, and everyone will be free to follow whatever religion they want, or no religion if they so desire.
And the bumpkins, morons, Yahoos, misogynists, bigots, racists, rubes and boobs of Red America can have their hearts’ delight setting up their very own Third World country, right here on the North American continent! The government will be authoritarian, with no free elections and with few rights. Women will be considered the property of their fathers (or oldest male blood relative if dad is dead) until they marry, and then they will be property of their husband. It will have a Third World economy, based on extraction (agriculture, mining, timber, heavy manufacturing) with a very few ultra-rich people who live apart from society and feel no responsibility toward it. They won’t be in the government because they don’t have to be—the government will be at their beck and call. There will be a small middle class, running ever faster on the economic treadmill just to stay even. There will be a good-sized working class, working several jobs, none of which has benefits, just to make ends meet. And there will be a large underclass, living in shantytowns, just trying to survive. There will be epidemics of (and deaths from) measles, German Measles (with its attendant lethal birth defectcs), Hepatitis A and B, and many other vaccine-preventalbe diseases so the morons can have their freedom to spread disease.
I don’t pretend that the divorce will be easy. First, all of us have been living high on the hog from other people’s borrowed money so we’ll need to split up the national debt. We’ll also need to divvy up Federal property. Harder still will be the fact that even in deep Blue states, rural areas are solidly red—like the Eastern Shore and Appalachia in Maryland. Similarly, in ruby-Red Texas, the big cities (Houston, Austin, San Antonio) are solidly Blue and even Dallas is competitive. The disruption will be akin to setting up India and Pakistan when British South Asia was partitioned in 1947. But we’ll work it out.