19 Comments

Voting rights are very, very, very, very, very important. Kudos to TX Dems.

Still, I think the Dems and the media make a mistake in ignoring other key parts of the For the People Act in their messaging. This bill would outlaw gerrymandering and reduce the polarization and cynicism that gerrymandering causes. It would end dark money. It would require all voting machines to have a paper trail and be made in the U.S., and it would make election day a holiday. These parts of the bill are nearly universally popular, and we should be touting them more.

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Voting rights—and The For The People Act—are so absolutely, ridiculously unarguably American, that I keep thinking there MUST be a mysterious valid argument from SOME opponent. I haven’t believed in oversimplified “good vs evil” stories since I saw Unforgiven as a teenager, but here we are. Seriously: is this all truly a case of half of the government literally taking a play from the Trump playbook to “win” rather than to do their actual job and “compromise”?

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This is all in the laps of Senators Manchin and Sinema. All of it. They have it in their hands to protect democracy in this country or to simply cede control of the country to the Republicans.

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For GOD’s SAKE Senate Democrats MUST MUST MUST get the voting rights bill passed At ALL COSTS!!!!

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Good for the Democratic Texas House Representatives for personally standing up for the voters of Texas! Now let’s see President Biden & the Democratic Senators take action to do the right thing & fight the good fight & protect our voting rights. Our elected representatives are in Washington to take the necessary action to run our country for the good of our citizens, not to grab power & enrich themselves by oppressing hard-working Americans.

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Keep On Pushin'

Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions

************************************

Keep on pushin'

Keep on pushin'

I've got to keep on pushing

I can't stop now

Move up a little higher

Someway or somehow

'Cause I've got my strength

And it don't make sense

Not to keep on pushin'

Hey, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Keep on pushin'

Now, maybe some day

I'll reach that higher goal

I know I can make it

With just a little bit of soul

'Cause I've got my strength

And it don't make sense

Not to keep on pushin'

Now look a look, look a look

A look a yonder

A what's that I see

A great big stone wall

Stands there ahead of me

But I've got my pride

And I'll move the wall aside

And keep on pushin'

Hey, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

Keep on pushin'

Keep on pushin'

What I say, yeah

Keep on pushin'

Well, that's alright

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The Republicans won’t give up until they are the only ones allowed to vote and if we don’t stop all their maneuvering and manipulation in the south then we northerners will be next! Are YOU ok being knocked off the voter lists?!?!

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Why are the two democrats against changing the filibuster? If that really is their only option, why would two democrats be opposed? I can't figure this one out.

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Words are cheap unless they are backed by action. Democrats in Texas have shown the country it is far past time to act by leaving the state and traveling to meet with the people who can stop the Republican Party in Texas—and every GOP-controlled state—from rigging our elections. National Democrats from President Biden to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to Speaker Pelosi have praised Texas Democrats for "their brave action." What they have not done is applied public pressure on Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema and any other misguide Senator who refuses to even carve out a piece of the filibuster in order to pass a desperately-needed national voting rights act.

Why should anyone vote for Democrats—especially African American voters who rescued Joe Biden's presidential campaign—if they are not going to fight for our right to vote. I will continue to tune out Biden's bluster about the threat to democracy—accurate as he might be—until he and other Democratic leaders decide to act instead of just keep talking. Asking the Republicans to come to their senses? Is that a punchline to a joke?

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Every Democrat and left leaner Independent should be as brave and convicted for voting rights as these Texas House members. I doubt Biden could change Manchin and Sinema as I suspect they are on someone else's payroll. But he should do it because that day he sees in there future is now. 2020 election cycle is too important to let this go.

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Would it sound too harsh to say, “I loathe republicans, the big bucks funding their god-awful legislation and everything they’re doing or allowing to be done to the people in this country”? I’m going to add too, that too many people are allowing what Texas and far too many other states are doing, without seeing the inherent danger to not only all affected by their egregious actions but to them as well.

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