Category: Voting_and_Elections

Courage in Smithfield

I was surprised at how aggressive my candidate was toward her opponent in Monday’s debate in Smithfield.  Elane Luria won the debate easily for any honest person who saw the debate as a contest of intelligence, courage, and a record of accomplishments.  But I don’t think she would have won had it been a personality contest. In fact, it put me off at first.

Perhaps it’s difficult to keep cool when sharing the dais with someone who refuses to tell the truth for fear of losing the votes of anti-democratic enemies of our nation. Perhaps it’s infuriating to watch a fellow Navy officer betray her nation.

Jen Kiggans’s refusal to say that Joe Biden won the election that Donald Trump’s own people certified – in some cases risking their lives to do so – and called the most secure election in U.S. history is a betrayal of our nation. It’s a rallying cry for our enemies. Those enemies were in the room at Smithfield Station Monday night, cheering Kiggans’s refusal to answer a direct question. Imagine going to a forum to hear your candidate’s views, and cheering your candidate’s refusal to answer a question.

We all knew what it meant when Donald Trump refused to disavow the endorsement of KKK Grand Wizard David Duke until after days of pressure, when he finally said, “I disavow, OK?”, and we know what Trump meant when asked to condemn his racist and anti-democratic supporters but instead said, “Stand Back and Stand By”. Jen Kiggans means the same thing when she repeats slogans instead of answering, “did Joe Biden win the election?”

Elaine Luria is showing courage by digging for the truth while representing a district highly made up of people who don’t want to know the truth, and some of whom have demonstrated a willingness to use violence. Is Jen Kiggans a coward? I don’t think so. Cowards don’t generally fly military helicopters. I have to think that Kiggans is driven by ambition. That may not be cowardice, but it’s not courage either. Kiggans needs the insurrectionist, traitor vote to win. She’d rather win than stand up for the truth.

Republicans need the insurrectionist vote to win, but America won’t win that way. Politeness won’t save us. Courage will. Vote Elaine Luria

Auditorium with Kiggans and Luria seated at a table in front of the room on a raised platform. Taken from the back of the room behind a seated audience
Luria / Kiggans forum in Smithfield

Republican Traitors have been Attacking Democracy for Decades

Heather Cox Richardson tells us (or reminds us, for the old folks) that Republican lies about voter fraud are just the latest attacks on Democracy which have been “part and parcel of Republican governance” for decades

I remember voter purges across several states well before Donald Trump’s candidacy, which knocked hundreds of thousands of people off the roles. In describing one effort to purge legitimate voters in Louisiana in 1986, Richardson quotes a National Republican Committee member boasting, “This could keep the Black vote down considerably”

Republican anti-democratic tactics include purges, closing polls in poor neighborhoods, biased ID requirements (like accepting handgun licenses but not student IDs), making it legally dangerous to register voters (see Democracy in One Book or Less by David Litt, chapter 3), and making it difficult for people who lost their right to vote to regain it.

Any law that makes it difficult to vote disproportionately affects those who face difficulties to begin with – like those who have transportation or child care challenges, who work long or unusual hours, or who have recently moved. People in those groups are more likely to be Democrats.

But when Republican efforts to prevent likely Democratic voters from casting a vote aren’t enough to keep Republicans in power, they turn to overturning election results.

Today’s election deniers are just the latest strain of vote-denying Republicans, and if they gain more power this year, elections will be less fair in years to come than they have been since before the sixties.

The first step to restoring progress in Democracy is to vote.

Virginia HD64: Your candidate or Dominion Energy’s candidate?

Dominion Energy is the top donor to Michael Drewry’s opponent.   Michael is not accepting donations from big donors like Dominion Energy, because Michael Drewry wants to work for you.  As our delegate in the 64th District, Michael Drewry will represent and fight for the people, as he did on the Surry County Board of Supervisors

As it says on his website,

By the end of the year, all of Surry County will have broadband internet access. And, while his opponent now voted against a Virginia House resolution recognizing water as a human right, Michael brought brand-new water infrastructure to Dendron.

Drewry for Delegate

If you donate to or volunteer for Michael Drewry’s campaign, you will be among real people working for a better future. If you live in the 64th House of Delegates district in Virginia, a vote for Michael Drewry is a vote to put power back in the hands of the people who make up the district.

Pack it

The reason I would have been reluctant to pack the Supreme Court is fear of setting a precedent. It would have been the idea that if we do this, then they’ll do that, and we don’t want to start down that path.

That fear is nullified because I no longer believe that any restraint on the part of Democrats will influence Republicans. No courtesy that we extend will be reflected in kind. No attempt to preserve our norms and traditions will make Republicans regard those norms and traditions with reverence.

Quoting a friend on social media

“We should expect nothing but bare-knuckled realpolitik from Republicans from now on; we have to stop being shocked. This is the reality of the GOP moving forward. Nothing is sacred to them, even the sanctity of the vote or the stability of the republic.”

https://mastodon.social/@monkeyborg

Some Republicans still put the United States above Trumpism, but they no longer drive the party. It is no longer an exaggeration that Trump could shoot someone on 5th Avenue. They are murdering us in the streets.

I no longer fear setting dangerous precedents with Republicans. Now I fear not setting them.

I don’t care about whining Trump supporters

Every now and then I have the urge to waste my time and look into an accusation that Trump supporters make about Democrats playing unfairly. They’re making accusations now to justify their attempts to stop the count of legally cast votes. Occasionally, their accusations have some grain of truth.

But I remember birtherism. I remember Ted Cruz boasting about shutting down the government and then denying he did so. I remember that Donald Trump is the most dishonest and corrupt president in American history, who has told thousands of lies while profiting from his office. I remember Trump’s central campaign promise that Mexico would pay for the wall, and how when that didn’t happen Republicans supported him declaring a bullshit national emergency so he can steal money from the military to build it. I remember him breaking an explicit promise to the Dreamers because he wasn’t happy with how many American tax dollars were going into his fucking wall. I remember how Republicans blocked hearings for Merrick Garland over a bullshit rule that they made up about not seating a Supreme Court justice in an election year, and how they broke that rule with fanfare and glee by pushing through Amy Coney Barrett, one of the most unqualified Supreme Court justices in recent history only a month before an election so she can support Trump if tries to win by cheating.

It’s time for me to stop giving a fuck about the accusations of Trump supporters any more. It’s time for me stop wondering if there’s a grain of truth in their lies. We’ve had more than four years of non-stop lies, corruption, and some of the dirtiest tricks ever played by an American political party. Some Republicans have been so disgusted by their own party that they’ve turned on Trump and his supporters. Those Republicans still have some credibility. Trump supporters have none.

A Few Reminders about How Much Donald Trump Loves America and American Heroes

Donald Trump took no action with intelligence that a Russian spy agency was paying the Taliban to kill American troops

Donald Trump threatened to veto military pay in order to defend Confederate base names

Donald Trump spent most of Memorial Weekend 2020 golfing and tweeting Insults

Donald Trump ordered thousands of National Guard members home just one day before they would qualify for education and retirement benefits

Donald Trump took money from the military to pay for his border wall

Donald Trump vilified and fired Purple Heart recipient Lt. Col. Vindman for telling the truth under oath about Trump’s “perfect” phone call

Donald Trump lied to all of the men and women serving their country when he said he was the first to sign a pay raise in 10 years

Donald Trump took a year and 11 months to finally, reluctantly, visit the troops in combat zones.

Donald Trump referred to fallen American military members as “losers” and “suckers”

Donald Trump failed to visit the American Cemetery in France during an Armistice Day trip, and failed to visit Arlington when he returned, on Veterans Day

Donald Trump, after not visiting the troops for months, sent Vice President Pence to lie to them about who’s putting their pay in jeopardy during a government shutdown

Donald Trump’s assault on the VA has exacerbated long-standing difficulties in hiring, leaving the VA with almost 50,000 vacancies

Donald Trump Discussed Submarine Locations with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte

Donald Trump publicly insulted and argued with the mother and father of fallen soldier Captain Humayun Khan

Donald Trump insulted John McCain for having been captured in Vietnam

Donald Trump belittled real soldiers with a stupid joke about his “Personal Vietnam”

More about Donald Trump’s Insults and Abuses of the Heroes who Defend America

Williams Would be Great on City Council. I’m voting for Milteer

I like LeOtis Williams. I’ve supported him in the past when he ran for delegate and I’ll probably support him in future political endeavors. He’s a successful businessman, a philanthropist, and a popular figure in Suffolk. But he shouldn’t be in the race for the Whaleyville seat for Suffolk city council this year.

Given an electorate’s first, second, and third choice, our electoral system often elects the third. This year, that third choice will be Mike Britt, the overtly Republican candidate for Whaleyville.

City council candidates don’t run on party tickets in Virginia, but that rule has become nothing more than a technicality lately. Whaleyville votes almost 2 to 1 for the Democrat. But this year that 2 is going to be split between Williams and Curtis Milteer.

Curtis Milteer has been Whaleyville’s councilman for as long as most of his constituents can remember. Some people are saying it’s time for him to step aside and let someone younger take over. I agree, but Milteer isn’t stepping aside yet and he still has support among constituents who think he’s been good for the borough. I believe that support includes some Republicans. Milteer will lose some votes to Williams but he might still have enough to hold on to his incumbency. Williams, on the other hand, might get enough votes to beat Milteer, but he’s not going to beat Milteer and Britt. Too many Republicans are going vote for Britt and too many of Milteer’s loyalists will vote for Milteer.

And that’s going leave us with Republicans once again cheering and saying, “The people have spoken” as they seat a representative who doesn’t represent the people.

This is a redistricting year which means it’s a bad year to loose a borough to Republicans. Curtis Milteer has been doing a fine job for many years and I have faith he can keep going for a little longer. The chances of a Democrat winning if they split their vote is diminished, but Milteer has a better chance of holding on than Williams has of beating him and Britt together. My vote is too important to throw away. I’m voting for Milteer.

(note, I accidentally posted this while I was still drafting, and the earlier version had incorrect information)

A Disaster that Waited to Happen

There might be better words to describe this, but Donald Trump likes taking risks where although he’s likely to win, the cost of losing is higher than most people would feel comfortable with.  He likes it more of someone else pays the price.

The kinds of risks Trump takes are like playing Russian roulette on a bet.  With only one bullet in the cylinder, the chances of winning are high, but the cost of losing would be catastrophic.  Except for Trump, the gun has never been pointed at his own head.  It doesn’t matter to Trump if one of his companies goes bankrupt, because he has plenty of others.  It matters to the people who lose their jobs or investments.

Image: https://openclipart.org/detail/185024/roulette-wheel

That strategy works for Trump. He doesn’t have to win a lot, he just has to win more than he loses. For a while, it was working for our country, too.  We enjoyed the benefits of taking risks which, for the most part, seemed to be paying off. We’re like people who every day rode a shuttle driven by a maniac who sped and disregarded traffic signals.  Some of us cheered the thrill of the ride while others worried about crashing, but for a while, most of us enjoyed the advantages of a fast commute.

Each time Trump takes a risk, things will probably be just fine.  He ridiculed a nuclear armed madman, but America is big and scary so Kim probably won’t launch attacks against our allies.  He’s antagonizing our trading partners but America is the world’s economic superpower so they’ll probably keep sucking it up and dealing with us. He plunged us into record-breaking debt during an economic recovery – very risky according to many economists – , but America has deep pockets and we’ve been managing all that debt just fine.  And Donald Trump fired qualified doctors and scientists and put political loyalists in charge of our pandemic readiness.  Maybe it was probable that everything would be fine. How likely was it that a new breed of virus – a ‘novel’ virus – would have plagued us, and that the crisis would overwhelm a CDC led by a religious fanatic with a questionable past, or that it would turn out we really could have used some of those knowledgeable people who Trump got rid of, like the pandemic response team and our experts in China?

Individually, these risks were all risks that probably would have turned out fine. Collectively, something was bound to wrong.

Trump was always a disaster waiting to happen.  If it weren’t COVID-19, it would have been something else.  It still might be something else. 

Now we crashed and over 80,000 of us have died, will we decide that the speed was worth it?  Will we continue to endure the same kinds of risks or will we decide that more sensible leadership, like the kind of leadership which gave us almost eight years of economic stability and growth and provided smart and swift responses to the outbreaks of Ebola and H1N1, is the kind of leadership we’d rather go back to?

Every year is an election year in Virginia

If you live in Virginia, your friends and neighbors may not be aware that every year is an election year in our great commonwealth. They may think that all of the political ads, the editorials, and all of the candidate’s signs and literature don’t apply to them, and don’t apply to an election that is less than a month away, on November 5th, 2019.

Please tell them!

Don’t let the outrageous and deadly antics of our president distract us from the many state and local elections that are occurring throughout the United States of America. Perhaps that’s exactly what those antics are designed to do!

Because every year Virginia has an opportunity to rid itself of politicians who think their primary job is to protect the wealthy from taxes, to protect corporations from regulations, and to protect their own friends from prosecution.

The Democratic candidates who your friends, your neighbors, and you can help elect this year – in less than a month – have been and will continue to protect hard working Virginians like you, so you can get medical care when you need it, find quality education for you and your children, get fair pay for your hard work, and get proper representation at the polls.

Virginia needs your vote, but your vote won’t be enough. You have to help spread the word. Every year is an election year in Virginia. Make this year count!

Get Suffolk To The Polls!

Voter suppression; gerrymandering; fake news; hacking. All of these are threats to our democracy.

But our biggest threat is people not registering to vote and voters not getting to the polls!

The Suffolk Democratic Committee is working with other local organizations to register voters during National Night Out and other events in and around Suffolk.

Help us out!

Call Michele at 757-934-2929 or use the Suffolk Democratic Committee’s Contact Form to let us know that you want to register voters and get people to the polls.

Thank you!