These are extraordinary times and my 2020 endorsement reflects that
For my 2020 endorsement, it is no surprise that I am voting for the Biden-Harris ticket.
And it is also no surprise that I am voting for the entire Democratic candidate slate.
The reason is because everything is on the ballot.
The Trump-Pence administration has grossly mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic to the point that it has interrupted every aspect of American life ranging from schools, sporting events, and other public gatherings. Trump, his campaign, and his Republican allies have downplayed and gone as far as ignoring the severity as well as mocking those that are taking this health crisis seriously.
Trump and several people within the White House have contracted the virus that appears to stem from the president announcing Amy Coney Barrett as his newest choice for the Supreme Court. At that event, there was little to no social distancing and very few people wearing masks.
Most importantly, 215,000 people have died and the number continues to rise. The United States has 4% of the world’s population but accounts for nearly a quarter of the COVID-19 cases of 7.8 million. Our country is a COVID-19 hotspot.
Speaking of the Supreme Court, Trump is likely going to get his third court pick through. We were on the verge of a 5-4 liberal court had Clinton won with carrying the Senate races and now we are staring at a 6-3 conservative court with the possibility of a 7-2 conservative court if Trump gets another term along with Republicans controlling the senate.
Republicans are claiming that Democrats are pursuing a scheme to pack the courts if Biden wins and the Senate flips. The truth is first, the Constitution says nothing about the size of the federal court system. When the Supreme Court was established under the Judiciary Act of 1789, there were six justices: a chief justice and five associate justices. The court was expanded to seven in 1807, nine in 1837, and then finally its largest size of ten in 1863.
There was a plan to shrink the court down to seven in order to limit Andrew Johnson’s power but in 1869 the Supreme Court size was set at nine where it remains to this day.
If anyone has been engaged with a court packing scheme, it has been the Republicans over nearly 35 years that began with the failed nomination of Robert Bork. Central to this plan was Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell and him shaping the court system to his will over that time. Most notably was holding several judicial vacancies during the Obama administration and culminating with him keeping a Supreme Court seat open after the death of Scalia in early 2016 by claiming that it was too close to the election and that the American people needed to weigh in.
That was proven to be hypocritical not with the passing of Ginsburg last month but rather with Anthony Kennedy’s retirement in 2018 which was an election year with the congressional midterms. Despite concerns about Kavanaugh’s past conduct, McConnell whipped the votes and pushed the nomination through that was the narrowest since the confirmation for Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991.
It is not only pushing this confirmation through but McConnell has vowed to block a prospective Biden administration’s agenda. It is straight from the playbook of what McConnell and other Republicans vowed to do just hours into Barack Obama’s presidency. There are serious issues in this country and it is not just the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are a bunch of bills sitting in McConnell’s inbox but he is refusing to bring them to the Senate floor for a vote.
Among them is the For the People Act that would make Election Day a federal holiday, replace gerrymandering with non-partisan commissions for US House districts, and limit the influence of money in the American political system.
Another is the Equality Act which would update existing federal civil rights laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity protections in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, and other areas of concern. The recent Bostock v. Clayton County, GA ruling only applies to employment. This would help LGBTQ Americans in achieving a sense of equal standing in society.
The Bipartisan Background Checks Act is doing something instead of thoughts and prayers to address the epidemic of mass shootings that have taken place at schools, a night club, an outdoor concert, college campuses, churches, and any other gatherings. It would establish new background check requirements.
In response to the use of dangerous lethal force on George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, and other victims of color, the House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. There is also a bill in committee about ending qualified immunity, but it probably will not pass the House until the new congress convenes beginning in January 2021.
The federal minimum wage can be raised for the first time in nearly a decade, seriously addressing the climate crisis, repealing the Trump tax cuts and reforming the tax code so that the economic field is not so strongly tilted towards those at the top…
But these bills are collecting dust since they are not McConnell’s priority. Now if it was a conservative justice filling a vacancy, then perhaps he would move it to the top of his list.
Even if Democrats flip the White House and hold the House, it doesn’t do any good if Mitch McConnell remains majority leader. And the way to get him out of that office is by flipping the Senate as well.
And it is not just changing who is in the federal government but also in those state capitols as well: who the governor, attorney general, and state legislator all comes to play especially given events over the last year.
Many of the terrible ideas that Republicans have introduced over the last ten years – attacks on voting, blatantly partisan legislative maps, restricting abortion access, so-called religious freedom bills, bathroom bills that are largely unenforceable, refusing to partake in Medicaid expansion – did not suddenly pop out of thin air, but originated in state capitols.
Looking at you, Texas
I still have family and friends in Texas, and I wish they had Colorado’s method of voting instead of registration deadlines and the potential of long lines at the ballot box. They should not have to risk their health and wellbeing in order to cast their ballots, but they are doing so because of the importance of this election
There are also other races: mayors, district attorneys, county commissioners and judges, sheriff, city council members, dog catcher. Again, as shown over the last year, it does matter who is in those offices.
But it all boils down to this
Once Trump and his fellow Republicans are defeated, it is over.
No more late night tweet rants about how unfair everything is towards him. No more incompetency. No more blatant lies about whose crowds were bigger. No more being an international embarrassment. No more of fools like Ivanka, Stephen Miller, Bill Barr, and the revolving door of idiots who prop up this terrible administration. No more chaos. No more Trump.
We can rebuild and do it better. As I mentioned back in my Democratic primary endorsement in March 2020, this administration has gutted our bureaucratic infrastructure and that the number of departures resembled one seen at a major airport. I feel that Biden and especially Harris can draw on various talent pools to fill those necessary posts that wouldn’t surprise me if they haven’t been manned since the final seconds of the Obama administration on 20 January 2017.
Oh, and I haven’t mentioned impeachment and the 52 Republicans who decided to put Trump ahead of the Constitution. With so much that has happened in the last eight months, the Trump impeachment hearings, trial, and conviction feels like it was another time period.
And I may have to do a separate post on how Trump has disparaged those who have served like myself, their families, and his foreign policy decisions have been abysmal.
Like I said earlier, there are real issues that need to be tackled and it is going to take hard work to do it. It is going to take hard work to address the climate crisis. There are going to be some hard conversations to tackle the systemic racism in our criminal justice system. And there will be some hard truths that are going to have to be acknowledged in dealing with the Trump administration’s immigration policy that resulted in family separation and the interment of human beings in less than ideal conditions that was deplorable, criminal, and shameful.
Unfortunately, the Republicans are no longer up to the task and we need to send a loud message that they are fired. They need to sit in timeout and think about what they have done for a VERY long time.
And it is not for just this election, but future elections as well.
2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028…. you get the idea.
In my post honoring the legendary Monica Roberts, she stressed in every election to vote for the Democratic slate because in her own words you do not get progressive policies from conservative politicians.
I really hope that this country has learned the harsh lesson over the last ten years and especially after nearly four of those years with Trump in the White House about what happens when Republicans get any foothold of power.
The only way that we are going to move away from this disaster is by voting Biden-Harris into the White House, along with flipping the Senate to Democratic control, increasing the House majority for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and winning as many elections at the state and local level to close the book and start a new one in American history.
In closing I will note that I turned in my ballot on this specific day. For one, it is the start of early voting in Texas and I’m doing so in solidarity with my Texas connections.
And two, this is the Navy’s birthday.
All hands on deck, folks. The general quarters alarm is sounding.
It is long past time to get in formation and answer the call to duty.
Vote as if everything, including your life, is on the ballot.
Because it truly is in these extraordinary times
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