The Prevention Of Voting In The US
Americans have a funny idea about democracy if their behaviour around voting is any indication. If you look at the current situation and at the history of voting in the United States there is a greater push to keep people from voting than any encouragement for them to do so. More eligible American adults didn’t vote in the last presidential election than voted for either main party by about 20 million voters. The prevention of voting in the US. American men in power prevented women getting the vote unilaterally in the US for around a century. Of course, racist America stopped black women from voting until the civil rights movement in the middle of the 20C. New Zealand gave women the vote in 1893. Russia in 1917.
“This year marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees women the right to vote. But the United States was hardly the first country to codify women’s suffrage, and barriers to vote persisted for some groups of U.S. women for decades.”
Undemocratic America Limiting The Vote
Republicans are still stopping Americans from voting for all sorts of reasons in their red states today. It is all about power and holding onto it. Disenfranchising those voters who most probably wouldn’t be voting for your side is the name of the game for the GOP in the 21C. It is a tactic they have long been exploiting over the journey. Americans have never quite grasped the importance of a fair and level playing field when it comes to running elections. In many US states it is impossible to vote if you have been convicted of a felony. Donald Trump would be ineligible, for instance. This is another policy that limits the vote. The disproportionate numbers of African American convicted felons makes this another traditional advantage for the GOP. It is no coincidence that southern states more often adhere to this voting policy. The Black Codes and Jim Crow were big obstacles to getting African Americans out to vote. By hook or by crook white southern men limited the black vote over the decades.
No Independent Electoral Body In The US
In Australia, we have the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) running things. This is an independent body not associated with either of the main political parties. The US does not have an equivalent entity and consequently their elections are far more iffy. The crap going around the 2020 presidential election and claims of a big steal would not happen downunder. Democracy is not underpinned by a solid foundation in the US. For all the hot air and carnival like atmosphere at the conventions held by the two main parties in America the actual democratic base is full of partisan holes. Stopping eligible people from voting should be a crime and not a campaign strategy. In a nation where more than 90 million adult Americans choose not to vote the democratic edifice must be considered a failure. Keeping citizens from voting either via disengagement, or more nefarious means, is an appalling situation.
America Is An Oligarchy Not A Democracy
The US is clearly an oligarchy and not a real democracy in effect. The democratic hoopla is really window dressing whilst the elite do whatever it takes to hang onto power. The extreme Social Darwinism now being actioned by the Trump regime is further disenfranchising more Americans. ICE agents are attacking insecure Americans in a racially motivated methodology to reduce the number of brown skinned residents of the US via incarceration and deportation. Threats of cancelling green cards and citizenships are taking this way beyond undocumented immigrants. Masked ICE agents are grabbing folk without adherence to the due processes of the law. $160 billion has been allocated to customs and border forces over the next 10 years – making America a police state par excellence. In this new authoritarian US only the wealthy and powerful can resist the fascist forces of the Trump regime. White supremacy is on the agenda and out in the open with DEI on the nose across the board. The GOP don’t want you to vote unless you are voting for them. The prevention of voting in the US will only increase as the Trump MAGA forces take control.
“Over the last 20 years, states have erected barriers to the ballot box by imposing strict voter ID laws, cutting early voting times, restricting registration, and purging voter rolls too aggressively. These efforts received a boost when the Supreme Court weakened the Voting Rights Act in 2013, and they’ve surged since the 2020 election. Such antidemocratic measures have kept significant numbers of eligible voters from the polls, especially among racial minorities, poor people, and young and old voters.”
“Since the 1980s the way big companies in the United States do business has poisoned the well for the rest of us. The sick American corporate culture ruthlessly focusses on shareholder returns in return for enriching the executive to obscene levels. Stock options and company stock buybacks have become key ingredients in the billionaire factory churning out the super wealthy. This manipulation of the fabric of how companies do business has come at the expense of other stake holders like employees, consumers and the nations where these corporations do business. Downsizing, outsourcing, and profit shifting are all means by which companies have increased profits, reduced costs and avoided paying their fair share of tax. At the same time, these actions have reduced community engagement and care in return for outlandish levels of wealth for a few at the expense of the many.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters and America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
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