Hard Truths and the Hope of Passably Fair Elections

I don’t often recirculate comments from others here, but sometimes I make an exception, and I'm doing do so for this interview with Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now.

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/10/noam_chomsky_trump_us_coronavirus_response

I do not have much to add.  But if you are celebrating Easter or Passover, may I recommend that you make the following part of your practice:  writing to your representatives about creating an election that is not rigged this fall? 

If these ancient rituals are about hope, but we wish to steer away from toxic forms of hope with false positive thinking— then maybe this could be part of a way forward.

It is hard for me to be optimistic as I watch my beloved home state outrageously cheat and steal, but I’m not prepared to give up entirely on the possibility of fair elections in some places.

As Chomsky fleshes out powerfully, it does not exaggerate to say that what we do—for better and worse— to ensure a fair election this fall may be a turning point in U.S. and even world history.

The world watches Wisconsin with fear and disgust, because it is a front line in a battle in which Republicans are skewing honest representation—with outrageous gerrymandering and suppression of votes from non-Republicans, and with flagrant and virulent racism.

Of course Wisconson is not the only state with gerrymandering and voter suppression, and it will not be the only place where coronavirus can used as a pretext to make things worse. There is time for many states and localities, and conceivably Congresspeople, to adjust in ways that make them more like role models as opposed to cynical hypocrites and thugs.

For the future of our children and the survival of a system that teeters on the edge of losing the rule of law entirely, I want us push for the more hopeful outcome.

MBE standard notice: The time I spend on this blog is not in addition to a Twitter and FaceBook presence, but an alternative to it.  If you think anything here merits wider circulation, this will probably only happen if you circulate it.