If Jews recognized saints, I’d lobby for Stacy Abrams.
Readers of this blog undoubtedly know the impetus for “Fair Fight,” her organization dedicated to combatting vote suppression and increasing registration of previously unregistered/unmotivated citizens. Abrams ran for Governor against Brian Kemp, who was then the Secretary of State administering that same election, a glaring conflict of interest. Kemp threw out some fifty-thousand registrations–most of which were from Black voters–on what observers called thin pretexts, which helped him win that election.
Abrams, formerly minority leader of the Georgia Statehouse, did what far too few of us do in such circumstances. She didn’t retreat to lick her wounds; instead, she created a movement to challenge vote suppression, engage the previously disengaged, and make the system work properly.
As an article in the New York Times yesterday put it, Abrams is currently one of the most influential American politicians not in elected office.
Abrams conceived the strategy and built the political infrastructure its implementation required. As a result, turnout among the state’s Black, Latino and Asian voters increased substantially. Her work was pivotal to Biden’s presidential win in Georgia, and in yesterday’s Senate run-offs.
Of course, yesterday’s stunning results also owed a debt to our insane President, whose illegal, embarrassing and unhinged attacks on the Republicans running Georgia’s election apparatus evidently depressed turnout in areas that were previously heavily pro-Trump. (As one Republican official reportedly noted, the GOP had to overcome the burdens of unappealing candidates and a maniac President..)
So–improbable as it may seem, the very southern State of Georgia will send a Black man and a Jewish man to the U.S. Senate. (File under “Miracles Happen.”)
Aside from the depressing fact that some 70 million Americans cast ballots for the maniac, and the even more horrifying sight of a mob of goons, thugs and White Supremacists storming the Capitol yesterday in an attempted coup to support that maniac (more about that tomorrow), what lessons can we take from the ways in which this election cycle has played out thus far?
The most obvious lesson–courtesy of Stacy Abrams–is the importance of grass-roots organizing. Whether a similar effort in Indiana would be effective is debatable, since our state lacks the substantial minority population on which Abrams built. But it certainly seems worth a try.
There is also a less obvious, but equally important lesson, and it is the extreme damage done by the way the electoral college operates today,and gives oxygen to the Trumpian mobs.
The linked op-ed, co-authored by Trevor Potter and Charles Fried, makes that case. Potter is a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, appointed by George H.W. Bush. Fried was solicitor general under President Ronald Reagan. (Hint: They aren’t among those “socialists” that Republicans see everywhere.)
Potter and Fried argue that the 2020 presidential election has been a disaster for people who think the Electoral College is still a good idea.
The presidential election is really 51 elections, each conducted and certified by its jurisdiction. Those who support the continued use of the Electoral College system say that the states “speak” to one another through it and so it performs a vital role in promoting national unity and the constitutional system…
But the multiple challenges to the votes of the people this year — expressed through the states and their votes in the Electoral College — teach us that the Electoral College is a fragile institution, with the potential for inflicting great damage on the country when norms are broken. Many of the attempts to subvert the presidential election outcome this year are made possible by the arcane structure and working of the Electoral College process and illustrate the potential for the current Electoral College to promote instability rather than the stability the framers sought.
Actually, I agree with the historians and constitutional scholars like Akhil Reed Amar, who argue “stability” had nothing to do with it–that the Electoral College was the price paid to keep slave states in the newly formed union. But Potter and Fried are certainly correct when they assert that this election cycle has provided a roadmap to politicians of either party who want to change an election’s outcome through postelection manipulation of the Electoral College, and that the mere existence of such a roadmap is destabilizing.
All of this will, and should, propel calls for modernization of the Electoral College. Many will seek its abolition and replacement by a single nationwide poll. But at the very least, the irrational intricacies of the 1887 Electoral Count Act should be replaced by a uniform system guaranteeing that the popular vote in each state controls the ultimate allocation of that state’s electors. The 2020 election has highlighted the destabilizing tendencies in the current system and the need for reform.
Americans have a lot of work to do. In the interim, I plan to light a candle to Stacy Abrams…
The electoral college is what represents states votes. Its a real problem when people dont understand political corruption. We have fifty nation states that vote accordingly and linking the process to slavery is a matter of opinion.
Stacey Abrams is an effective leader with a resume in public affairs, foreign affairs and politcal action that is being rewarded.
My opinion of senators is that they should represent the concerns of the states through the appointment of state legislators where they can be recalled if ghey dont vote for the concern of the nation state. Its problem ehen millions of dollars and outside influences govern a states voters by party. Repealing the 17th amendment and making representation of the state is the way our forefathers intended to hold our nation together.
The electoral college is what represents states votes. Its a real problem when people dont understand political corruption. We have fifty nation states that vote accordingly and linking the process to slavery is a matter of opinion.
Stacey Abrams is an effective leader with a resume in public affairs, foreign affairs and politcal action that is being rewarded.
My opinion of senators is that they should represent the concerns of the states through the appointment of state legislators where they can be recalled if ghey dont vote for the concern of the nation state. Its problem ehen millions of dollars and outside influences govern a states voters by party. Repealing the 17th amendment and making representation of the state is the way our forefathers intended to hold our nation together.
Mrk
Robert H. Jackson, assistant United States attorney general and chairman of the convention’s resolutions committee, who flayed the Republican Party for offering “a campaign of Americanism, based on the philosophy of Mr. Hearst, a philosophy which hands you Fascism wrapped in the flag.”
Professor Halford E. Luccock of the Divinity School of Yale University said, “When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled “made in Germany”; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, “Americanism”
In his book, “It Can’t Happen Here” (1935), Sinclair Lewis wrote, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying the cross.”
MAGA? Absolutely fascism!
The electoral college is definitely a progenitor of Americanistic fascism.
If it is not changed, it doesn’t matter how many Stacy Abrams there are, they will be rounded up, just like every other freedom fighter. Those that want to fight for true democracy, cannot use a method of election that is not democratic. You cannot constantly allow a minority to rule the majority!
There also needs to be a penalty for what happened yesterday, and with all of the available evidence, examples need to be made! If not, the lessons of Neville Chamberlain will not have been learned, and history will repeat! Everyone got a refresher course yesterday, Trump can still declare martial law by the stroke of a pen, we are at the brink!
Admiral James Stavridis brought out a very good point today,
With Donald Trump, the Muscovian candidate, directing this insurrection, probably with advice from his handler Vladimir Putin, how many of Putin’s operatives were roaming the capital building with all of these so-called MAGA freedom fighters?
Every one of those offices along with the desks and file cabinets were ransacked! How much top-secret material was available for these clandestine operators? You know there absolutely had to be some of this material in those offices!
Talk about a breach, talk about a Dr. Frankenstein type monster killing its creator! And, here you have the clueless Josh Hawley walking around giving the fist pump to those clandestine operators working for foreign governments ransacking the American capital!
The Electoral College is based in States Rights (originally to maintain slavery) and States Rights today borders on Sovereignty Commission foundation. It was not to help the nation but only the southern states underpopulated by whites but overpopulated by plantation owners who victimized small farmers who reaped no benefits from their own governments. As Rhett Butler tried to explain to the plantation owners in “Gone With The Wind”, “There is as much money to be made in the destruction of a civilization as there is in building one.” Then came the Carpetbaggers who finished what the Civil War started; and what need was there for the Electoral College with no plantation owners and no slaves?
Stacy Abrams is becoming a force to be reckoned with by state and federal government officials; she is a treasure to her home state of Georgia and currently a savior of the United States Senate and democracy. She was wise enough not to let the kudos she received and movements to elect her to a higher position at the federal level move her from her course; she knew her job in Georgia wasn’t finished yet. She will know when she is ready to move on; or maybe she will see her place is to “grow where she was planted” and continue her work in Georgia.
“So–improbable as it may seem, the very southern State of Georgia will send a Black man and a Jewish man to the U.S. Senate. (File under “Miracles Happen.”)”
Georgia couldn’t have done it without her.
Thanks for posting this blog, Sheila. It’s nice to have some good news for a change. And thank you, Stacy and the Folks in Georgia who voted blue.
Meanwhile, what about the Coup? What about our crazy president with the ultimate power for another 13 days? The crazy is not over just yet.
What steps can be taken to protect America from this again? I would like to see the 1965 Voting Rights Act to be reinstated so that there is a minimum standard for the states to meet. Also a reversal of Citizens United, and a bi-partisan commission in Indiana to redraw the electoral map. Electoral reform in Indiana is a big lift and would require long-term planning and persistence but I think it could happen.
In Georgia, the majority of white people vote Republican. What Abrams did was get maybe 80% of the minority population to vote, and the white people lost. Brian Kemp and his white Republican colleagues defined that scenario when he stole the election from Abrams: Clear, racist politics.
The consequences that SHOULD result from yesterday’s national disgrace are arrests and jailing of the inciters of the insurrection. Trump, his poxy son, Giuliani and the mob leaders should all be wearing orange jumpsuits TODAY! But, of course, getting 51% of the cabinet to begin the 25th Amendment exercise won’t happen. The remaining sworn members of the cabinet owe their fetid positions to the psychopath who picked them. The House might impeach, but, we see that we’ll never get 2/3 of the Senate to convict the psychopath who is trying to destroy the country.
Many of us on this blog have been ranting about the psychopath and the Republican party for four years. So, yesterday was not all that surprising. Shocking, but not surprising. We’ve been trying to figure out the psyche of the Trump supporter. Yesterday we saw it in action. Simply put, they are fucking crazy.
What action will the new Congress take up today? What will the REAL law enforcement people do today? The whole world (literally) wonders. Oh. And then there are the nuclear launch codes. Armageddon, anyone?
Since we have been promised that more will come on the insurrection tomorrow, I’ll wait until then to comment on what we saw and heard yesterday afternoon and evening.
Yesterday morning, it was becoming more apparent by the hour that the Dems would control the Senate. That gives President-elect Biden two years to give us change that matters. They should start with a new voting rights act, then move to Immigration reform, health care, and infrastructure, I don’t know how the rest of you feel, but first priority under infrastructure should be railways, moving America to a high speed rail system that would rival Japan and Europe. I would like to note that most of our rail beds were laid in the last half of the nineteenth century. It’s time for an upgrade.
I’ll drink a toast to Stacey Abrams for making that possible.
“The most obvious lesson–courtesy of Stacy Abrams–is the importance of grass-roots organizing. Whether a similar effort in Indiana would be effective is debatable, since our state lacks the substantial minority population on which Abrams built.”
I believe that the effort certainly could bear fruit in virtually every state. When I was young and, like most young people, chose not to vote, the fact that I lived in Missouri was one justification I used. I’m extremely liberal and the shorthand we use of “red state” and “blue state” convinced me that my vote wouldn’t count.
I would contend that that very human tendency to create and apply labels is what disengages possible voters before they even begin the voting process. “Why vote? My candidate or any legislation I want won’t pass anyway. So why try?”
Georgia was ruby red and Stacey turned it at least purple. Certainly Trump’s rhetoric convinced many Republicans to stay home this time, but the results she brought about were nothing short of stunning even when that fact isn’t taken into account.
Indiana [and Missouri, for that matter] may not be nearly as red as they seem if the disheartened non-voter is convinced to step out of the shadows.
Senators and Congressmembers do not. as their primary function, simply represent their districts or states. They “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.” That is a big difference.
Seeking the wise counsel of Sheila’s crew…what’s the problem with allocating the electoral votes in each state per the popular vote result? For example, if one candidate gets 45.4% of the votes, they get 45.4% of the electoral votes.
There is nothing wrong with such allocation–I have argued for it for years. States have the constitutional right to do so, and it would increase voter turnout. When the winner takes all, people in a state’s minority party feel (justifiably) that their votes for federal offices won’t count.
Stacey Abrams is definitely the star. I hope she gets generously rewarded by the Biden administration. The nation’s return to sanity is due to the black and brown people of Georgia. But it also makes Joe Manchin the most powerful senator. It’ll be quite a hurdle for Schumer et al to navigate.
The contribution of Stacy Abrams should be given the credit due but so should the tireless campaigning of the candidates and a whole cadre of their supporters who overwhelmed the past in service of the future. I’m sure there are lots of well deserved “we did it” being passed around Georgia.
Meanwhile, back in Washington DC the question will be endlessly asked, who is culpable for this insurrection? The line in that category is very long and extends well beyond who is criminal.
We see in front of us the downside of free speech which has always relied on responsible speech from influencers to maintain legitimacy.
Two necessary changes: eliminate the Electoral College and advance campaign finance reform.
Stacy Abrams is indeed the woman of the hour. Hope she runs for higher office in the future.
Stacy Abrams maybe the most influential non-elected leader we have. What worked in Georgia may not work elsewhere, it is a start.
Now that the Democrats have a slim majority the opportunity should not be squandered. Obama had a bigger majority when he took office in 2008 and defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory in 2010, when the House went Red.
One thing we need is Federal Legislation concerning minimum requirements for the states to meet concerning Federal elections, registration, early voting, absentee voting, the type of voting machines used, etc. This could be a great job for Stacey Abrams, she has proven leadership and organizational skills.
Before lobbying for her, I suggest doing enough research to know how tospell her name: Stacey with an “e.”
I have, not really jokingly, commented, though maybe not here, that Stacy Abrams ought to be canonized.
“All of this will, and should, propel calls for modernization of the Electoral College. Many will seek its abolition and replacement by a single nationwide poll. But at the very least, the irrational intricacies of the 1887 Electoral Count Act should be replaced by a uniform system guaranteeing that the popular vote in each state controls the ultimate allocation of that state’s electors. The 2020 election has highlighted the destabilizing tendencies in the current system and the need for reform.”
At the very LEAST. The EC has been the source of 40 years of Republican presidential wins, despite the “Will of the people.” I would vote for its complete retirement.
We see in front of us the downside of free speech which has always relied on responsible speech from influencers to maintain legitimacy.
“Two necessary changes: eliminate the Electoral College and advance campaign finance reform.
Amen, Pete.
There will be much to say about the confluence of religious (un)thought and the insurrection.
There is no doubt in my mind that our nation’s Founding Fathers clearly intended the President and Vice-President to be the only officers of government elected by ALL the nation’s people. And with good reason, as I see it.
But…
The Electoral College system seems to me to detract from that intention. It seems to reduce the authority — the mandate — of the Executive. Or at least sends confusion and dither to the aid of those who maneuver to make Congress the superior branch of government…or to render government impotent period.
Do not revise the Electoral College; abolish the Electoral College.
Yes, Ms. Abrams is a miracle worker. Now we just need someone like her in our state to create another miracle with the electoral college. Volunteers ?
Hi Sheila,
I know you said you will address the Capitol situation tomorrow, but I just came across this, also a voice from Indiana:
https://theconversation.com/once-you-engage-in-political-violence-it-becomes-easier-to-do-it-again-an-expert-on-political-violence-reflects-on-events-at-the-capitol-152801
As all of you are aware, what made Stacey successful and a harbinger of what is coming is America’s evolving demographics. As white people become a minority (or at least less dominant numerically) in more and more states, more Staceys will emerge and a more representative form of democracy will take hold. Of course old white guys (OWGs) who can’t conceive of surrendering power (just as their idol can’t conceive of conceding) will fight a furious rear guard action that will render the process far messier, but it’s inexorable.
Just a short time ago (for me it was Tuesday) few of us would have thought it possible for a Deep South state to elect two Democratic Senators. My wife and I both scoffed Tuesday night at James Carville’s prediction that it was likely. James proved to be right.
Although it doesn’t come easily, I doff my fedora to Kelly Loeffler, who ran as a Trump loyalist, for getting herself to the Capitol yesterday to vote against the objections to Biden’s confirmation. That could not have been easy for her, but by the end of the day I’m guessing she was happy she had done it.
Stacey Abrams has built an impressive voter registration, get out the vote machine. She certainly deserves kudos for that. Tuesday two Democrats won their Georgia Senate seats because of her. Biden won Georgia because of her.
Abrams is a lot like Trump, however. She refuses to concede the 2018 gubernatorial election her continuing to lie to people, just like President Trump, that she would have won the Governor’s race if not for political shenanigans. FYI, Abrams lost the state by 55,000 votes, nearly 5 times what Trump lost Georgia by. Yet, everyone in the media gives Abrams a pass on not conceding and just accepts as gospel Abrams’ claim she would have won were it not for “voter suppression”; meanwhile Trump, rightly, gets criticized, for continuing to insist he won Georgia. Abrams’ claim voter suppression denied her a win in Georgia is as phony as Trump’s claim he lost the state because of “voter fraud.”
The voter purges Abrams complains of were mandated by federal law. The law requires that the rolls be cleared of inactive voters, who quite often haven’t voted in that location because they’ve died or moved out-of-state. An NAACP lawsuit had for years delayed the purges, which is why a larger number of purges occurred at that time…there was a huge backlog that built up while the lawsuit was pending.
Having worked with voter registrations and voter rolls, the notion that tens of thousands of voters purged from the voter registration rolls would have voted, and voted for Abrams, were it not for being purged is preposterous. In Indiana, prior to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, we used to purge people if they didn’t vote a single time in a four year cycle. I worked the polls for years. You know how many times one of those voters who were purged showed up to vote only to find their name taken off the list? NOT ONCE. Most likely they were dead or had moved. If Abrams lost 100 votes due to the purge, I’d be shocked it is that many.
But she didn’t lose by a 100 votes. She lost by 55,000!
Abrams also complains about the closing of voter locations before the election. But the fact is the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election featured record turnout for a mid-term, and also featured record African-American turnout. If Kemp was trying to suppress the vote, he failed spectacularly.
Abrams and Trump have something else in common. Both camps get a few affidavits from a few affidavits and then claim they represent thousands of people. Abrams is a very well-known Georgia politician. If there were truly 55,000 Abrams’ voters turned away at the polls, don’t you think she could come up with more than a handful of affidavits?
Abrams is a terrific at registering and getting voters to the polls. I admire that a great deal. But the fact remains that, like Trump, she is the ultimate sore loser when it comes to Georgia politics. And, like Trump, she is not being honest in claiming that she only lost because of political shenanigans.
“There is no doubt in my mind that our nation’s Founding Fathers clearly intended the President and Vice-President to be the only officers of government elected by ALL the nation’s people. And with good reason, as I see it.”
First, the Electoral College is written into the original Constitution (pre-Bill of Rights and pre-12th Amendment which revises the Electoral College). So I’m not sure how something that the Founders expressly put into the Constitution could have undermined their original intent.
Second, you might read Federalist No. 68. Hamilton said the reason for electors would be that they were “men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.”
The reason for the Electoral College was that the Founders did not believe the average person had the intelligence and the wisdom to pick a President. The Electoral College was intended to be a deliberative body of men who had the wisdom that the people in the nation did not have.
Further militating against your claim about what the Founders wanted is that the Founders left it for state legislatures get to decide how electors are picked. Originally state legislatures picked the electors, a task they only later delegated to voters via popular election.
My response to some of the commentaries of this day after: I as a gentile do not light candles and don’t care or if candidates go to church, temple or mosque. No es importa. I’m voting for how to run government and have no interest in their gender, sexual preference, color etc.
As for Stacey, my daughter and I have had her future outlined for years. She should replace Tony as head of the DNC for a few years until it’s time to come back to Georgia to run for governor, and after four years in that position come back to Washington as either VP or president. She has lost her last race. She knows how to win as well as well as the necessary dog work of organizing that leads to winning. She could be very helpful in setting up the machinery for sending some Republican senators home in the fall of 2022, and should she decide to stay as chair of the DNC, give us some across the board victories in the fall of 2024.
And in re the insurrection yesterday, I here note that Charles Manson who, incidentally learned his criminal skills at the Indiana Boys School, never killed anybody. He instead incited his cult followers to murder Sharon Tate and others, and in such connection I here observe that Trump did not invade the peoples’ house nor did he kill anybody yesterday; he instead incited his cultists to do what he wouldn’t do (a la the Manson methodology), thus (as usual) leaving him with a layer of plausibility for denial, and when his cults’ invasion and trashing of the capitol and the underreporting of trashing attempts in several statehouses did not work out, he’s quick to suggest that he favors an “orderly transition” of power with a 25 and impeachment quickie in view. If what I saw yesterday is an “orderly transition” of power I can’t imagine what a “disorderly transition” of power would resemble.
We cannot wait 13 more days for the now legalized transition of power, and when the NAM (National Association of Manufacturers) publicly asks for a 25, you know that big time capitalists are fearful that the country could fall into dictatorship where their interests would be subject to the whim of some demented piece of protoplasm. Hmmm. . . Looks like the rich and corporate class (when their own interests are at stake) finally agree with me, a slightly left of center Democrat they pay to have defined as socialist, communist, or whatever is bad du jour.
A 25 would do the trick for the remainder of Trump’s term, but it would not prevent him for running for public office down the road. I have therefore written elsewhere that we do a 25 simultaneously with a quickie impeachment, which (if the Senate convicts) would do the trick, and if the Senate did not, at least every senator would have to be on record with their vote.
Yesterday was a bridge too far. Donald T. Manson has to go. Today.
Terry Munson – so Stacey didn’t do it, demographics did? You clearly have zero idea of how grass roots organizing works.
Paul Ogden – you DEFINITELY need some lessons in how states and local governments suppress voting. The GA track record going into 2018 was was of the worst in the US – that is saying a lot by itself. Equivocating her and her refusal to formally acknowledge defeat with Trump is a hideous slam – SHAME.
I once had a long time juvenile judge (Harold N. Fields) who was a Republican call me to sit pro tem as Juvenile Judge of Marion County for two weeks while he attended an International Welfare Conference in Switzerland. At the time the statute provided for $10 a day for such effort and I asked him why he didn’t call a Republican to go into Chapter 7 bankruptcy – but I agreed. That court had seven other courtrooms with judges (then called referees).
There were lots of juvenile delinquents those days. I sent and removed many juveniles to and from the Boys and Girls schools in my two week pro tem, and I have often wondered if I had a young Charles Manson among those whose cases I heard. I don’t think so, since as I recall he lived in northeastern Indiana outside the jurisdiction of Marion County (unless, of course, he is alleged to have committed an offense within Marion County). One never knows where he or she may register in this life, sometimes unwittingly, sometimes not.
Our world is saturated with advertising, some of which is obvious but most of which is disguised. It’s not necessarily based on truth but rather how to make some action appealing to certain people.
One of the genres of pervasive advertising now is meant to make loyal audiences for entertainment disguised as news. Another genre is many of the words and actions of politicians meant to create loyal personal or party or issue followers.
It seems that much of or even most of what streams into our consciousness today is advertising and that’s true because we are so readily programmed by it.
Anyone with doubts about its effectiveness need only to consider the cost to us taxpayers and perpetrators and politicians of what was done to the capital yesterday.
If we live by the sword we die by the sword.
It occurs to me now the main difference between Democrats and Republicans is what advertising appeals to them.
I will look for the NY Times profile of Stacy Abrams, but I was listing to NPR interview a Georgia Republican this morning, and he was asked why he thought they lost. His answer was that none of the political ads said what the Republican candidates stood for. They supported Trump, but beyond that there was no message, or if there was a message, it was that the other guys are evil.
I guess the message “the other guy is evil” only goes so far if you are willing to define what not being evil means. It turns out there might be a few people out there than can think for themselves.
Lester,
You badly misread what I wrote. I pointed out that demographics was the facilitating factor (Asians were credited with an important contribution) that helped her succeed and that such achievements would soon be possible elsewhere in red states. I am a big fan of Abrams and all the work she did to make it happen deserves most of the credit. I am also a big fan of auto racing. But if you don’t add oil and grease to the cars they don’t win many races. You know that there is often more than one reason things turn out a certain way, right?
Terry – thanks for clarifying and facilitating/enabling is correct. Demographics work both ways, however; far more diversity is happening in blue areas than red ones, so the impact on many red states is negligible, as their urban centers do not dominate the overall population.
I wanted to include this youtube video on slavery and the electoral college debate. The reason for the electoral college and the history of the compromise.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LBluhCE-6Ng
First – Lester, there is one problem with proportional distribution of electoral votes – real politics – “red” states would reject it, as would “blue” states, but “blue” states with gerrymandered “red” legislatures would embrace it – results – and even greater disparity between the national popular vote and the electoral college – If it could be enacted nationally, that would be a different matter.
As for Stacy Abrams – she remembered two lines I love to quote “Just because something’s fixed, doesn’t mean it can’t be broken.” and “Don’t mourn; organize.”
Organization works – even here – with no previous name recognition, or local bona fides, I ran a grass roots campaign for city council on a shoe-string budget. I had great organizers with me. I ran against the sitting council president. I lost, but out polled the Democratic Mayoral candidate in my district – and she had a bundle of money. If I had run a second time – who knows.
BTW – Sheila – while we don’t do saints the same way as Catholics, after 3-4 millennia, Jews have their own versions of most anything. The question about the late RBG – when did she die? If it was before sundown, it meant that she was kept alive because she was needed for the full year; if it was after sundown, it meant that she was a “saint”, because the saintly die on the day of the New Year.
Then there are the “lamed-vuvniks” the 36 “saints” or “righteous people” whose existence guarantees that the world survives. Stacy could be one – or one of 36 who makes American democracy survive 8)>
As I have commented many times before : Regardless of origin, fairness, effect or consequences it would take unlikely altruism in the part of far too many states to abolish or even alter the EC. The sure way is a constitutional amendment. Far more than the number of states required to stop an amendment benefit from the status quo. The other method being attempted is an interstate compact with agreeing to award a state’s electors to the national winner. This scheme is even more improbable because it is unconstitutional in two ways . It is absolutely required that interstate compacts have congressional approval. It is also a denial of equal protection for one state to award electors to the loser in that state’s election while other states award them to the winner. When states cede their sovereignty to a unified central republic maybe. While a federal union not likely. We need to stop spreading the idea this is a democracy on the national level. A statement of fact not advocacy .