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Corey, <br>
I just meant that the 'make it hard to vote' bill and the 'disolve
local govt' bill are not happening in California. Yes, certainly
Citizen's United and weakened unions are attacks everywhere. We do
agree, you know.<br>
-Claudia<br>
On 3/13/2011 8:11 PM, Corey McGuire wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTi=a93Yn=kF-VRnE-XsR9v+c==Em6Dzfne+i5uUg@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">Let me give you an idea of how this will affect us in
California.<br>
<br>
<b>First:</b><br>
The unions that are under attack, many of them are national
unions. Sure, if you are a union member, it is easy to see how
this affects you in California, but chances are most of us aren't.<br>
<br>
So this is how it affects us non-union-Californians: Thanks to the
"Citizens United" ruling, there is nothing stopping institutions
of any stripe from spending bottomless money on campaigning. This
includes oil companies, defense contractors, insurance agencies,
biotech, pharmaceuticals, international interests, oil barons,
Walmart, China, and unions alike. Guess which of these support
democratic candidates? That's right, unions.<br>
<br>
Right now, unions are the only sea-wall holding back a tsunami of
corporate interests with the one thing that matters any more,
money. These unions, national unions, are being dismantled by the
GOP because they are the one moneyed obstacle standing in the way.<br>
<br>
This isn't about saving money, it's about destroying opposition
finance. So long as the changes from the Citizens United ruling
stay in effect unchecked, unions are the only campaign finance
progressives have left and unions are being crushed. If they are
undermined in other states, they will be undermined here opening
up our local and state elections to private interests.<br>
<br>
<div><b>Second:</b></div>
<div>There are other obstacles, of course. For instance, likely
progressive voters. Youth, ethnic minorities, people with
criminal raps, working class, and many others. How can these
voting groups be silenced?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>In Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, and others, there are Voter ID
measures being pushed. These would add an artificial
disincentive to voters as they would have to jump through hoops;
People with day jobs, people with full class schedule's, people
who are separated by a language barrier, people who otherwise
have something better to do. This seems trivial, and maybe it
would only be a slim margin of people, but elections are won by
slim margins, even in Texas.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>In Florida, there is a measure being pushed that would make
it so that anyone with a felony rap, no matter the size, would
have to wait 5 years from the time they make parole to be
allowed the opportunity to register. That means any kid who
failed to convince a judge that, yes, the half ounce of weed
they had in their fridge was only for personal use, would then
be locked up for a small sentence, and then be disallowed for
vote 5 years after they completed this sentence. This is, of
course, assuming that what ever shape this system took worked
efficiently. You know how republicans like to cut public
funding.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>In New Hampshire, there are two bills, one kills the right
for students not formerly of NH to vote (meaning that they'd
have no say to protect their right to their education, or
anything else) and another limits voter registration to people
applying for things like drivers licenses in the state of NH.
Both of these are targeted at youth voters.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>There are more, all in the works since CPAC of last month.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>How do these bills affect California? California is one of
the most progressive states in the union and we blocked the
Citizens United empowered candidates for 2011, but we aren't
immune to the powers of legislators in the US house and senate
who have less progressive ideals. We will be at the mercy of
the US President and US congress if other states have
their ability to elect progressives hamstrung by voter laws. In
this case, we have the most to lose since we thrive on our
progressive ideals. We can watch these ideals be chipped away
if progressives lose even more power across the country. The
"small 'c' conservatives" who claim they are for "smaller
government" love burdening LGBT, Women, minorities, and the
working class with regulations, laws, and</div>
<div>underfunded social services.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>We, California, stand to become an island nation under the
rule of a foreign power.</div>
<div><br>
And this is what has happened just this last month since CPAC.
You don't think they have additional plans for California?</div>
<div><br>
These are California's problems because all these events outside
of our state are going to effect national politics in 2012, when
we next vote for senators, representatives, and president. If
the rest of the country's ability to elect democratic candidates
are killed, then California and the rest of the US will be at
the mercy of corporate interests and right wing politics.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>There's a <b>third</b>, scary event. In Michigan, a bill
was just passed allowing the Governor to dissolve municipal
governments and replace them with private agencies. This
is, apparently, because of an emergency deficit created
partially by his cutting of corporate taxes by 1.8 billion
dollars. He's taxing the elderly and the poor, as well as those
who contribute to public schools, to pay for PART of that 1.8
billion dollar tax cut.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Meanwhile, a measure to restrict the price of these contracts
to the price of a municipality's budget has been stricken.
Private firms can charge as much as they like and do as little
as they can justify.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>How long before we're all under the rule of private
interests? There's a name for this. It's called fascism.
Conservative corporatism. And there is no longer any denying
that it is on the rise.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>All of this can be found in the video I posted days ago.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>On Saturday, March 12, 2011, girlgeek <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:girlgeek@wt.net">girlgeek@wt.net</a>>
wrote:<br>
> I agree this is a 'hair on fire' topic. Here is Rachel
Maddow's<br>
> coverage of the issue:<br>
> <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42021054">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42021054</a><br>
><br>
> I had the idea that it is not currently a problem here in
California.<br>
> -Claudia<br>
><br>
> On 3/12/2011 10:33 PM, Corey McGuire wrote:<br>
>> The Texas voter ID law is the most inconsequential tip
of the iceberg<br>
>> regarding the assault on voter rights happening in
America. This<br>
>> entire thread is in response to a link to a video I
posted yesterday.<br>
>> Watch it. I'm on my phone and don't have the time or
will to get in to<br>
>> this. I just packed up my house, loaded it into a
17foot uhaul, and<br>
>> unpacked it all. I'm late for some shut eye.<br>
>><br>
>> On Saturday, March 12, 2011, Jared Dunne<<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:jareddunne@gmail.com">jareddunne@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
>>> I think he might be referring to GOP backed laws to
require photo-ID<br>
>>> to vote. It disenfranchises voters that don't have
ID but are<br>
>>> otherwise registered to vote. It places a higher
barrier for elderly,<br>
>>> disabled, and others to exercise their right to
vote.<br>
>>><br>
>>> On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 7:20 PM, Brian Morris<<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:cymraegish@gmail.com">cymraegish@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
>>>> On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 7:59 PM, Corey
McGuire<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:coreyfro@coreyfro.com">coreyfro@coreyfro.com</a>>
wrote:<br>
>>>><br>
>>>>> This isn't just Wisconsin, we have
Republican Governors and state<br>
>>>>> legislators undermining our ability to vote
in our own states. People who<br>
>>>>> fully expect themselves to be eligible
voters, unless made aware, may find<br>
>>>>> themselves unable to vote next election,
and by that point, it will be too<br>
>>>>> late. So another reason for people to be
made aware, their status as a<br>
>>>>> voter may have changed.<br>
>>>> Could you please explain / justify this.<br>
>>>> _______________________________________________<br>
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