[Noisebridge-discuss] How the "Current events" that are happening in other states are shaping your rights in California

Mon Mar 14 03:11:16 UTC 2011

Let me give you an idea of how this will affect us in California.

*First:*
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.

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.

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.

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.

*Second:*
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?

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.

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.

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.

There are more, all in the works since CPAC of last month.

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
underfunded social services.

We, California, stand to become an island nation under the rule of a foreign
power.

And this is what has happened just this last month since CPAC.  You don't
think they have additional plans for California?

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.

There's a *third*, 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.

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.

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.

All of this can be found in the video I posted days ago.

On Saturday, March 12, 2011, girlgeek <girlgeek at wt.net> wrote:
> I agree this is a 'hair on fire' topic.  Here is Rachel Maddow's
> coverage of the issue:
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#42021054
>
> I had the idea that it is not currently a problem here in California.
> -Claudia
>
> On 3/12/2011 10:33 PM, Corey McGuire wrote:
>> The Texas voter ID law is the most inconsequential tip of the iceberg
>> regarding the assault on voter rights happening in America. This
>> entire thread is in response to a link to a video I posted yesterday.
>> Watch it. I'm on my phone and don't have the time or will to get in to
>> this. I just packed up my house, loaded it into a 17foot uhaul, and
>> unpacked it all.  I'm late for some shut eye.
>>
>> On Saturday, March 12, 2011, Jared Dunne<jareddunne at gmail.com>  wrote:
>>> I think he might be referring to GOP backed laws to require photo-ID
>>> to vote.  It disenfranchises voters that don't have ID but are
>>> otherwise registered to vote.  It places a higher barrier for elderly,
>>> disabled, and others to exercise their right to vote.
>>>
>>> On Sat, Mar 12, 2011 at 7:20 PM, Brian Morris<cymraegish at gmail.com>
 wrote:
>>>> On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 7:59 PM, Corey McGuire<coreyfro at coreyfro.com>
 wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> This isn't just Wisconsin, we have Republican Governors and state
>>>>> legislators undermining our ability to vote in our own states.  People
who
>>>>> fully expect themselves to be eligible voters, unless made aware, may
find
>>>>> themselves unable to vote next election, and by that point, it will be
too
>>>>> late.  So another reason for people to be made aware, their status as
a
>>>>> voter may have changed.
>>>> Could you please explain / justify this.
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>>
>>
>> -----
>> No virus found in this message.
>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>> Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1498/3503 - Release Date: 03/12/11
>>
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/attachments/20110313/00057007/attachment-0002.html>