Crystal Blue Persuasion never meant more to me than it now does after just listening to your latest Episode #7.
Earlier today, on an NPR broadcast Freakanomics, I was inspired listening to an interview with conservative Arthur Brooks, who advises to combat contempt with love and explained our neuro-limbic system and one of the factoids I remember is that after one minute of feeling contempt, it takes our brain 4-5 hours to recover from the negative effect. After 1 minute of a laugh/happiness, the effect lasts 24 hours. Then your podcast talking about democratic acts of love that bring joy to the giver and receiver, it just made my day ! I believe you are definitely on the right track. Thank you , Michael.
Hi, Michael and fellow subscribers, I certainly agree with your sentiments, if not with the doability of all the resolutions. 1. The Electoral College as you know, is a part of the Constitution. Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 3, specifically sets forth the Electoral College, it's conformation and the election of the President (and Vice President of the United States of America. Clearly, the Founding Fathers had no faith in the electorate to elect a leader and vice leader. Amendment XII proposed ion 1803 and ratified in 1804 delineated the manner in which the Electoral College was to name the President-elect and separately for the Vice President-elect. The only legal way to undo this is to Amend the Constitution, While I would love to see this happen. it certainly won't be in my lifetime. (I'm 90). 2. The filibuster is definitely doable and I will email both my Senators, (one will agree [Padilla] the other [Feinstein] won't. 3. 16 year olds voting is a great idea. 4. I don't understand why ERA hasn't been enacted - emails to Biden? 5. The two new States I have been advocating for since 2010. 6, Changing the Senate structure also requires an amendment and we'd have to allow one Senator per State as we do with members of Congress - we'd have better luck adding 4 more Senators with DC and Puerto Rico - both of which would most likely vote Democrats which is the main reason Republicans always vote against adding DC (which incidentally is larger than Wyoming (nearly 690,000 in DC) In 1974 DC gained partial self rule - a Mayor or District Council, (whoop de doo) but they still have taxation without representation - and trust me, DC pays more in Federal Tax than a lot of States. 6. As with ERA amendment I do not understand why we have a Constitution and Amendments thereto, if we aren't willing to enforce them. Contrary to what the 5 or 6 Supreme Court 'inJustices' appear to think, the Constitution is THE NATIONAL LAW, it has been for at least 240 years, with a very few hiccups it has served us well during countless bad times (wars, depressions, recessions, pandemics) I hate to see it ignored in favor of religious fanatics and Neo Fascists.
Michael, great way to start the New Year with a bang of Democracy Resolutions. I love the direction you took with this podcast. I agree strongly with many of them, have some comments, & offer 2 of my own.
#1 outlawing gerrymandering & voter suppression were covered in the Voting Rights Act & John Lewis VR Act passed by the House last session, but were filibustered by the Rs in the Senate & died. So they must try again, but won’t pass the House now with the slim majority of Rs. This is where #10 enforcement of Amend 14, Sec 3 becomes important. Enough House Rs are definitely implicated in insurrection per 1/6 Committee & if DOJ does it’s job right, enough of them will be removed giving Ds chance to regain control, leading to repassage of these bills in the House.
This means #3, the filibuster again is a roadblock in the Senate. Of course the Ds have control & could nuke the 60-vote cloture rule if either Manchin or Sinema agrees. The addition of Federman’s vote increases the chance, but does not guarantee eliminating 60-vote cloture rule needed for passage. My view has always been, & continues to be, the 60-vote rule violates Art I, Sec 3 of Constitution so it must be changed. I’ve debated this with people whose defense has always been it’s a procedural rule under Sec 5 so it’s Ok. It’s not because SCOTUS ruled all House & Senate rules “cannot ignore Constitutional restraints.” Meaning the cloture vote must comply with Sec 3, where Senate voting is defined as 50%+1. There are exceptions, but none for Rules.
Enough of that, here are 2 I would add. Hope you like them:
#11 - Transparency of financial dealings must be required for all elected & senior appointed officials. Pass law requiring Presidents, VPs, Cabinet members, House Reps, Senators, & Supreme Court Justices must release copies of their tax returns annually. In addition, they are not allowed to hold publicly traded stock while in office. Assets can be held in mutual funds or ETFs.
# 12 - Pass Campaign Finance Reform. Get money out of politics, uncloak dark money, end Citizens United, & restrict lobbying. Fund federal campaigns with new taxes on wealthy. Increase top rate from 37% to the prior rate of 39.6%. And if that isn’t enough, close the interest carry loophole, or how about this one, treat capital gains as ordinary income on high income taxpayers. The rich don’t make money as wages, they own large amounts of stock that pay dividends or sell stock where long term gains are taxed at no more than 20%.
Those are my thoughts. As always, comments welcome.
Happy New Year, Michael. I want you to know how much you have taught me regarding Politics..ugh !!! You have helped me understand and made me a believer again.
Thank you, thank you....Keep up the Good Fight !!! Warrior of truth
Resolution #8 on ballot initiatives: In PA we have a Republican legislature and a Democratic governor. I'm afraid that, to avoid a veto, the legislature will turn to directly asking the voters. There is a plan in the works somewhere to limit access to abortion by a change in the state constitution. But what they might do is to put that ballot question up with minimal publicity and schedule it for an election that is traditionally only sparsely attended. Probably in an off, off year like 2023.
This is the play book. We have a majority right before us. 6 New States, 12 New Senators and at least 6 new House Members with a simple majority vote in both houses. We cannot see the forest because of all the damn trees.
Washington DC, Guam, America Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, United States Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico! Michael Moore only wanted 2 states.
Bravo! What a wonderful New Year's message! And, that song! And it's title! Thank you for all of it. Now, what can we do to get the John Lewis Voting Rights Act passed?
I read an article in the New York Times that explained the ERA Amendment is now stuck in the courts. Biden did instruct the National Archivists to add it to the Constitution.
My gut feeling is that the anti abortionists do not want it added because women would legally have equal rights to all healthcare, including abortion.
Some of the arguments against the ERA Amendment are about deadlines not being met, states wanting to rescind their ratification vote, etc.
I am sure that the ACLU is fighting for the ERA Amendment in the courts now. I would think that donations for the ACLU would be most helpful.
The hard thing for people to do in my state (Texas) is to convince the non-voters to participate. Their sitting out November's election is part of the reason the Republicans are still in control. That and the gerrymandering.
Crystal Blue Persuasion never meant more to me than it now does after just listening to your latest Episode #7.
Earlier today, on an NPR broadcast Freakanomics, I was inspired listening to an interview with conservative Arthur Brooks, who advises to combat contempt with love and explained our neuro-limbic system and one of the factoids I remember is that after one minute of feeling contempt, it takes our brain 4-5 hours to recover from the negative effect. After 1 minute of a laugh/happiness, the effect lasts 24 hours. Then your podcast talking about democratic acts of love that bring joy to the giver and receiver, it just made my day ! I believe you are definitely on the right track. Thank you , Michael.
I live in NH, they tried to gerrymander at least one of our districts that I am aware of, it did not work, we still have 2 Democrat women senators.
Hi, Michael and fellow subscribers, I certainly agree with your sentiments, if not with the doability of all the resolutions. 1. The Electoral College as you know, is a part of the Constitution. Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 3, specifically sets forth the Electoral College, it's conformation and the election of the President (and Vice President of the United States of America. Clearly, the Founding Fathers had no faith in the electorate to elect a leader and vice leader. Amendment XII proposed ion 1803 and ratified in 1804 delineated the manner in which the Electoral College was to name the President-elect and separately for the Vice President-elect. The only legal way to undo this is to Amend the Constitution, While I would love to see this happen. it certainly won't be in my lifetime. (I'm 90). 2. The filibuster is definitely doable and I will email both my Senators, (one will agree [Padilla] the other [Feinstein] won't. 3. 16 year olds voting is a great idea. 4. I don't understand why ERA hasn't been enacted - emails to Biden? 5. The two new States I have been advocating for since 2010. 6, Changing the Senate structure also requires an amendment and we'd have to allow one Senator per State as we do with members of Congress - we'd have better luck adding 4 more Senators with DC and Puerto Rico - both of which would most likely vote Democrats which is the main reason Republicans always vote against adding DC (which incidentally is larger than Wyoming (nearly 690,000 in DC) In 1974 DC gained partial self rule - a Mayor or District Council, (whoop de doo) but they still have taxation without representation - and trust me, DC pays more in Federal Tax than a lot of States. 6. As with ERA amendment I do not understand why we have a Constitution and Amendments thereto, if we aren't willing to enforce them. Contrary to what the 5 or 6 Supreme Court 'inJustices' appear to think, the Constitution is THE NATIONAL LAW, it has been for at least 240 years, with a very few hiccups it has served us well during countless bad times (wars, depressions, recessions, pandemics) I hate to see it ignored in favor of religious fanatics and Neo Fascists.
You, sir, are in top form with this fantastic mini podcast series. THIS is the blue print going forward.
Right on, Mike! 100%!
Thank you. Happy new year.
Michael, great way to start the New Year with a bang of Democracy Resolutions. I love the direction you took with this podcast. I agree strongly with many of them, have some comments, & offer 2 of my own.
#1 outlawing gerrymandering & voter suppression were covered in the Voting Rights Act & John Lewis VR Act passed by the House last session, but were filibustered by the Rs in the Senate & died. So they must try again, but won’t pass the House now with the slim majority of Rs. This is where #10 enforcement of Amend 14, Sec 3 becomes important. Enough House Rs are definitely implicated in insurrection per 1/6 Committee & if DOJ does it’s job right, enough of them will be removed giving Ds chance to regain control, leading to repassage of these bills in the House.
This means #3, the filibuster again is a roadblock in the Senate. Of course the Ds have control & could nuke the 60-vote cloture rule if either Manchin or Sinema agrees. The addition of Federman’s vote increases the chance, but does not guarantee eliminating 60-vote cloture rule needed for passage. My view has always been, & continues to be, the 60-vote rule violates Art I, Sec 3 of Constitution so it must be changed. I’ve debated this with people whose defense has always been it’s a procedural rule under Sec 5 so it’s Ok. It’s not because SCOTUS ruled all House & Senate rules “cannot ignore Constitutional restraints.” Meaning the cloture vote must comply with Sec 3, where Senate voting is defined as 50%+1. There are exceptions, but none for Rules.
Enough of that, here are 2 I would add. Hope you like them:
#11 - Transparency of financial dealings must be required for all elected & senior appointed officials. Pass law requiring Presidents, VPs, Cabinet members, House Reps, Senators, & Supreme Court Justices must release copies of their tax returns annually. In addition, they are not allowed to hold publicly traded stock while in office. Assets can be held in mutual funds or ETFs.
# 12 - Pass Campaign Finance Reform. Get money out of politics, uncloak dark money, end Citizens United, & restrict lobbying. Fund federal campaigns with new taxes on wealthy. Increase top rate from 37% to the prior rate of 39.6%. And if that isn’t enough, close the interest carry loophole, or how about this one, treat capital gains as ordinary income on high income taxpayers. The rich don’t make money as wages, they own large amounts of stock that pay dividends or sell stock where long term gains are taxed at no more than 20%.
Those are my thoughts. As always, comments welcome.
Happy New Year, Michael. I want you to know how much you have taught me regarding Politics..ugh !!! You have helped me understand and made me a believer again.
Thank you, thank you....Keep up the Good Fight !!! Warrior of truth
Resolution #8 on ballot initiatives: In PA we have a Republican legislature and a Democratic governor. I'm afraid that, to avoid a veto, the legislature will turn to directly asking the voters. There is a plan in the works somewhere to limit access to abortion by a change in the state constitution. But what they might do is to put that ballot question up with minimal publicity and schedule it for an election that is traditionally only sparsely attended. Probably in an off, off year like 2023.
So we have to be careful with #8.
DNC
This is the play book. We have a majority right before us. 6 New States, 12 New Senators and at least 6 new House Members with a simple majority vote in both houses. We cannot see the forest because of all the damn trees.
Washington DC, Guam, America Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, United States Virgin Islands & Puerto Rico! Michael Moore only wanted 2 states.
Well, played Mr. Moore. Well played!
The Bicentennial Dragon
Happy New Year and thanks for this inspirational list that when implemented will really make America Great.
Pass a generic bill for statehood that allows a territory to vote in their statehood at their leisure.
You missed the point, which was for Mike to start it. What do you think of the idea?
Bravo! What a wonderful New Year's message! And, that song! And it's title! Thank you for all of it. Now, what can we do to get the John Lewis Voting Rights Act passed?
I read an article in the New York Times that explained the ERA Amendment is now stuck in the courts. Biden did instruct the National Archivists to add it to the Constitution.
My gut feeling is that the anti abortionists do not want it added because women would legally have equal rights to all healthcare, including abortion.
Some of the arguments against the ERA Amendment are about deadlines not being met, states wanting to rescind their ratification vote, etc.
I am sure that the ACLU is fighting for the ERA Amendment in the courts now. I would think that donations for the ACLU would be most helpful.
The hard thing for people to do in my state (Texas) is to convince the non-voters to participate. Their sitting out November's election is part of the reason the Republicans are still in control. That and the gerrymandering.