Today is National Voter Registration Day — an important reminder to be sure you are prepared to vote in this year’s election. You can find links to voter registration forms and also information about different ways to cast your ballot safely, with deadlines for each, by visiting newrochelleny.com/elections. You can also visit vote411.org for helpful, non-partisan tips from the League of Women Voters. The last day to register is October 9, so don’t delay.
This article from Ron Brownstein points out an important and disturbing fact. If Republicans succeed this year in seating a new Justice to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, then a majority of the Supreme Court will have been nominated by Presidents who lost the popular vote and confirmed by Senators representing less than half the country. Decades of Supreme Court decisions — not to mention countless other laws and executive actions — will flow from the flawed, deeply undemocratic nature of the U.S. Senate and the Electoral College, which now routinely permit the few to rule over the many.
That’s not how things are supposed to work. Democratic institutions are supposed to provide for the orderly conversion of majority will into public policy, while also protecting minority rights. The stability and success of democracy depends on all sides perceiving this process as just; the winners demonstrating restraint in the knowledge that power is impermanent, the losers accepting government action as legitimate, even when they disagree with the specifics.
By contrast, America is suffering today from something like a national auto-immune disorder, with the core principle of majority rule coming under assault from the very electoral and legislative institutions that are supposed to protect it. Our democracy is broken.
What’s more, it’s broken in ways that warp the character of our two major parties. In a healthy system, parties would work symmetrically to change minds and win votes within a democratic framework to which they are equally committed. Instead, one party is frighteningly open to authoritarianism and voter suppression, perceiving its partisan interests to be in conflict with democratic norms. The other is increasingly disillusioned and desperate, as its voters become functionally disenfranchised.
What’s the answer? Here are some possibilities:
• Popular Election of the President
• Election of the Senate by National Party List
• Fixed Terms for the Supreme Court
Fundamental Constitutional reforms like these are sometimes thought to be radical solutions, but, given the present crisis, defense of the status quo strikes me as more radical and dangerous by far. Our democracy will not survive a persistent and widening gap between popular will and the exercise of power.
This year, we have the choice of voting in-person on Election Day, voting in-person at an early voting site, or voting by mail/absentee. I had planned to write a post describing these options in greater detail, but because Assemblywoman Amy Paulin did exactly that in a recent email, I have the luxury of simply copying and pasting her words. Many thanks to Amy for her excellent and comprehensive round-up. Whichever option you choose, be absolutely certain to cast a ballot! Take it away, Amy . . .
The Democratic nominee for President could be determined in the next few days. I strongly support @PeteButtigieg. He’s Democrats’ best bet to defeat Trump and end the toxicity of the Trump era. If you back Pete, too, please donate to his campaign today: p4a.us/s-donate. It’s now or never.
Please take a few moments to read Pete Buttigieg’s interview with the New York Times editorial board, because it is a great illustration of why I am so proud to support Pete for President. There are very few public officials, even at the highest levels, capable of discussing issues with anything close to Pete’s fluidity, depth, and thoughtfulness, evident across the full spectrum of topics, from highly-specific policy matters to broad questions of philosophy. (And all this shines through despite the Times’ weird fixation on McKinsey.) Pete Buttigieg will be an uplifting, transformative President and is exactly the right antidote for the toxicity of the Trump years.
Can you do me a favor? Would you please sign my petition to become a delegate to this year’s Democratic National Convention? I’m on a slate of eight delegates, who are pledged to Pete Buttigieg, and we need to collect at least 500 signatures from our area this month in order to qualify for the ballot. (A little more on that below.) If you are willing to sign, please meet me this weekend at either of these times and locations:
Saturday, January 11th from 2:00pm to 3:00pm at the Starbucks near Iona (726 North Avenue)
Sunday, January 12th from 11:00am to 12:00pm at the Starbucks in Wykagyl (1278 North Avenue)
As another option, you can drop by Alvin & Friends Restaurant (14 Memorial Highway) any time, where our same petition will be available.
In order to be eligible to sign, you must (a) live in the 16th Congressional District of New York, meaning that Eliot Engel is your Congressman, and (b) be registered to vote as a Democrat.
Signing the petition does not obligate you to vote for Pete Buttigieg or for anyone else. It simply allows delegates like myself to qualify for the ballot, so that the democratic primary process can occur. The New York primary will take place on April 28th — that’s when you have to choose a candidate.
Although our local delegate slate covers the whole Congressional District, I am proud to say that New Rochelle is very well-represented. In addition to myself, the delegate slate includes New Rochelle residents Fabiola Brito-Briseno, Sharad Khemani, and Gwen Clayton (the co-owner of Alvin & Friends.) The slate also includes Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, who represents half of New Rochelle, and Michael Clain, the former Mayor of Pelham.
I’ve never before tried to collect signatures on a petition this way, so it’s a bit of an experiment, and I am counting on my friends to show up! If you have a couple of minutes this weekend, I would really be grateful to see you. Coffee’s on me.
Thank you!