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Ezra Levin Profile picture
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17 Jun, 7 tweets, 2 min read
What does Manchin propose to cut from For the People? A lot of stuff that was designed to make elections work better and that is WILDLY popular. Quick thread with some polling:
Same day voter registration. Not in his proposal. Wildly popular among all parties:
Limits on voter roll purging. Not in his proposal. Wildly popular among all parties.
Nationwide vote by mail. Wildly popular among everybody except for those who listened to Trump's baseless year-long campaign against it.
This is a negotiation, so we're all for hearing good ideas. For instance, Manchin added a new national holiday on election day - that's great! But why should we take good, popular policy out of the bill?
The answer ain't "to get GOP votes" - McConnell announced unanimous GOP opposition to Manchin's proposal a day after he released it.

So if you're gonna argue for changes, you should come armed with strong arguments for why they are actually good policy. /end
Here's the source of that polling from @DataProgress and @voxdotcom by the way: filesforprogress.org/datasets/2021/…

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Ezra Levin Profile picture
8 Jun
Hi 👋 Nate, author here. The question isn't how Trump performed in WV, but how popular democracy reform is. This is a legislative fight after all. And the For the People Act is wildly popular in WV among Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
If you're wondering why this bill is so darn popular, you could read what the democracy experts are saying...which is that our republic is at risk of crumbling if we don't pass it. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
Back to your point about bully pulpit research - it's a small dataset but there is research! You might check out this old interview with the political scientist who conducted "the most in-depth study of the bully pulpit." theatlantic.com/politics/archi…
Read 6 tweets
Ezra Levin Profile picture
13 May
The For the People Act is wildly popular...in West Virginia:
-Require disclosure of political funders: 87% favor
-Strengthen lobbying rules: 85% favor
-End gerrymandering: 84% favor
-National voting standards: 79% favor
-Ban electeds from serving on for-profit boards: 76% favor
That's why, if you're in West Virginia, you're probably seeing ads like this (identified by an Indivisible volunteer in the state): Image
The anti-democracy reactionaries are dropping $$$$$ *because they're scared*. They don't think they've won. They're taking this democracy threat seriously.

As bad as the ad is, it's a good sign! First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Read 5 tweets
Ezra Levin Profile picture
30 Apr
Manchin does *not* oppose DC statehood, but rather he thinks a constitutional amendment is needed. That's a common misconception - statehood can indeed be granted through legislation, and we look forward updating his staff after their deep dive into this. washingtonpost.com/local/dc-polit…
To be clear, it would have been easy for Manchin to say "nope, I'm opposed to DC statehood." He didn't. He raised a process concern based on a false assumption. Up to us to correct the assumption.
No state has EVER been admitted by constitutional amendment - not even WV, which was admitted through a questionable process in the middle of the Civil War.

So where does this argument come from? Well, the Koch Brothers helped. A little history:
Read 9 tweets
Ezra Levin Profile picture
30 Mar
WOW WOW WOW. Leaked recording from 2 days after the Jan 6th Capitol mob. Koch-funded operation & McConnell's staff worry about how popular HR 1 is. So popular - even among conservatives! - that they advise simply killing it with the filibuster instead of debating it publicly.
This is also 3 days after Dems won the Georgia senate seats, giving them the trifecta that could allow the to pass the For the People Act.

At the same time at the state level, Georgia GOP started scheming to introduce the major voter suppression bill just enacted last week.
Pulling it all together:
1. Dems win Georgia + senate control
2. Driven by the Big Lie, a mob storms the Capitol
3. Georgia GOP accelerates voter suppression in support of the Big Lie
4. Dems prioritize democracy reform
5) McConnell plans to filibuster in support of the Big Lie
Read 4 tweets
Ezra Levin Profile picture
24 Mar
Paul Weyrich, founder of the Heritage Foundation 41 years ago:

"I don't want everybody to vote...As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."

@Heritage is against representative democracy- that’s in its DNA.
But read the whole article! It’s terrifying! They are systematically undermining democracy in the states explicitly as a GOP strategy to win in 2022 and 2024.
If they aren’t coming for your right to vote now, rest assured they will soon. It’s all literally part of the plan - they wrote it down!
Read 6 tweets
Ezra Levin Profile picture
22 Mar
If you care about climate legislation, this is a must read piece on the lessons from 2009 - the last time Dems had a trifecta and tried (but failed) to pass a big climate bill. rollingstone.com/politics/polit…
In 9 easy steps, you too can replicate the 2009 failure:
1) Start by crafting a climate bill with an eye toward GOP support

2) Introduce the House bill & allow conservatives to water it down further

3) Ignore progressive climate activists and amend the bill to get conservatives
4) Pass the House bill with almost no GOP support, despite all those concessions

5) Watch the donor-fueled reactionaries go into hyper-drive against the watered down bill

6) Wonder where the pro-climate activist energy has gone
Read 5 tweets

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