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David Pepper

20 Oct, 19 tweets, 6 min read

THREAD 🚨 🚨

VIDEO: Concerned that their small Ohio town was falling apart, citizens asked for a meeting with their state Senator to see how he could help.

His answer?

It might be time to move?!

amazon.com/Laboratories-A…

1/

That’s right.

They didn’t get to tell him it was time for HIM to go. He told them THEY should consider leaving.

That’s not how democratic politics is supposed to work. It’s the opposite of how it’s supposed to work:

amazon.com/Laboratories-A…

2/

But in states like Ohio, statehouses no longer meet the definition of healthy democracies: most elections are pre-determined; corruption rampant; there’s no accountability back to the people; and attacks on democratic principles are a near daily occurrence, w no consequences

3/

In fact, in office today around the country and in states like Ohio is an ENTIRE GENERATION of majorities who largely have gotten to power without enduring real, contested elections.

Real democracy is foreign to them. And since they’re so extreme, it actually scares them.

4/

The results are not only run-down towns like Manchester, with nothing its citizens can do about it…but all sorts of other warped consequences as well, which I detail in my new book, out today: amazon.com/Laboratories-A…

But for today’s purposes, the most serious consequence is the threat to American democracy itself.

Because the officials in these state offices—the ones who know that democracy would usher them out of power—are the same people who set many of the rules of our elections.

6/

And they’ve been hard at work for years doing all they can to ensure that they and their allies/backers never face the accountability that come with fair elections at different levels.

Again, they know’d they lose. Their backers know it too: amazon.com/Laboratories-A…

And the scariest part is that they have their hands on the very levers that can dramatically impact elections, and…

too few Americans know it.

Sure, every once in a while a crazy state law gets national attention. (Texas leads lately). We get mad. There’s a suit, or a..

7/

boycott, we wait, but then we move on without ever asking, more deeply….what the hell is wrong with these statehouses and how do we stop them? We take their extremism as a given

But the bleak answer is, many are no longer functioning democracies; and if we keep taking that

8/

as a given, and don’t fight back at all levels, history shows us that committed anti-democratic forces ultimately prevail, and democracy ultimately loses

That’s the clearest lesson on how the horrific era of Jim Crow began. And that is what we face today: amazon.com/Laboratories-A…

So it’s time to wake up to the true threat these statehouses present—to their own citizens, and to the country. It’s time to STOP taking it as a given. It’s time to fight back at all levels.

And that starts with federal action.

10/

@DataProgress

As I explained yesterday in @DataProgress , the Founders would’ve expected federal action in these circumstances.

Demanded it

Actually, they guaranteed it.

They worried that undemocratic statehouses could damage the entire nation, and empowered…

11/

dataforprogress.org/blog/2021/10/1…

the federal government to do something about it if that happened.

They’d be flabbergasted by the notion that something like the filibuster would stand in the way of protecting democracy in states, and in the country:

12/

amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09JKX…

But the work to fight back goes way beyond the federal government. It starts in every corner of every state, and includes spreading the word about the importance of elections at all levels. I lay out 30 steps in the book about what must be done:

amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09JKX…

Key points include:

1) we can’t let the presidential cycle & electoral college map dictate when/where we invest. We must invest to protect democracy in all 50 states, and in all the races that impact democracy (just as those attacking democracy do)

14/

amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09JKX…

2) we have to define the teams differently, w a simple question:

(And it’s not about “never Trump.” That’s too narrow—just as battling Jim Crow wasn’t about “never Andrew Johnson”)

Are you FOR democracy? Will you fight for it? Yes? Welcome aboard

15/

amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09JKX…

3) everyone who cares about democracy must play a role in registering and engaging voters, all the time.

And many more.

Folks, democracy is in the balance m. Time is short. My worry is that too many people are close to giving up, or losing energy.

If we do, it’s over.

16)

We must demand that our federal officials do their constitutional duty and protect democracy across the country.

And then we all need to step up and fight for democracy in our own communities.

My hope is this book will help raise the alarm bell:

17/

amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09JKX…

And inspire action.

If you buy a copy, let me know what you think.

If you enjoy it, or find it useful, please help spread the word.

END

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More from @DavidPepper

David Pepper

@DavidPepper

21 Oct

THREAD/VIDEO

Day 2: just over a year ago, I took footage of this absurd line voters had to wait in to drop their ballots at the one location per county where OH’s Sec of State would allow drop boxes.

Well, the story got even more complicated since

1/

amazon.com/gp/aw/d/166291…

You may recall that back then, when we first began advocating for more drop boxes due to delayed mail and the pandemic, the Sec of State (LaRose) assured people privately and publicly he wanted more drop boxes but was not legally allowed to add them:

2/

talkingpointsmemo.com/news/why-has-o…

There was absolutely no legal backing for his assertion on the law. He hadn’t even gotten an opinion.

So we sued, and every judge said we were right: that he had ample authority to add drop boxes.

3/

nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1…

Read 18 tweets

David Pepper

@DavidPepper

10 Sep

THREAD

I gave my law class a pop quiz today.

10 questions.

Go ahead and take it.

1. Which of the following is a right guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?
_____Public Education _____ Employment ____ Trial by Jury _____Voting

1/

2. When the Constitution was approved by the original colonies, how many states had to ratify it in order for it to be in effect?

3. If a person flees from justice into another state, who has authority to ask for his return?

2/

4. Money is coined by order of: __U.S. Congress ___The President’s Cabinet ___State Legislatures

5. A U.S. senator elected at the general election in November takes office the following year on what date?

6. Name the man who runs the FBI

3/

Read 6 tweets

David Pepper

@DavidPepper

30 Aug

THREAD

Quick story on why Ohio is about to explode in COVID cases:

A friend in a mid-sized rural county mentioned a few weeks ago how worried she was about her kids in school there. There’s no mask mandate—not even a debate on whether to have one.

1/

She went to a school pre-meeting and said it was packed….that she and her kids were about the only people wearing masks.

She already felt trapped then. That it was far too risky.

School started on the 19th. She says you can count on one hand the kids wearing masks.

2/

Teachers are not required to wear masks.

When she told the school nurse her older child was vaccinated, the nurse was surprised.

Last week, a student in her younger child’s class tested positive. The school’s policy is that it is up to the parent whether or not to keep…

3/

Read 9 tweets

David Pepper

@DavidPepper

29 Aug

Thread.

A love story.

These are two of our pets. On the left is one of our dogs, Manchi. On the right is our cat, Dinker.

My wife Alana had Dinker for 4 years before we got married. We got Manchi about a year before we got married.

When we moved in together,

1/

…let’s just say it was a challenge.

Although he doesn’t bite, Manchi is a very feisty dog. Barks at everything, no matter how big or small. But Dinker would also fight back fiercely, hissing & trying to scratch if he came close

So we had to work hard to keep them separate

2/

Sometimes, if Dinker was in the wrong room at the wrong time, the chase became so intense we worried one of the two might have a heart attack. Barks and squeals and hisses exploded in the room and we ran in to break it up.

So we just kept them apart. Not just different rooms

3/

Read 16 tweets

David Pepper

@DavidPepper

25 Aug

THREAD

Receipts on how hard the GOP works to keep their rigging of elections behind closed doors.

Please share widely.

First, here’s a page from the PowerPoint presented at the 2010 RNC districting training. The presenter of this PowerPoint was a consultant for Ohio.

1/

They began having meetings in early July 2011, including with that consultant.

2/

Here is the email confirming the long-term room rental at the Double Tree hotel, so they could meet in secret. They would call this room “the bunker.”

They would go on to rent the room for 91 days

3/

Read 10 tweets

David Pepper

@DavidPepper

2 Feb

@AOC

THREAD

I don't talk much about it, but @AOC 's brave comments brought home my own experience, decades ago, when I was abducted at gun point for an hour.

The feeling that your life may end, that your fate is wholly in someone else's hands, that you have no control...

1/

...never leaves you.

The emotions don't disappear after the situation ends, but they do evolve, from fear to anger--that anyone else would claim for themselves the role of determining whether you live or die. That anyone dared place themselves in that position is enraging.

2/

And when you see similar situations that arise--a video on the evening news of a 7/11 being robbed at gunpoint, for example--you remember it all again. The feeling of seeing that gun pointed right at you. The lack of control.

And now someone new just joined the club.

3/

Read 11 tweets

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