Thread by @AmoneyResists

Discussions about ideology and policy; about platforms, traits, plans, and values; about progressivism and conservatism; about left, right, and center etc. all need to be put on hold while we address the fact that one political party has openly declared war on American democracy.

Stop pretending the @GOP stands for anything. There’s not even any pretense remaining that they have any interest in governance. This party saw that America was becoming an increasingly diverse inclusive nation and decided their response would be to burn it all to the ground.

The very fact that it needs to be debated on the floor of the senate in 2022 whether all eligible Americans should be able to vote IS A BLARING RED SIREN. Even more ominous is that our odds of this debate ending with enacting voting rights protections are extremely remote.

Republicans hate this country. It doesn’t serve their interests any more. They see their inevitable obsolescence because they are a party of horrible racist traitors, criminals, sociopaths, grifter, liars, and demagogues and have gone all in on ending democracy to stay in power.

They played the long game of eroding democratic institutions. They cheated in elections across the country so they could redraw the district lines for the next 10 years and rig the system in their favor even more. They had their illegitimate SCOTUS gut the voting rights act.

They opened the floodgates of money in politics; as well as foreign interference; they eliminated the fairness doctrine so they could poison the airwaves w/ coordinated disinformation and propaganda to keep people confused and angry at the wrong people. Now they see their chance.

They’ve deliberately blocked every measure to enhance election security; they insist on voting machines that connect to the internet; oppose hand marked paper ballots because they cannot be hacked and provide a paper trail that actually facilitates recounts when necessary.

They responded to losing the last election by implementing a series of fraudulent illegal schemes to reverse the outcome that spanned all branches of government & culminated in their leader inciting a violent mob to siege the Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s win.

When Trump’s insurrection failed, the @GOP pretended to grasp that they let this go way too far for a few months, but in reality they were working to make sure that next time their coup *would* succeed and they wouldn’t even need to storm any government buildings to pull it off.

All Republicans learned from 2020 was that democracy still had too many functional pillars and safeguards in place to prevent them from getting away with stealing the Presidency in plain sight. So what are they doing right now? They’re eliminating all of those safeguards.

The Brennan Center for Justice reported that “between January 1 and May 14, at least 14 states enacted 22 new laws that restrict access to the vote” and “at least 61 bills with restrictive provisions are moving through 18 state legislatures.”

These voter suppression efforts have only intensified. More than 425 new restrictions have been introduced in 49 states and 33 new laws passed in 19 states to make it harder to vote—constituting the largest rollback of voting access in America since the end of Reconstruction.

THIS IS A NATIONAL EMERGENCY. One that we seem hellbent on sleepwalking through until we wake up in an actual dystopian nightmare where democracy is dead and buried. The legislation being proposed by Democrats on the senate floor today would counter much of what the GOP is doing.

The Freedom to Vote Act would expand voting access through policies like automatic and Election Day registration, two weeks of early voting, enact no-excuse absentee voting nationwide; ban partisan gerrymandering; and protect the Constitutional right to have your ballot counted.

Let me be clear: WE HAVE TO PASS THIS BILL. Manchin and Sinema can be as obstinate as they want; we cannot allow their insane deification of an arcane senate procedural rule to deliver the death blow to democracy. Manchin seems to be on board, leaving Sinema as sole obstacle.

So get her on board. She’s not an enigma. She’s an opportunistic narcissist who thinks wearing tacky outfits is a personality. A carve out must be made to protect Americans’ right to vote. And we need to make the GOP’s war on democracy the daily front page story it deserves to be

I have reserved my criticism for the GOP ever since they made it clear where they stand. However, it’s time for Biden and congressional democrats to treat this with the urgency it requires. I find myself less jazzed about new infrastructure if I’m living in a dictatorship.

Biden needs to call out Republicans’ efforts to dismantle democracy. He can shine a spotlight on their efforts that would have a monumental impact on reducing their success. And we need this to be the issue; the conversation; because there truly isn’t anything more important.

He needs to call out the useless archaic filibuster, which is rooted in racism and serves no purpose but to obstruct the will of the people. We do not need to hear about nor seek bipartisanship with a party who wants to burn down the country so they can preside over the ashes.

Republicans are banking on keeping you distracted and dejected; on us losing sight of the big picture while we attempt to survive the pandemic they continue to inflame and get through what will likely go down as one of the most emotionally traumatic periods in American history.

The best thing to do is stay engaged and committed to protecting our rights and democracy. We will not accept Republicans stealing power to entrench their illegitimate minority rule for the next generation. Over 70% of Americans support the freedom to vote act. LET’S PASS IT