Independents and the Voting Rights Act

The Supreme Court didn't exactly gut the Voting Rights Act today, rather, they ruled that the antiquated tabulation metrics are unconstitutional. So Congress must act or the Voting Rights Act sits like a beached whale. But will they? Approval for congress is at historic lows, something has got to give. Among other things the VRA needs to address apparent discrimination based on partisan loyalty that has supplanted racial discrimination in elections.

In the video on the right, this Wall Street Journal reporter can't hide her giddiness. The Fox News guest makes some good points and some that don't get to the real issues of how election prejudice has evolved away from racial prejudice to ideological prejudice. The video on the left is titled "Court guts voting rights act" and also brings up some good points but still does not get to the meat of the matter.

Bipartisanship Fails Again

Bipartisanship is not a de facto virtue. Ever. Partisanship leads to a reality where public policies and institutions are manipulated to benefit the priveleged or powerful few at the expense of We The People.

Headline photo courtesy of The Salt Lake Tribune

Republicans doubling down?

Well, it appears so. "There are not enough 50-year-old white guys who are mad (at the world) to win elections.” Yet that’s the audience House Republicans are playing to in the way they craft legislation
Read more at The Moderate Voice

And locally the Democrats appear to be doubling down on a similar bet. The Tribune is reporting that at the Democratic Party State convention, delegates rejected a measure to support a switch to an open primary [full story]