More Bits and Pieces

Voter Suppression: Let us count the ways: photo IDs required; limited hours at polling places; reduce number of polling places, increase congestion and waiting time; restrict vote-by-mail protocols; restrict absentee ballots; gerrymander voter districts; more?

Every one of these tactics has been used, abused and refuted many times over the years. Still state legislatures play games with restricting voter turnout and access. They get away with it over and over, so they continue the games even after court rulings kill some tactics. What is the answer for this? I suppose a national voter rights and standards act needs to be enacted. Such an act would do the following:

·        Set a national holiday for voting

·        Set national standard for polling hours; 12-hour minimum (6 am to 6 pm, or 7 to 7, etc.)

·        Photo IDs outlawed as a requirement

·        Encourage vote by mail 30 days before election date

·        Set standard for all voter districts to be logical land mass and shape; three 90-degree angles required minimum for district shapes

·        Set standard for number of polling places; include distance limits between voters and polling places

These are a start on maximizing voter turnout, not restricting it.

Fox News – Fake: I swear Fox News views MSNBC and CNN and then invents news stories that present the opposite point of view as though it were the only point of view. Example: President Biden’s aggressive legislation agenda versus reports on cognitive weakness. Another: Biden’s busy schedule versus tripping up stairs to airplane. Example: in face of COVID Relief Bill, unleash stories on how the bill doesn’t address actual COVID relief when it is 90%+ directly related to relieving the negative effects of COVID on people’s lives, finances, economic recession and all the rest. Example: economy is in trouble versus soaring stock market. Last I checked stock values mirror the confidence in the future, not current economic strengths.

Fox is the bad boy of journalism. They revel in it. They stretch boundaries of propaganda. Same with the Washington Examiner newspaper in DC. They refute every current event to a right wing talking point. If the dateline is Washington Examiner, my attention immediately moves to another news source. Same with Fox.

I guess alternate reality is good for ratings and advertising rates!

Diversity Issues: America has been found wanting on its vaunted diversity record. Violence against Asian citizens rises. Systemic racism directed against both Blacks and Hispanics more noticeable. Anti-Gay legislation, court decisions and violence continue. Being different becomes the negative news item, not the mark of individualism.

We have a problem in our nation. If only a few experience discrimination and/or violence just because of who and what they are on the diversity scale, then all of us suffer. We learned that lesson dearly in the Holocaust. Removal of Native Americans from their home territories and resettled in vast desert reservations is another example. Internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II is yet another. Stigmatizing anyone because they are different is the mark of Cain. Same for immigration status.

Diversity is not the negative. It is a strength of America. Discrimination is a sign of weakness of the majority, a sense they are losing their majority. Too bad they fail to recognize how our diversity broadens the opportunities to excel on the world stage. Economic and culture power come from diversity of people and their creativity. We need to foster diversity in all we do. It enriches life for all of us.

March 23, 2021