independentsforkerry.org

Alaska - Open Primary: Parties select who may vote in their primaries. To vote in the GOPprimary, a voter must be registered as a Republican 30 days beforeElection Day.

Georgia - Open: No party affiliation required at registration. However, on ElectionDay, voters must declare an oath of intent to affiliate with theparticular party for whom they are voting on Election Day.

Idaho - Closed: Until 2011, all Idaho primaries were open. Independents intervened in a lawsuit brought by a faction of the Republican Party seeking to close their primaries. However, the GOP obtained adeclaratory judgment that mandating open primaries violated freedom ofassociation and was thus unconstitutional in Idaho Republican Party v. Ysura. Subsequently, the legislature passed a bill allowing parties to choose which type ofprimary they use. Democrats have chosen a semi-closed primary;unaffiliated voters may register a party at the polls on election day,but they are bound to that party affiliation at the next election.

Massachusetts - Semi-Closed: Affiliated voters must vote in the primary of their party; however, unaffiliated voters may vote in either primary.

North Dakota – Closed: The only state without voter registration. To vote in the Republicancaucus you must have affiliated with the Republican Party in the lastgeneral election or intend to do so in the next election.

Ohio - Closed: Voters’ right to vote in the primary may be challenged on the basisthat they are not affiliated with the party for whom they are voting inthe primary.

Oklahoma - Closed: Only voters affiliated with a particular party may vote in its primary.

Tennessee - Open: No party affiliation required at registration. 

Vermont - Open: No registration by party. For presidential primary, voters must declare which ballots they want.

Virginia - Open: No party affiliation required at registration.

source: FairVote

The Hankster

The state election office made a historic mess of Tennessee’s Presidential Primary — with mistakes that robbed a former U.S. Congressman and his wife of their right to vote and denied voters access to the polls.

Secretary of State Tre Hargett and State Election Coordinator Mark Goins are in charge of the government office [...]
TNDP News

Since the record turnout of minority and young voters in 2008, there has been a wave of new laws that block access to the ballot box. The Brennan Center for Justice estimates that more than five million voters may be disenfranchised by the voting law changes. The most onerous restriction requires voters to present government-issued photo ID in order to vote.

On Tuesday, the Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) hosted a panel discussion on how civil rights organizations, advocacy groups and ordinary citizens are using social media to protect the right to vote and fight strict photo ID requirements. Alan Rosenblatt, Associate Director of Online Advocacy for CAPAF, delivered welcoming remarks. Nicole Austin-Hillery, Director and Counsel in the Brennan Center’s DC Office, provided an overview of state photo ID laws.

The panel discussion was moderated by Vanessa Cárdenas, Director of Progress 2050, a project of the Center for American Progress. I was a panelist, along with Eric Rodriguez, Vice President, Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation for the National Council of La Raza, Erika Maye, Communications Specialist with the Advancement Project, and Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorOfChange.

The panelists addressed a wide range of issues, including:

• How are Latinos being impacted by proof of citizenship and strict photo ID requirements?
• How is social media being used to mobilize young voters?
• How will restricting third party voter registration drives impact the youth vote?
• What voter ID legislation is currently pending in the states? Which states are being challenged?
• Who are the funders and supporters of voter suppression laws? Who’s behind ALEC?

Faye Anderson gave a demo of the Cost of Freedom App, a location-based web app that will provide voters with information on how to get a voter ID. The prototype for the app was developed by Kin Lane, API Evangelist for CityGrid.

Users of the web app will be able to quickly access information about their state’s voter ID requirements, how to obtain a certified copy of their birth certificate (the document that’s typically produced to establish one’s identity), and the location, hours and directions to the Office of Vital Records using public transit.

Anderson also gave a live demo of the Cost of Freedom text-based app developed by Jack Aboutboul, Twilio’s API Evangelist. Twilio is making an in-contribution of text message services to promote voter education.

Development of the web and text apps is crowd-sourced. As chief evangelist for the Cost of Freedom Project, Anderson is recruiting researchers and designers on Facebook, Twitter and Idealist. Indeed, the project is powered by We the People and social media.

For information on how you can get involved in this citizen-led initiative, please visit us at Facebook.com/CostofFreedom.

Cross post from article in Social Media Week by Faye Anderson.

Democratic Blog News

With the 2012 election under a year away, it’s shaping up to be a roller coaster ride. As the 2010 mid-term elections went towards the Republicans, we are seeing the aftereffects now. As President Obama has tried to push through programs that would help the economy and country, the Republicans and their Tea Party members have put up a roadblock on every corner.

While the president has been forced to give in to the destructive demands of the Republican party, the GOP has simply pointed the finger of blame at President Obama when they should be pointing that finger back at themselves. Here are five of what could be a very long list, of reasons you must vote for President Obama and the Democrats in 2012.

1. The Economy and the destructive Tax Code – For the last 30 years, the United States tax code has helped destroy the American economic climate.

It began in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan, one of the worst Presidents we have seen in our country’s history. Reagan lowered the top tax rate from 70% to 28% during the eight years he was in office, and raised taxes that primarily hit the middle and working class eleven times. As he managed to triple the national debt, Reagan borrowed from the Social Security trust fund to make up for his reckless tax policies. The economy began to pick back up as President Bill Clinton raised the top tax bracket back up to 39%. When George Bush was sworn into office in January of 2001, on the top of his “to-do” list was to bring taxes back down.

With the start of the “Bush Tax cuts,” the rich got richer and the rest of the country began to struggle. With dangerously low capital gains rates, more loopholes for big oil and gas companies and wall street running wild, the economy finally felt the pressure and crashed in 2008. As President Obama continues to try to bring the economy and country back on track, he can’t do it with the Republicans overwhelming him in congress. The destructive tax code and our economy are at the top of the list for reasons to vote for President Obama and the Democrats in 2012.

2. “Entitlements”- The big three as they are known, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, are three of the most successful programs that Americans have relied on for decades.

While the Republicans want to privatize these programs and put them in the hands of the private sector so they can gamble and continue to add to their profits, President Obama and the Democrats want to preserve these programs and help them become stronger. Republicans often spew out unfiltered false information about these programs, calling them broke, un-American or a Ponzi Scheme. Social Security itself has a .6 trillion dollar surplus and can pay out 100% of its benefits until 2037, and 80% of its benefits until 2057.

Currently, there is a cap on Social Security. Those who make over 6,800 a year don’t pay into the Social Security tax on their addition income. A person making million a year would pay around 10% of their income into Social Security, while the average household making around ,000 a year, pays 100% of their income into Social Security. The president and Democrats want to raise the cap, having the wealthy pay their fair share, adding more money into the fund to make it solvent for decades longer. As the Republicans try to raise the retirement age and send these programs into the hands of the private sector, The president wants to keep it in the hands of the people.

3. Wars – The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on America. Whether it’s the trillions of dollars it has taken from our economy or the thousands of lives that have been lost, the cost is too high.

George Bush jumped the gun with false information and invaded Iraq that, almost a decade later, we still sit and try to rebuild To his credit, President Obama has removed the majority of the troops from Iraq and with even more to come home within the next two years. The idea of invading Afghanistan was somewhat tricky as we were attacked on 9/11 by a terrorist group, not a country. However, a major part of that terrorist group was from Afghanistan so the idea of invading that country was so what more warranted. However, just months after the US entered the country, the George Bush led military had Al Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden, on the run in Tora Bora. Somehow, the beaten down old man with a cain found his way out through the mountains.

Fast forward almost a decade later, President Obama takes troops out of Iraq, loads them up in Afghanistan and finally brings down the mastermind of those horrible attacks, Osama Bin Laden. President Obama has gotten involved in strikes in Libya, but those are not direct wars with the US, but partnerships with the United Nations. While the hypocritical Republicans talk about cutting spending they don’t seem to ever want to cut where the biggest fat is, military spending. The president plans to pull troops out of both unwanted wars and cut money from unneeded projects.

4. Civil Rights – The world is changing and people’s views change with the times. However, not everyone seems to have changed their mind.

The conservative mindset still punishes people for not fitting an exact line of thinking. Whether it’s the utter hate of homosexuals, minorities, African-Americans, women and many others, the Republican Party has taken a stance towards bigotry. The first bill that was passed by the Obama administration was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, that gave women the right to be paid at the same rate as men.

In addition, Democrats around the country have rallied for same-sex equality, getting its greatest victory in New York, with the legalization of same-sex marriage as well as the official overturn of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that now lets gays and lesbians serve openly in the military. The conservatives have also taken a hard stance on abortion, making their voice heard that a woman must be forced to give birth to her unwanted baby, and sometimes even in cases of rape and incest. In order to keep the ball rolling on equality, Democrats must be voted back in office or the Republicans will turn back the clock on our country’s progress.

5. Simple Science – Science is something that should be embraced not denied.

Whether you are a person of faith or not, turning away from science because it might not fit in with your religious beliefs, is a handicap on your brain. Teaching young children to deny scientific facts and knowledge that are accepted by nearly 99% of the scientific community is nothing short of irresponsible parenting. As the Tea Party has pulled the Republican Party to the political right, they have stepped all over science in doing so.

With their denial of man-made Climate Change and their ludicrous and dangerous stance on evolution, the Republican Party has proven that if they gain anymore power that the teaching of facts might be a thing of the past.

Now, President Obama and the Democrats have their faults. Not everything they do you might agree with, sometimes you might heavily disagree. However, the difference between the two major political parties are very clear. Voting to put more Republicans in charge will only bring the country to the break of failure.

Continue reading on Examiner.com 5 reasons to vote for President Obama and the Democrats in 2012 – Orlando liberal | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/liberal-in-orlando/5-reasons-why-you-must-vote-for-president-obama-and-the-democrats-2012#ixzz1fioS7Vzi

The Democratic Republican

Following Tuesday’s vote by House Republicans to reject an extension of the payroll tax cut for the middle class passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate, Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester issued the following statement:

“In less than two weeks, 160 million Americans will be hit with a tax hike in the middle of the holiday season because House Republicans turned their backs on America’s working families and voted against extending a payroll tax cut for the middle class.

“Their inaction comes just days after Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate, including Sen. Lamar Alexander, worked together in the name of compromise to pass a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance benefits that provide a vital lifeline to millions of Americans who have lost their jobs as a result of the economic downturn.

“That bipartisan bill passed the Senate 89-10 – with the support of many conservative Republicans – and after this critical compromise, for House Republicans to say no and vote to raise taxes on 160 million hardworking Americans is simply extremism at its worst.

“It’s more and more clear that Tennessee’s Republican Congressmen are terrified of disappointing Tea Party extremists, even if the consequence is a tax increase on millions of working and middle-class families.

“This is a Republican-inflicted wound to our economic recovery.

“Republicans pay lip service to the middle class. But, when push comes to shove they will move heaven and earth to pass tax breaks for millionaires, billionaires and big corporations while raising taxes on 160 million middle class Americans.

“That’s a position for which they will pay a price with the American people.”

###

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TN Democratic Party News

In Spain’s recent general election, which was marked by a victory for the conservative People’s Party, Spain’s young Green party (EQUO) doubled its vote from the previous election. From the European Green Party:
Votes for Green parties doubled in when compared to the last parliamentary election three years ago in Spain; however the absolute [...]
Green Party Watch

In Presidential Elections slightly more than 50% of the voters show at the polls, for off year elections even less vote.

The government of the United States is based on a written constitution, the shortest in the world in fact.   This constitution consists of a Preamble, seven Articles, and 27 Amendments.    From this document, the entire federal government was created.    It is a living document whose interpretation has changed over time.    The amendment process is such that while not easily amended, US citizens are able to make necessary changes over time.   It takes a long time to get the country back after you let it slip away.   You may never get it back.

Three Branches of Government

The Constitution created three separate branches of government. Each branch has its own powers and areas of influence.     At the same time, the Constitution created a system of checks and balances that ensured no one branch would reign supreme.    The three branches are:

•Legislative Branch – This branch consists of the Congress which is responsible for making the federal laws.    Congress consists of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives.

•Executive Branch – The Executive power lies with the President of the United States who is given the job of executing, enforcing, and administering the laws and government.     The Bureaucracy is part of the Executive Branch.

•Judicial Branch – The judicial power of the United States is vested in the Supreme Court and the federal courts.     Their job is to interpret and apply US laws through cases brought before them. Another important power of the Supreme Court is that of Judicial Review whereby they can rule laws unconstitutional.   

Six Foundational Principles

The Constitution is built on six basic principles.     These are deeply ingrained in the mindset and landscape of US Government.

•Popular Sovereignty – This principle states that the source of governmental power lies with the people.    This belief stems from the concept of the social contract and the idea that government should be for the benefit of its citizens.     If the government is not protecting the people, it should be dissolved.

•Limited Government – Since the people give government its power, government itself is limited to the power given to it by them. In other words, the US government does not derive its power from itself.      It must follow its own laws and it can only act using powers given to it by the people.

•Separation of Powers – As stated previously, the US Government is divided into three branches so that no one branch has all the power.     Each branch has its own purpose: to make the laws, execute the laws, and interpret the laws.

•Checks and Balances – In order to further protect the citizens, the constitution set up a system of checks and balances.     Basically, each branch of government has a certain number of checks it can use to ensure the other branches do not become too powerful.    For example, the president can veto legislation, the Supreme Court can
declare acts of Congress unconstitutional, and the Senate must approve treaties and presidential appointments. 

•Judicial Review – This is a power that allows the Supreme Court to decide whether acts and laws are unconstitutional.     This was established with Marbury v. Madison in 1803.

•Federalism – One of the most complicated foundations of the US is the principle of federalism.      This is the idea that the central government does not control all the power in the nation.     States also have powers reserved to them.     This division of powers does overlap and sometimes leads to problems such as what happened with the response to Hurricane Katrina between the state and federal governments.

Political Process

While the Constitution sets up the system of government, the actual way in which the offices of Congress and the Presidency are filled are based upon the American political system.     Many countries have numerous political parties (groups of people who join together to try and win political office and thereby control the government)
but the US exists under a two-party system.      The two major parties in America are the Democratic and Republican parties.      They act as coalitions and attempt to win elections.      We currently have a two-party system because of not only historical precedent and tradition but also the electoral system itself.

The fact that America has a two-party system does not mean that there is no role for third parties in the American landscape.       It does mean that the two main parties work together to roadblock the formation of any third party.

Elections occur in the United States at all levels including local, state, and federal.     There are numerous differences from locality to locality and state to state.     Even when determining the presidency, there is some variation with how the electoral college is determined from state to state.    Voter turnout is barely over 50% during Presidential election years and much lower than that during midterm elections.   The lower the voter turnout the easier it is for other interests to control the government of the United States.    Most politicians from both of the major parties are are bought, sold and owned like farm animals.

Its your country and its your move.    Why Not Vote?

What is The Social Contract?

The idea of the social contract is one of the foundations of the American political system.    This is the belief that the state only exists to serve the will of the people, and they are the source of all political power enjoyed by the state.    In theory the people can choose to give or withhold this power.   When politicians are
bought sold and owned by powerful special interests the Social Contract is mangeled.

 The origin of the term social contract can be found in the writings of Plato.   However, English philosopher Thomas Hobbes expanded on the idea when he wrote Leviathan in response to the English Civil War.   In this book he wrote that in the earliest days there was no government.    Instead, those who were the strongest could take
control and use their power at any time over others.     Hobbes’ theory was that the people mutually agreed to create a state, only giving it enough power to provide protection of their well-being. However, in Hobbes’ theory, once the power was given to the state, the people then relinquished any right to that power.     In effect, that would be the price of the protection they sought.

Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Locke each took the social contract theory one step further.     Rousseau wrote The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right in which he explained that the
government is based on the idea of popular sovereignty.     Thus the will of the people as a whole gives power and direction to the state. John Locke also based his political writings on the idea of the social contract. He stressed the role of the individual.     He also believed that revolution was not just a right but an obligation if the state abused their given power.     Obviously these ideas had a huge impact on the Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

For the Social Contract to work the politicians you elect must work for you and not be controlled by the special interests.    A politician assures the rich he will forward their interest and protect them from the poor if they will give him money.   That same politician assures the poor he will look out for their interest and protect them from the rich if they will give him their votes.     With money from the rich and votes from the poor this politician spends 5 million dollars to win an office that pays him 4,000 a year and in two terms is a multi-millionaire. 
 
Its Your Country and Its Your Move.     As long as you neglect to vote someone else will pull the strings and run the country.

News From Virginia’s 22nd District

Amherst Virginia Headlines

Amherst County Virginia Democratic News

Vote Democrat, Protect Your Benefits.

Amherst County Virginia Democratic News

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and a number of other GOP senators voted Thursday for a non-binding resolution calling for shared sacrifice from the wealthiest taxpayers in dealing with the mounting federal budget deficit — and also scoffed at the measure.

Rather than filibuster the “sense of the Senate resolution,” McConnell and more than 20 Republicans joined with most Democrats to allow the bill to move forward to a final vote.

That doesn’t mean, however, that these Republicans have changed their tune and now are willing to join Democrats in seeking some assistance from wealthy Americans in the task of deficit reduction.

While congressional Republicans have been insisting on trillions of dollars of cuts to a wide array of federal programs that assist low-income and middle class Americans, President Obama and many other Democrats have been calling for some sacrifice on the part of the richest Americans in the form of elimination of tax loopholes for corporate jets, big oil companies and more.

Republicans have demanded the budget cuts in exchange for allowing a needed vote on the federal government’s debt limit. That limit must be raised in coming weeks, or else the government is expected to begin defaulting on its current bills. Such an event, the first in history, would be a catastrophe for the struggling economy. The expected toll on the economy of such action would throw more than 600,000 Americans out of work, according to experts.

But even as they voted to advance the resolution, S. 1323, some Republicans openly derided the measure, which is purely symbolic and has no force of law.

The measure resolves only that it is “the sense of the Senate that any agreement to reduce the budget deficit should require that those earning ,000,000 or more per year make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.”

“I oppose the resolution, but I’ll vote to move to it so we can finally have a real debate about the economic crisis we face,” McConnell remarked on the Senate floor ahead of the cloture vote.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison also was scornful, even after she supported the measure.

In response to comments from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Texas Republican commented, “Well, I would respond to the distinguished senator from Arizona that the motion that was just passed was to go to a sense of the Senate resolution, which, of course, has no force of law. It is indeed our second vote this week. I will say that there’s one thing on the minds of the people today: it is what on earth is Congress doing?”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called the non-binding resolution “legislation [that] would reaffirm the Senate’s commitment to ensure the extremely wealthy are asked to make sacrifices.”

Even ahead of the vote, however, Reid understood what the Republicans were doing.

“Now, that would be great if there was some sense that they agreed with what we are trying to do. That is, if they want millionaires and billionaires to contribute their fair share,” he says.

Scott Nance is the editor and publisher of the news site The Washington Current. He has covered Congress and the federal government for more than a decade.

The Democratic Daily

DR. OMAR ALI: Americans are Open
His message: Islam ‘part of American culture’ (North Raleigh News) “What’s important is to not make a distinction between Americans over here and Muslims over there,” Ali said. “I think that Muslim Americans have the same response as other Americans, which is a sense of relief.”

KENTUCKY’S CLOSED PRIMARIES CONTROVERSY
The Pros and Cons of Kentucky’s Closed Primaries (Stu Johnson, NPR Radio WKMS) Higdon has heard from independents who tell him they’re taxpayers, they help pay for elections, so they should be able to vote. The state senator argues the first political party that voluntarily opens up its primary will enjoy an unfair advantage during the general election….
Read more about the fight for open primaries in Kentucky at Independent Kentucky

POLITICAL AND ETHICAL REFORM

• Fixing Congress (U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, Boston Review – This article is part of Fixing Congress, a forum on the causes of legislative partisanship and corruption.) States with party-registration laws further protect extremists by outlawing independent as well as opposition voters. With a firm grip on their districts and no worries about alienating voters in the other party, gerrymandered extremists are often the loudest voices in Congress.
• Ending the Permanent Campaign (Norman J. Ornstein,Boston Review) Externally, adopt on a wider basis the California system of open primaries to provide opportunities for a wider range of moderate candidates to win nominations and elections. Even better, adopt a version of the Australian system of mandatory attendance at the polls. 

2012

• Newt Gingrich to (finally) announce 2012 run on Wednesday – Gingrich tweets that he’ll be on Fox News to ‘talk about my run for President.’ (Politico) 
• Jon Huntsman’s South Carolina Debut Suggests It’s Wrong To Write Him Off (by FRANK JAMES, NPR) Meanwhile, the very thing that could hurt Huntsman with the GOP activists whose support could be crucial to winning the early primaries and caucuses — his role in the Obama Administration — could help Huntsman in a general election if he could get that far. Many independent voters like politicians willing to work across party lines.

UNIONS AND THE DEMS
Richard Trumka: Talking Loud and Saying Nothing (By Mike Elk, In These Times) The AFL-CIO has not talked of restarting the Labor Party experiment in the late 1990s, which several unions, including Trumka’s own the United Mine Workers, backed. Indeed, the labor movement has bowed to the wishes of the Democratic Party by not fostering electoral efforts like New York’s Working Families Party in states that allow fusion balloting, such as Ohio. In other words, the labor movement has no plan to declare political independence from the Democratic Party other than to spend money on electing Democrats through its own channels, rather than giving it to the Democratic Party to spend.

THEATER
The Castillo Theatre Dares to Dream (By Deardra Shuler, Black Star News)  If you live in an area that does not offer much hope you often dream of being somewhere else.  Anywhere where the grass is greener and the beaches are cleaner.  “License to Dream” is a play featured at the Castillo Theatre, located at 543 West 42nd Street in Manhattan, which bring youngsters from East New York together with underpaid dance instructors in East Hampton, in a bid to teach one another the art of dance.  And, along the way, respect each other’s culture and learn that no matter who you are, you can dare to dream.

The Hankster

She won’t cast her ballot for the reality star simply because he’s her boss and they’re in the spotlight together. “I’m just not a Republican,” she says. “I’m a Democrat. I think most people have seen me that way. I’ve … Continue reading →
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