Voting and Jury Duty

If you are called for jury duty and you don’t show up, you better have a good excuse.  Otherwise, you will be fined.  Jury duty is considered a civic responsibility, but it is not a voluntary responsibility.  You must serve when called.

Why not fine citizens who don’t vote?  Australia adopted that policy in 1924.  In Australia if you fail to vote, you are fined.  If you continue not to vote, the fine increases.  

William A. Galston of the Brookings Institution gave three good reasons for mandatory voting in a November 6 article in the New York Times.  First, citizenship involves obligations as well as rights.  Voting is a responsibility.  Second, voters today tend to be people with money and education.  The interests of the people on the bottom are not represented at the polls.  Years ago when labor unions were strong and “machines” turned out the vote, more people at the bottom were voting.  Now the electorate is skewed toward the upper tier.

The third advantage would be that if everyone voted, extremists would be diluted.  Only about 40% of eligible voters cast a ballot in the non-presidential House races.  The 40% includes Tea Party people and other nut jobs who are intensely political.  They skew the political system.  If everybody voted, the fringes would be diluted.  

No, I don’t think mandatory voting will happen any time soon.  In fact, the Republicans love that the rich and the extreme are able to swing low turnout elections.  Their entire thrust is to restrict voting, not expand it.  Tomorrow we will see further results of low turnout and big money.  It won’t be pretty.

Union to Union

Today my partner and  I did a “union to union” walk in Palmerton.  We visited homes where a voter was also union member.  We explained that we were there on behalf of the Carbon County Labor Chapter, AFL-CIO, and that the Chapter had endorsed Charlie Getz and Bill O’Gurek for County Commissioner.

Yesterday I did the same thing in Nesquehoning.  This weekend was the first time I have ever gone door-to-door for a candidate where I only received positive feedback.  Today, in fact, a young ironworker shook my hand.  My partner had a similar experience.  In all my years of precinct walking, I have never before had anyone shake my hand.  

I feel like breaking into a rousing chorus of “Solidarity Forever.”  It’s a nice feeling.

Voter contest announced

On Tuesday, November 8, Pennsylvania will hold an election for the state judiciary along with local municipal and school board members.  In Carbon County, 37,565 people are eligible to vote.  I’m predicting the turnout in Carbon County will be 32%.  

The reader who posts a more accurate guess on the turnout than mine will win a bottle of red and a bottle of white from Big Creek Winery.  If my guess is the most accurate, I keep both bottles.  No one else is allowed to guess 32%--I’ve already taken that.  If there is a tie, each tie will receive one bottle.  I’ll pay shipping costs.

If the Republicans succeed in their efforts to require picture ID, I also predict next year’s turnout will decline by between three and five percent, mostly among Democrats.  There’s no contest on that, just disgust at one side’s willingness to cheat and pretend that it’s to prevent fraud.  

Advice to radicals

 As one of the founding members of the California Green Party, I was often irritated with some of the more “idealistic” ideas that not only hindered accomplishments, but were actually undemocratic.  Early on, the Party adopted a procedure in which everybody had to agree with a proposal or the proposal died.  I pointed out that this was the least democratic procedure possible.  What it meant was that one person could rule.

This is the way the U.S. Senate operates.  Rand Paul, for example, can put a “hold” on a bill and block passage.  He did that in October on a bill to extend cash assistance to 5,600 elderly and disabled refugees.  The bill, supported by such diverse people as Sen. Shumer of New York and Sen. Sessions of Alabama, was opposed by Sen. Paul, and under Senate rules the bill could not go forward.

It was with some despair that I read that some of the “Occupy” groups had adopted a “consensus” procedure.  Congressman John Lewis was prevented from speaking to the Occupy Atlanta group because one vegan objected.  (Mr. Lewis, evidently, eats meat.)

I understand that the minority must have rights.  I am a proud member of the American Civil Liberties Union, a group devoted to minority rights.  Nevertheless, I don’t believe that a minority should dictate policy.  That is a form of tyranny.  It’s also stupid.

Immigrant entrepreneurs

Recently the Fiscal Policy Institute published a study on new businesses in New York City.  Of the 69,000 businesses in the City, approximately 48 percent are owned by foreign born entrepreneurs.  Some sections of the economy (grocery stores, dry cleaning establishments) are dominated by foreign born owners.  You can find the story at <http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/immigration.html>.

The statistics were based on samples from 2005-2009.  The study defined small business owners as self-employed people with incorporated businesses.

We probably expect taxi drivers to be predominately foreign born, but the study found that 40 percent of the computer systems design, architectural, and engineering businesses were also owned by immigrants.

It’s too bad about the wasteland known as Hazleton.  Somebody should tell Congressman Barletta.

How Many Votes?

Joseph Stalin is reputed to have said, when reminded of the influence of the Pope, “How many divisions does the Pope have?”  I think about that sometimes when I’m reading about the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.  How many votes does it have?

I expressed some admiration for that movement in an earlier posting.  I noted that the demonstrators had changed the way people perceive the American economic system.  Americans are finally getting the message that the people on top have undue influence, are doing better than the rest of us, and have one of the two major parties to represent their interests.  I may stage my own “Occupy Weissport” demonstration in the near future in support.

Nevertheless, I come back to “How many votes does the movement have?”  It is not enough to change the conversation, as important as that is.  We also need to change the government.  The Tea Party people understood that.  They went to town halls, registered voters, and voted in 2010.  Admittedly, they were shills for the rich, and they received training and funding--and still are--from people like Art Pope and the Koch Brothers and Karl Rove.  Be that as it may, they have their hands on the levers of power.  They stop the jobs bill.  They kill environmental legislation.  They prevent poor women from obtaining abortions.  They manipulate the redistricting and suppress voting rights.  They possess power.

I, and a few hundred others, if I can get things organized, may stand with our signs and slogans in the Weissport park, but that won’t be enough.  Politics is dull hard boring work.  It is especially difficult when the other side has most of the money, but it is work that must be done. Otherwise the “Occupy” movement will be an interesting footnote in some future American history book.

An aside:  The House yesterday reaffirmed that “In God We Trust” is the official motto of the U.S.  I always thought it had an additional phrase--"All others pay cash." Who knew? 

Purchasing elections

I’ve received two mailers from the Republican Party attacking Bill O’Gurek, candidate for Carbon County Commissioner.  The first one basically accused him of causing the high unemployment rate in Carbon County; the second implied that he went up to the county facility at Weatherwood and pushed old people out of their beds.

The Supreme Court set the stage for this type of campaign with its “Citizens United” decision.  Corporations, with the same rights as people, can pour money into campaigns without reporting their contributions.  Rich individuals can do the same.  (Check out the Oct. 10 article in the New Yorker on how one man, Art Pope, is skewing the entire electoral process in North Carolina.)

The Pennsylvania Republican Party has enough money to try to influence a small county race for commissioner.  The strategy is to elect Republicans at the local level.  Those Republicans will at some point run for higher office.  

I recently had an argument with a man who was irritated that I had picketed an event at Penn’s Peak, asking who funded the Carbon County 9/12 group.  The 9/12 group was inspired by Glenn Beck and is pretty much a shill for the top 1%.  This man said it was perfectly legal for the 9/12 group to keep its donors secret.  I told him that it might be legal, but it was wrong.  Wrong or not, he is correct.  Money is pouring into the political process.  It is not pouring into the Democratic Party.  This government is for sale, and our side lacks the funding to buy it.  

It’s legal, but it’s not democracy.  Even worse, the governments that are elected under this system lack legitimacy, and that can be dangerous.