Elections

Are you there America? It’s me, Democracy.

Dale Seufert-NavarroLeave a comment
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Protests outside of Wisconsin Legislature – Omaha World-Herald

The Republican party has truly become an anti-democratic political party that increasingly relies on underhanded tricks and deceit. From voter suppression to political gerrymandering, the party has created a situation in which they continue to control state legislatures while receiving less votes statewide. Election after election Republicans lose more of the popular vote. As the GOP has failed to win voters over with ideas, they have resorted to outright cheating. While all political parties play games, Democrats included, the blatant power grabs by Republican controlled state legislatures are unprecedented.

This past November the Republican Incumbent governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, lost his bid for a third term to Democrat Tony Evers. Next door in Michigan, Democrat Gretchen Whitmer will be replacing the term limited Republican Rick Snyder. The GOP-led legislatures of both states are quickly going to extreme lengths to weaken the powers of the two incoming governors.

Wisconsin and Michigan Republicans are taking a page right out of North Carolina’s playbook. In 2016 the North Carolina state legislature attempted to strip the governor-elect, Roy Cooper of many of his executive powers. Now Wisconsin and Michigan Republicans are aiming to do the same thing.

Due to a heavily gerrymandered political map, the Wisconsin State Assembly will remain under Republican control even though they only received 46 percent of the overall popular vote and lost every major state-wide office in the 2018 midterms. Now, in what is being called a legislative coup, the Republicans are trying to shift power to the themselves while stripping power from the incoming Governor, Tony Evers, and Attorney General, Josh Kaul. Lawmakers are aiming to essentially neuter the Attorney General by requiring legislative approval for decisions usually up to the discretion of the state’s top lawyer. One key component of the campaign, Kaul and Ever’s promise to withdraw the state from a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, will now be prevented from happening. The bill would also allow the legislature to hire its own private lawyers to defend state laws that the Attorney General does not wish to defend. This is very problematic because a private law firm, hired by lawmakers, will not have the same interests and accountability that an elected Attorney General is supposed to have. The state legislature also wants to prevent Evers from disbanding an economic agency that has long been seen as a way to funnel taxpayer funds to large corporations with no real value to state interests. Evers campaigned on eliminating the agency. In more voter suppression efforts, the bill cuts early voting from six weeks to two weeks. The Republican majority remains unabashed by public protests. The state House Speaker even stated, “We are going to have a very liberal governor who is going to enact policies that are in direct contrast to what many of us believe in.” This is not how elections and democracy work. The people of Wisconsin voted, and clearly the state legislature is trying to subvert the will of the people.

In Michigan, Democrats won contests for the Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State. The GOP-led state legislature there is also trying to restrict the powers of the newly elected officials. Jocelyn Benson, the Secretary of State-elect, ran on election and campaign transparency and now lawmakers are trying to take her power of overseeing campaign finance law and shifting it to a commission controlled by the state legislature. Similar to the Wisconsin bill, Michigan Republicans want to weaken the Attorney General’s office by giving lawmakers the ability to intervene in any stage of a legal battle over passed laws. As the state’s top lawyer, this right is granted to the Attorney General. The most appalling part about the actions of Michigan Republicans is their efforts to reverse or scale back ballot initiatives designed to help working class people. Before the election, citizens gathered enough signatures to add initiatives on minimum wage and paid sick time to the ballot. Supporters dropped the initiatives after the legislature agreed to pass bills first. Now Republicans are trying to scale those back. An amendment to the minimum wage bill pushes the timeline for increasing the minimum wage to $12 from 2022 to 2030, and no longer links the minimum wage increases to inflation. Another amendment changes the paid sick time. The old bill allotted an hour of sick time for every 30 hours of work, capped at 72 hours. The new bill changes to an hour of time for every 40 hours, capped at 36 hours. The goal of the legislature is to get all of the changes passed and signed by outgoing governor Snyder, so the new incoming governor won’t be able to veto the new bills.

Back in North Carolina, Republicans once again lost the popular vote but was able to hold on to majorities in the state legislature. Thankfully, the GOPs voting suppression efforts didn’t completely succeed. Republicans lost seats and will no longer hold a ‘supermajority’, preventing them from overriding a veto from Governor Cooper. For all of the GOPs unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud, it is ironic that Republicans are wrapped up in a allegations of election fraud. The details about North Carolinas 9th congressional district remain unclear, but all fingers seem to point to a coordinated effort to collect absentee ballots in such a way to favor the Republican candidate, Mark Harris. What is known is that a large number of absentee ballots from two counties were requested, but not all of the ballots were returned. It seems that many of these ballots were collected by an operative paid by the Harris campaign. Investigations are underway, and the state board took an unprecedented move of not certifying the election. Now it looks likely that a new election will be held.

The assault on American democracy is real and intensifying. While there are many factors and groups contributing to this threat, the Republican party has completely thrown its support behind efforts to restrict voting and any real democratic input from the American people. The American people will have to be vigilant and contiue to push back.

Dale Seufert-Navarro

Sexism or Realism

Dale Seufert-Navarro2 Comments
nancy pelosi
Nancy Pelosi – ABC News

With Democrats regaining control of the House of Representatives, a new speaker will be stepping up and taking the gavel.  Just a day ago, Pelosi, running unopposed, won the Democratic nomination to become Speaker of the House. In the secret ballot she received 203 votes with 32 opposing her nomination. In January she will need 213 votes to become speaker, so she has some work to do in winning over some of those ‘no’ votes. Most observers believe that Nancy Pelosi will once again prevail in her role as leader of the caucus. She has led House Democrats since 2007, when she became the first woman Speaker of the House. Her bid for the role has been in question. She has faced challengers before and come out on top. Most recently, in 2016, she defeated Ohio Democratic Representative Tim Ryan in the role of minority leader. With that being said, the opposition to her winning Speaker are more tangible and seem to be more of a threat than ever before. Pelosi has always been a boogeyman figure on the right, but she is now facing criticism from members in her own party. Many Democrats believe that new leadership is needed, and it is time for someone new to take the reins. A critique from the left is that while she has led House Democrats, she has seen substantial losses in the 2010 and 2016 elections. Many new and younger members have voiced a desire for new leadership, some even running on the pledge not to support her for Speaker in their 2018 campaigns. Pelosi’s supporters will point to the fact that Democrats won big in 2018 and that she is one of the best fundraisers in politics. Critics will say that the reason Democrats won big this cycle is not necessarily because of her, but because of the toxicity of President Trump and Republican party. The Presidents party is never favored in an off-year midterm election. Some people have claimed that there is an underlying sexism in the calls for Pelosi to be replaced. 

Virtually no one is calling to replace Chuck Schumer in Senate leadership. Schumer has seen substantial losses in the Senate and compared to the Democratic base, he is far to the right. Chuck Schumer has been completely ineffective against Trump and the Republicans, even enabling them in many ways. He stood aside as centrist Democrats voted for bank deregulation and thus, putting the economy and livelihoods of Americans at risk. He was no fan of the Obama era Iran Deal, which he voted against in 2015, and barely put up a fight when Trump singled that he was going to pull out of the deal. In regard to Israel and Palestine, he is very far to the right of the Democratic base. He even celebrated the American embassy move to Jerusalem. The media and many in the party are not calling for new leadership in the Senate. With new leadership in the House needed, then it is also needed in the Senate. If Pelosi is to be replaced, who should replace her?

A few freshman members of Congress have voiced support for a new leader, but they have not put forth any names of who her replacement should be. The role of speaker is very complex, so a freshman or newer member is probably not the best idea. Also, the few names floated to replace her are man and Democrats to the right of her. This is not a good idea for a party that is increasingly moving to the left, and the optics of a group of men coalescing to unseat a woman is not good for a party that just elected record numbers of new women to Congress. Something else to remember is the time from now until the 2020 presidential election is crucial for the party. Everything the Democratic party does between now and then will either kill their chances to take back the White House or aid in their success. An effective speaker and legislation to energize the base will be pivotal. One name that has been briefly floated by the more progressive wing of the party is Barbara Lee of California. She has been a member of the House since 1998 so she has plenty of experience in the workings of House politics. Most importantly she is very exciting for the Democratic base. She was the only member of the House to vote against the use of force in Iraq after 9/11, and routinely advocates for the repeal of the 2001 War Authorization Act. Also, there has never been an African American Speaker of the House and many Democrats have complained that black House members have been practically locked out of leadership roles. Black women are the most loyal demographic of the Democratic base, with a whopping 94% supporting Clinton in the 2016 election. Our Congressional leadership should look like the country that it represents. The Democratic party is supposed to be the party of inclusion. Instead of taking a loyal voting block for granted, party leadership needs to step it up and actually be the party that it claims to be. Change is indeed needed in the role of speaker and much of the House leadership, I just don’t know if now is the right time with 2020 looming in the not so distant future. Is a viable option available? Is a progressive champion ready and willing to take on the difficult job of uniting the party in the only part of the federal government Democratically controlled?

While anything can happen between now and January, Pelosi’s chances look good. She has loyal members with whom she has formed strong alliances with in the 10 years she has been the Democratic leader. One thing is for sure,  Nancy Pelosi isn’t going down without a fight.

Dale Seufert-Navarro

Taking Washington by storm

Dale Seufert-NavarroLeave a comment

In honor of my first official post as a newcomer to the blogging world I would like to showcase some other newcomers. I would like to shine a light on some of the fresh faces going to Washington. I am very excited to see what they have up their sleeves…

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Ocasio-Cortez is the progressive firebrand elected to the House of Representatives from New York’s 24thdistrict. At 29 years old, she will be the youngest women to serve in Congress and has been making waves since her June upset of longtime Democratic incumbent Joe Crowley. Most recently, she attended a climate action protest in Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s office. The Bronx born, self-described Democratic Socialist, made Medicare For All, tuition-free public college, immediate climate action, and abolishing I.C.E. key issues of her platform. 

Ayanna Pressley 

In January, Ayanna Pressley will represent Massachusetts’s 7thcongressional district. Ayanna also knocked out a Democratic incumbent in the primary season. She previously served as the first black woman on the Boston City Council. She will also be the first black woman to represent the state of Massachusetts in Congress. Pressley made sexual violence a priority in her campaign, stating “I have dedicated my life to combating trauma in all forms…and so the opportunity to…codify activism in policy change is certainly an exciting prospect.” Medicare For All, defunding I.C.E., and calling out President Trump for his racist and misogynistic comments were also key components of her campaign.

Ilhan Omar

Ilhan Omar truly is truly a woman of firsts. Representing Minnesota’s 5thcongressional district, Omar will be one of the first Muslim women, the first Somali American, and the first former refugee elected to Congress. She will also be the first woman of color representing Minnesota in Washington. Omar supports a $15 an hour minimum wage, conditional tuition-free college, and student debt forgiveness. She has been an outspoken critic of the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinian people. Most recently, her apparent support of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement has caused some controversy. 

Rashida Tlaib

Another woman of firsts, Tlaib became the first Muslim woman elected to a state legislature. Now she will be the first Palestinian-American woman, as well as one of the first Muslim women in the House of Representatives. A strong progressive, Tlaib supports Medicare For All, a $15 minimum wage, and abolishing I.C.E… On Israel and Palestine, she supports a one-state solution, a Palestinian right of return, and cutting aid to a Netanyahu led Israel.

Sharice Davids

Elected to Kansas’s 3rdcongressional district, Sharice Davids will be the first openly gay Native American in Congress. A member of the Ho-Chunk nation, she will be one of the first Native Americans elected to Congress. Davids ran on a strong economic and environmental platform. While she hasn’t thrown her full support for a Medicare For All system, she supports the expansion of Medicaid and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. She also believes in immediate climate action, focusing on Kansas’s potential to be a leading wind energy producing state.

In writing this piece I realized that all of these newly elected members of Congress are female. The 2018 midterms were definitely a good year for women in politics. Congress now has a record number of women serving in Washington, with 112 between the House and Senate. Women are breaking down doors and demanding a seat at the table. With strong progressive leaders headed to Washington, I am optimistic about the larger progressive movement and the future of this country. I can’t wait to see what these women do in Washington.

Fight like hell ladies! 

Dale Seufert-Navarro

Let the Journey Begin!

Dale Seufert-Navarro2 Comments

“Be the Change you wish to see in the world” – Anonymous 

“Activism is my rent for living on this planet.” – Alice Walker


These two quotes have been guiding lights for me in my life. When I look at the world around me and the volatile political climate, it fuels something in me.

The working class in this country is being devastated and pushed out of the political discussion. Income inequality and the gap between classes is greater now than during the Gilded Age of the early 20th Century. The growing power of the individuals at the top of the economic sphere is suffocating the voices of everyone else at the bottom. It is clear now that our government is controlled by the interests of the wealthy and giant corporations. 

The planet we live on is neglected and abused. Rivers and streams are being polluted. Oceans are being filled with trash and sea levels are rising. Forests are vanishing. Extreme weather is devastating communities. To put it bluntly, climate change is the most pressing issue we face as a civilization. It is an issue that we must tackle with every will and resource that we have.

We live in a world where, for all of its progressions, people of color are still being marginalized. Our criminal justice system is unfair and unbalanced, divided on the lines of class and race. Wealthier individuals living by a separate set of rules, are given immunity from the consequences of life. People of color and the poor are living under a more harsh and unjust set of rules. Police violence more greatly effecting minority groups.

Voting rights and political participation are under assault. More and more obstacles of having a say in the political process are put into place, election after election. We should be making it easier to vote, not suppressing one of the only ways average people have a say in the kind of society they want to live in. The way campaigns and elections are ran must be reformed and democratized. Large sums of money from wealthy individuals and corporations are drowning our democracy and the voices of everyday citizens.

Anger is a very powerful emotion, but anger can also be counterproductive if not channeled in the right way. Honest discussion and debate are needed and necessary, but petty name calling and personal attacks don’t solve anything. I hope this safe place can become a home for a larger progressive movement, but all are welcome, conservative and progressive alike, to contribute in this discussion. I want to make a difference in the world; to be the change. I want to start a conversation.

For economic equality! For campaign finance reform! For reproductive rights! For climate action! For criminal justice reform! For labor solidarity! This project is but one small step in making all of this possible. One small candle in a sea of darkness. 

Will you join me?

Dale Seufert-Navarro