Tag Archives: filibuster

Poll: Majority of Young Americans Say US Democracy ‘in Trouble’ or Already ‘Failed’

“After turning out in record numbers in 2020, young Americans are sounding the alarm.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 12-1-2021 by Common Dreams

Photp: Ted Eytan/CC

In the lead-up to U.S. President Joe Biden’s “Summit for Democracy,” polling results released Wednesday show that a majority of young adults nationwide are concerned about the state of American democracy.

The Institute of Politics (IOP) at Harvard Kennedy School surveyed adults aged 18 to 29 across the political spectrum from October 26 to November 8—amid ongoing GOP attacks on U.S. democracy in the form of gerrymandering and blocking various federal voting rights legislation. Continue reading →

In First, US Labeled ‘Backsliding’ Democracy as Global Authoritarianism Grows

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A new report calls the rejection of the 2020 election results by many in the Republican Party as an “historic turning point” for the United States.

By Julia Conley. Published 11-22-2021 by Common Dreams

The Capitol riot. Photo: Blink O’fanaye/flickr/CC

For the first time in its four years of compiling annual data on the state of democracy around the world, an international think tank added the United States to its list of “backsliding” democracies in the report it released Monday, pointing to factors including politicians’ continued false claims that the 2020 presidential election results were illegitimate as one of the key elements weakening the country’s democratic system.

The Global State of Democracy report, released by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), called former President Donald Trump’s public questioning of the election results in November 2020 “a historic turning point” both for U.S. democracy and the world, pointing to a knock-on effect in several countries. Continue reading →

‘The Time Is Now’: 200 Activists Arrested While Demanding Biden, Congress Defend Voting Rights

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“We are here today to send a message that President Biden must take action now to ensure the promise of our democracy and protect our freedom to vote.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 11-17-2021 by Common Dreams

Roughly 200 voting rights activists were arrested while advocating for voting rights. Photo: League of Women Voters of the US/Twitter

Activists on Wednesday took to the streets of Washington, D.C., where organizers said around 200 people were arrested while demanding the passage of key voting rights legislation, an end to the filibuster, and bold action from President Joe Biden in defense of an imperiled democracy.

“This movement is about ensuring that the arc of the moral universe continues to bend toward justice,” People for the American Way president Ben Jealous said in a reference to a famous Martin Luther King Jr. quote as he spoke outside the White House prior to his arrest. Continue reading →

Architect of Texas Abortion Ban Takes Aim at LGBTQ+ Rights While Urging Reversal of Roe

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“Make no mistake, the goal is to force extreme, outdated, religious-driven values on all of us through the courts.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 9-18-2021

The Women’s March on Washington in 2017. Photo: Mobilus In Mobili/flickr/CC

Advocates for reproductive freedom and LGTBQ+ equality on Saturday pointed to a legal brief filed in a U.S. Supreme Court case that could soon overturn Roe v. Wade as a crucial example of the broader goals of those fighting to end abortion rights across the United States.

“It’s never just been about fetuses. It’s about controlling sex,” tweeted Muhlenberg College assistant professor Jacqueline Antonovich, a historian of health and medicine. Continue reading →

58 Years After Historic Rally, Thousands March on Washington for Voting Rights, DC Statehood

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“We must protest, we must rally, we must organize and mobilize and sit in and stand up,” said one speaker. “Not just for a day. Not just for a summer. But until all people are housed, until all people are fed, until all people earn a living wage.”

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 8-28-2021

Photo: Mondaire Jones/Twitter

A summer marked by rallies, motorcades, and pressure campaigns targeting lawmakers standing in the way of voting rights legislation culminated on Saturday in the 2021 March on Washington, where thousands demanded that Congress pass far-reaching measures to protect and expand the right to vote.

Demonstrators traveled from across the country to mark the 58th anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Continue reading →

‘Our Moment to Win Citizenship’: Budget Package Provides Hope to Millions of Undocumented People

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“We will bring undocumented people out of the shadows and provide them with a pathway to citizenship, including those who courageously kept our economy running in the middle of a deadly pandemic,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders.

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 8-9-2021

About 3000 people gathered at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis to stand in solidarity with immigrants and refugees in February 2017. Photo: Fibonacci Blue/flickr/CC

The $3.5 trillion budget resolution introduced Monday by Senate Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders includes billions of dollars for Congress to establish a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants, giving progressives a reason to cheer.

“We will bring undocumented people out of the shadows and provide them with a pathway to citizenship, including those who courageously kept our economy running in the middle of a deadly pandemic,” said Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Budget Committee and key architect of what he called “the most consequential piece of legislation for working people, the elderly, the children, the sick, and the poor since FDR and the New Deal of the 1930s. Continue reading →

As Fascist GOP Threat Grows, Dems Verge on Historic Failure to Secure Voting Rights

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“Mark my words,” warned former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. “If we don’t pass the For the People Act, the GOP is going to gerrymander their way to a House majority—and they may never give it up.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 8-6-2021

Moral March on Manchin & McConnell by Poor Peoples Campaign, Washington, D.C. Phpto: Frypie/CC

The window for action to protect voting rights from the GOP’s nationwide assault is rapidly closing as Democrats—despite controlling both chambers of Congress and the White House—fail to take the steps necessary to pass federal legislation that would expand ballot access, restore the gutted Voting Rights Act of 1965, and end partisan gerrymandering.

Progressive warnings about the implications of continued inaction on voting rights have grown increasingly dire in recent weeks as state governments—nearly two dozen of which are completely dominated by Republicans—prepare to redraw their 10-year congressional maps for upcoming elections and implement new ballot restrictions. Continue reading →

Democrats Urged to Reject Latest GOP Attempt to Hold Social Security ‘Hostage’

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“Lindsey Graham and his fellow Republicans will stop at nothing to cut the American people’s earned Social Security and Medicare benefits.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-21-2021

Senator Lindsey Graham. Photo: Gage Skidmore/flickr/CC

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Wednesday said he would be willing to vote to raise the federal debt ceiling in exchange for a policy that could result in cuts to Social Security and Medicare, a proposed trade-off that progressive advocacy groups implored Democrats to reject.

With members of Congress staring down an August deadline to increase the debt limit—the amount of money the federal government is legally permitted to borrow to meet its financial obligations—Graham (R-S.C.) told Bloomberg that he could bring himself to vote yes on a debt ceiling hike if Democrats agree to legislation establishing commissions tasked with crafting Social Security and Medicare “reforms.” Continue reading →

‘Our Entire Democracy Is Now at Risk’ Because of GOP Attacks, Warn 100+ Scholars

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“We urge members of Congress to do whatever is necessary—including suspending the filibuster—in order to pass national voting and election administration standards.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 6-1-2021

On a day that saw Minnesota break a record high of 8,703 COVID cases, far-right conspiracy theorists Qanon and “Stop The Steal” followers stood maskless shoulder to shoulder outside the Minnesota State Capitol. Photo: Chad Davis/flickr/CC

More than 100 scholars of democracy on Tuesday released a joint “statement of concern” calling on Congress to combat ongoing GOP attacks on voting rights and ensure fair and free future U.S. elections with federal legislation.

Published online by the think tank New America, the scholars’ statement comes as Republican lawmakers nationwide continue to propose and enact state-level voter suppression bills. This past weekend, Texas House Democrats staged a walkout to block state Senate-approved legislation widely denounced by voting rights advocates and other critics across the country, including President Joe Biden. Continue reading →

Analysis Details How Bill in Congress Could Stop GOP Voter Suppression Nationwide

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By passing the For the People Act, as the House recently did, the Senate can “nullify new voter restrictions currently advanced by Republicans at the state level.”

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 3-16-2021

Photo: Florida Rights Restoration Coalition/Facebook

In response to the GOP’s ongoing nationwide assault on voting rights that threatens to restrict ballot access for tens of millions of Americans, the Brennan Center for Justice released a new analysis Tuesday showing that if the Senate joins the House in passing the For the People Act, Congress can “thwart virtually every single one” of the more than 250 voter suppression bills have been introduced by Republican lawmakers in 43 states.

Last week, legislation intended to make voting more difficult—particularly for communities of color and other Democratic-leaning constituencies—was advanced in Georgia by the GOP-controlled state Senate, while Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a bill that curbs early voting. Continue reading →

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The Movement Continues – Globally

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