Self-Evident Truths in a World of Lies

I had a disturbing realization today when I was watching a video entitled "GOP Strategy Backfires | This Could Save Democracy". I get served this crap all the time and it's infuriating, mainly because I don't think they're doing it because of the content. They think I'm a Democrat. And they do it because sometimes I click. Well, I clicked. Damn myself.

I'm not going to rehash it. The piece I remember is a man named Marc Elias talking about Supreme Court Justices holding that some rights can't be held as "second-class" rights. He says that argument is used with the Second Amendment, but it should also apply to voting rights. I stopped the video there (sorry Marc, I'll finish!). 

Of course it should! Those rights are enshrined in the original document!

Right?

Wrong. I went into a rabbit hole and realized how fragile every government in the world is. I stood at the edge of the abyss, and you know what? I almost wanted to throw myself in.

I took a look through the Constitution of the United States of America.

The House of Representatives is addressed in Article I, Section 2. That section provides that Representatives be chosen by electors whose qualifications are decided by the State.  The definition of an actual voter, in the context of the State's government, is provided by the State's Constitution. 

The Senate is addressed in Article I, Section 3. Before the Seventeenth Amendment, two Senators from each State were chosen by the State's Legislature. Afterward and to the present, they are chosen by the people of the State. No differently from Representatives, the definition of a valid voter is provided by the State's Constitution.

The important thing here is that part I repeated a few times: “the definition of a valid voter is provided by the State's Constitution.” This means that the right to vote devolves to each state.

Nothing in this document seems to say who gets to vote.

Presidential Electors are addressed in Article II, Section 1. A number of Electors equal to the sum of the Senators and Representatives of the State would be appointed by the State's Legislature. Here we have an explicit separation of your actual vote from the legal vote for the office. This is something most of us are already well aware of: The Electoral College.

Since about 1880, the states have chosen Electors using the popular vote, through different methods. Most of them use “winner takes all” as the approach. But understand this, because it’s important (and frankly, a little scary in today’s climate): there is nothing preventing a state from deciding to return to the practice of legislative appointment of Electors.

Watch your State governments closely. Especially if they’re aligned with the party in power.

If you’re skeptical about what I’m saying, that’s good. I want you to be. Question everything.

Here’s a short story though...

In 2020, seven states were host to legal attempts to pressure State governments to take legislative action. Here’s one example, you can find more on your own if you are interested.

I read through these stories which are talking about official meetings with the Trump lawyers, noting that they are committees who profess to have no actual binding powers and being led by politicians who are professing loudly that they had no intent to legislate the outcome of their elections. I realized that all of this wasn’t done aimlessly and without intent. There was a goal in mind. So what was that goal?

With enough political momentum, any of these State legislatures could have superseded the elected Electors with a slate of their own Electors by claiming the state had been victim to a systemic fraud. On January 6, these new electors would have to be accepted and if they weren’t accepted, Republicans could have held a riot to insist on it.

As it turned out, no such official actions were taken, and the riot occurred anyway.

Alright, so that settles the voting rights question. It’s up to the states, except where the states are restricted by an Amendment.

Those Amendments do help, but they expose a different kind of problem. Take the Fourteenth (“No State shall [...] deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”), which reads like it should end the question. But it didn’t. Women still couldn’t vote until the Nineteenth was ratified in 1920.

That’s fifty-two years of time for which the Constitution of the United States should have protected women, but was just a piece of paper.

I kept reading. You should read this document, too, by the way. It’s more interesting than you’ll imagine.

I was struck by Article IV, Section 4: 

“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.”

First, I was struck by how there is no actual definition of “Republican Form of Government.” It was well understood then, but not as clear now. Second, I was struck by how undefined “domestic Violence” is in this context. Third, I was struck by how relevant the protection from domestic Violence has become.

Not only should we be concerned by the definition of our voting rights, but we should be concerned with the definition of our sovereignty as communities. These are both critically important definitions which must be carefully scrutinized and defended.

If, for example, there are Federal troops roaming around your streets hiding their identities and taking people into custody under questionable pretenses, it is up to us to create the political momentum to stop it.

(Links from Wikipedia, NPR, and the Center for American Progress there, in case you missed ‘em.)

There is no insurrection. No internal armed conflict. At one point a sandwich was thrown, I think. But if I recall, it struck the National Guard, who were already there.

Even if your legislature called for protection, there is no “domestic Violence” as a pretext. It is up to us to build the momentum to inspire our State governments to call for an end to these incursions.

If you like voting, you need to be involved at the State level. 

You're thinking that's a bore and a great pain in the ass, and you’re right. It is. It can add a lot to an already full plate.

The powers that be are betting that you won't do this. They're counting on it.

Those elections in the odd years are meaningful. Cultivate a relationship with your local representatives. You can actually address the local problems that vex you this way. You probably knew that, but it didn’t hurt to mention it. 

Put state politics in your news feeds. It’s boring most of the time, but if they one day decide “let’s go back to just picking our own Electors” that’s where you’re gonna see it first. Who knows, you could find it a lot less boring than I do.

Finally, of course, your Federal representatives. Put them on speed-dial. You’ll feel like they aren’t listening despite their assertions to the contrary, but they are. It’s just that they’re likely to be dividing our opinions into buckets and watching which buckets get fullest.

That was a long walk. Tired yet? We’re just about finished.

What can I even say? The government wants to define your legality all the way into the content of your heart, your soul, and even the origins and struggles of your ancestors.

Maybe, like me, you might not be considered “deviant,” or “illegal,” but that’s no less a reason to pay attention. It’s more of one. What good will your life be when all your friends are torn out of it for the sake of some traditional or national purity?

If you’re feeling like you’re just another cog in a heartless machine as of now, imagine what it will be like when you are literally just like every other cog in a world with no colors, textures, flavors, or feelings.

I know! So dramatic! 

I can’t help myself sometimes. 

I just want to live in a world where it’s okay to be who I am, and I want that for you, too.

All people are created equal, these Rights are inalienable (though it is up to us to defend them), and all that is at stake is our life, liberty, and the pursuit of our happiness.

It’s nothing new that you have to work just to live the life you have. It’s not even new that haters are always trying to make it as hard as they can. Stand up to it.

Whatever it is you want in life, it’s worth at least a little bit of work.

Stay vigilant. Stay involved. Stay hopeful. Stay safe.

-0dB