And here I thought you were finally covering the Green Party of the US and the challenges we face in gaining and keeping state ballot access!!
But alas, no. Algae
Though you had such nice things to say back in 2020.
With poison-pill provisions (in a centrist, almost ALEC-like campaign) having been placed deep inside noble-sounding voting rights bills, which had the effect of increasing, even doubling, the number of petition signatures required of minor parties and new parties to even be allowed to participate in our small-d democratic electoral process. In my state of New Mexico, rules go even further, requiring EACH candidate of a minor party to collect that SAME number of signatures as the party effort - some 7000, even after going through the process of an official, reported, party nominating convention.
And when a state Green Party does qualify, somebody high up in major party land is always drawing up plans for lawsuits to sue Greens off the ballot and other dirty tricks campaigns a la North Carolina.
Then there's the issue with actually receiving fairly qualified for FEC funding. Janet Yellen, fmr Sec'y of the Treasury in 2024, somehow unilaterally decided to deny the Green's primary matching funds minutes after informing the Green campaign they had qualified, "just in case Democratic and Republican candidates decide they want it," for the general election. This is not a one-off or an unusual case, but rather de rigeur.
Then there's the debate access issue. In a nutshell, that big stage has become bougie exclusive since wrested from the LWV-US. The Free and Equal Elections Foundation decided to again host a Presidential Candidate Forum series in 2024, open to the top major and top qualifying minor party candidates. Sen Thomas Massie even moderated one such event, televised online and thru C-SPAN. No major party candidate responded or participated, 4 minor party candidates did so.
There was no mainstream media announcement of said event, no coverage of the 4 debates, live or afterward. Which leads us to the other issue.
No mainstream, and even little leftist indie media coverage - leading us to believe that most of these sites that claim to be progressive, independent media, are having issues separating themselves from the partisanship.
One big media org once summed it up, when it stood behind it - Democracy dies in darkness.
Our electoral process, the obscene funding, the subjective censorship, the entitled tricks --
You expose an ugly reality of the U.S. electoral system: neither Ds nor Rs want competition, ironic given all the blathering about capitalism and free markets. In different yet nonetheless anti-democratic ways they both seek to suppress the vote.
Even intra-party in a state like NY the Democratic Party colludes to restrict ballot access for Democratic candidates not favored by party elites. It’s so pervasive that voters hardly notice, having been normalized.
I know Claire has expressed disdain for the term « elites » but I’m at a loss for a better characterization.
Delayed response to last week's post... I appreciated the connection of Trump's obsession with construction projects to his heyday as a NYC real estate developer. In part through listening to your past videos on Caroline Leavitt and MAGA women, I've come to think of the 1980s as Trump's (if not MAGA's) nostalgic center. The image of the MAGA women in Trump's orbit is a throwback - sartorially, stylistically, values-wise - to a certain kind of 1980s professional woman.
Thoughtful podcast.
And here I thought you were finally covering the Green Party of the US and the challenges we face in gaining and keeping state ballot access!!
But alas, no. Algae
Though you had such nice things to say back in 2020.
With poison-pill provisions (in a centrist, almost ALEC-like campaign) having been placed deep inside noble-sounding voting rights bills, which had the effect of increasing, even doubling, the number of petition signatures required of minor parties and new parties to even be allowed to participate in our small-d democratic electoral process. In my state of New Mexico, rules go even further, requiring EACH candidate of a minor party to collect that SAME number of signatures as the party effort - some 7000, even after going through the process of an official, reported, party nominating convention.
And when a state Green Party does qualify, somebody high up in major party land is always drawing up plans for lawsuits to sue Greens off the ballot and other dirty tricks campaigns a la North Carolina.
Then there's the issue with actually receiving fairly qualified for FEC funding. Janet Yellen, fmr Sec'y of the Treasury in 2024, somehow unilaterally decided to deny the Green's primary matching funds minutes after informing the Green campaign they had qualified, "just in case Democratic and Republican candidates decide they want it," for the general election. This is not a one-off or an unusual case, but rather de rigeur.
Then there's the debate access issue. In a nutshell, that big stage has become bougie exclusive since wrested from the LWV-US. The Free and Equal Elections Foundation decided to again host a Presidential Candidate Forum series in 2024, open to the top major and top qualifying minor party candidates. Sen Thomas Massie even moderated one such event, televised online and thru C-SPAN. No major party candidate responded or participated, 4 minor party candidates did so.
There was no mainstream media announcement of said event, no coverage of the 4 debates, live or afterward. Which leads us to the other issue.
No mainstream, and even little leftist indie media coverage - leading us to believe that most of these sites that claim to be progressive, independent media, are having issues separating themselves from the partisanship.
One big media org once summed it up, when it stood behind it - Democracy dies in darkness.
Our electoral process, the obscene funding, the subjective censorship, the entitled tricks --
it's dark.
Thanks for this interesting information.
You expose an ugly reality of the U.S. electoral system: neither Ds nor Rs want competition, ironic given all the blathering about capitalism and free markets. In different yet nonetheless anti-democratic ways they both seek to suppress the vote.
Even intra-party in a state like NY the Democratic Party colludes to restrict ballot access for Democratic candidates not favored by party elites. It’s so pervasive that voters hardly notice, having been normalized.
I know Claire has expressed disdain for the term « elites » but I’m at a loss for a better characterization.
Claire?
Delayed response to last week's post... I appreciated the connection of Trump's obsession with construction projects to his heyday as a NYC real estate developer. In part through listening to your past videos on Caroline Leavitt and MAGA women, I've come to think of the 1980s as Trump's (if not MAGA's) nostalgic center. The image of the MAGA women in Trump's orbit is a throwback - sartorially, stylistically, values-wise - to a certain kind of 1980s professional woman.
Thanks for all the great content here!