Like many of you, the Patriotic Millionaires will be sitting down with our friends and family in the days ahead to give thanks for the blessings of the previous year, celebrate our achievements, and commiserate with our communities. By most objective measures, there is much to which we can toast: from the recent successes of organized labor to declining inflation and a strong job market, … Continue reading Giving Thanks and the Fights Ahead
Once again, progress has been stymied by a small minority in the US Senate. This week started with Senate Democrats engaged in critical negotiations over two pieces of voting rights legislation: the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. With 50 Senate Democrats supporting these bills, they have the votes to pass each. Yet thanks to the legislative filibuster, and … Continue reading To save our democracy, Democrats must scrap the filibuster
Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, millions of Americans have faced financial hardship and economic instability. Some have lost their jobs or been furloughed, many have been uprooted from their homes or have even become homeless (not to mention the millions that have gotten severely ill and hundreds of thousands that have died). Even well beyond the peak of the pandemic, 24 million adults … Continue reading Wealth Gap on the Rise
Our democracy is under attack. As of today, more than 300 different pieces of voter suppression legislation have been introduced across the country. Just last week, in Georgia, the state that tipped the Senate for Democrats in January, Governor Brian Kemp signed a sweeping 98-page omnibus “election” bill (aka voter suppression bill), into law surrounded by white male legislators under a painting of a slave … Continue reading Use The For The People Act to Fix The Damage of Anti-Voter Legislation
When Floridians voted yes on Amendment 4 last year, they spoke loud and clear: 65% voted to restore voting rights for Floridians who completed a felony sentence (except for felony sex crimes and murder), opening the door for over 1.5 million disenfranchised Floridians to regain their voting rights. But on Wednesday, the Florida House passed a measure requiring those with felony convictions to pay up … Continue reading Florida Republicans Are Bringing Back Poll Taxes
While the Democrats winning the House in last month’s midterms means new checks and balances on the Trump admin’s efforts to turn federal coffers into the donor class’s piggyback, the result of a Florida ballot question is arguably the greatest win of 2018. Amendment 4, the ballot initiative that received 64% of the vote, will restore voting rights to 1.4 million Floridians with felony convictions … Continue reading Ballot Initiative Restores Felon Voting Rights in Florida
With more races being decided by ever-slimmer margins, like in Florida’s gubernatorial and senate elections, increasing attention is being paid to who can and cannot vote, and how difficult the voting process has become for certain Americans. This midterm election was decided in part by widespread voter suppression, and it’s time for Americans to acknowledge how much partisan maneuvering is to blame. In this summer’s … Continue reading Because of the Supreme Court’s Complicity, Our Elections Lack Integrity
Throughout the 2016 election cycle, the media and politicians alike spoke of the forgotten voters, the Americans whose voices were not being heard and whose will was not being done in their state capitals and D.C. Via Trump’s election, many said the forgotten Americans had finally been heard, but this is not true. These Americans always had access to the ballot box, and used it. … Continue reading Ending Felony Disenfranchisement in Florida is on the Ballot
The 24th amendment, ratified in 1964, abolished the poll tax. Unfortunately, over the last 50 years, a policy of another name but similar impact has taken its place. The disenfranchisement policies of 22 states, which are widely considered to be unconstitutional, have continued the American tradition of an exclusionary electorate. It’s a well-known fact that those living in poverty have tougher lives than those who … Continue reading The Legacy of Poll Taxes and Disenfranchisement
With passage of the 13th and 14th amendments, America created two of the greatest loopholes in the country’s legal code. Immediately following their introduction, the language of the amendments led to Jim Crow, convict leasing, and chain gangs. Over 150 years later, we are seeing further harmful results of these laws in states that disenfranchise felons. Thankfully, some states are beginning to examine their policies … Continue reading Florida is being Forced to Reform its Voting Rights Restoration System
Whether it’s the monied bail system, the corruption of officers and prosecutors, or the financial interests of for-profit prisons, there are economic and institutional powers that require a consistent flow of offenders and non-offenders to be put behind bars and forever marred by the label “convict.” At the moment, a plurality of states disenfranchise citizens, sometimes for life, due to their criminal history. We would … Continue reading New Jersey Might (Finally) Do Something About its Practice of Disenfranchisment