FREE SPEECH ZONE | The invisible Americans

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In this seemingly unending political campaign, these words are reverently uttered dozens of times: “the middle class”.  But there is one group that is rarely mentioned by either party, and nev

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OPINION | Beyond the elections

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The October issue of The Atlantic magazine included a number of articles billed under the general theme: “You call this an election?” The stories deal with the corrupting flood of money that has poured into election campaigns; how congressional districts are gerrymandered to get certain partisan results; and the recent history of “anti-voter fraud” efforts, which have targeted black and Hispanic neighborhoods in order to intimidate the voters in those precincts.On the financing issue, James Bennet asserts, in his article, “The New Price of American Politics ,” that the “growing river of anonymous money [from Super PACs] is a result of the brokenness of our political system; no branch of government made an affirmative decision to let this money in. If it chose, the IRS could demand that the politicking social-welfare nonprofits, as well as business associations like the Chamber of Commerce, disclose their secret donors.”Bennet mentions that Senate Republicans filibustered the Disclose Act, which “aimed to compel groups to name the big contributors behind political advertising.” He adds that in the infamous Citizens United case, eight of the U.S. Supreme Court justices favored disclosure.So, citizens of this country will go to the polls on Nov. 6, and cast their votes, as a tidal wave of money from billionaires and corporations has been poured into electoral campaigns to skew the results. However, our votes could still make a difference in some electoral contests:In Minnesota, Republicans in the Legislature put two measures on the ballot this year, which would change our state constitution. They are both very bad proposals.The voter ID measure, which would require voters to show a government-issued photo ID in order to vote, has a certain common sense appeal, but it is essentially a solution to no problem. Continue Reading

Sparks fly at election circle on proposed Voter ID and Marriage Amendments

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Emotions ran high at times during last month’s TC Daily Planet election circle. The subject of the evening: the proposed constitutional amendments. Everyone attending agreed that the Minnesota Constitution should not be amended to further limit same-sex couples’ freedom to marry. There is already a statute on the books banning marriage between same-sex couples, passed by the legislature in 1997. However, there was difference of opinion over the value and motivations of a voter ID or voter suppression amendment being promoted by Republican legislators.Among the participants on hand to discuss possible changes to the Constitution were:Kathy Bonnifield, executive director of Citizens for Election Integrity MinnesotaRicardo Levins Morales, author of a blog piece, “The Marriage Amendment as decoy and how to fight the real danger,” connecting the two amendments Alan Shilepsky, a former DFL activist, who was active in the Independence and Reform parties before joining the Republican Party. Continue Reading