Tag Archives: democracy

What to Do if there is an Attempted US Coup

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Progressive Christian Social Action

What to Do if there is an Attempted US Coup

We are people aligned with various local groups who are concerned that if President Donald Trump loses in the upcoming election he will refuse to concede power even if the results are clear. We are organizing locally, as are thousands of people around the country.

We see many warning signs. When asked repeatedly, Trump has refused to commit to respecting election results. In July, when Chris Wallace asked, he answered, “I have to see… No, I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no.” The other day he again started people chanting at a rally: “Twelve more years,” despite the eight-year Constitutional limit.

All of us should be invested in the integrity of the democratic process, respect for election results, and the peaceful transition (or continuation) of power. Those of us who are looking at this challenge ask each of you to consider what you might do if this threat becomes reality. Most coup attempts fail if the people take immediate action. To find out how to be prepared, see below.

We ask our local elected representatives to prepare for this contingency by 1) establishing standards to protect voters from intimidation, 2) counting every vote before certifying results, and 3) directing local law enforcement officials to respect people’s First Amendment rights and protect those rights from individuals and groups who may threaten them.

There are many possible scenarios for election interference. The Trump Administration has been hard at work at voter suppression, including restricting vote-by-mail during the pandemic. Mail continues to be delayed. The most likely scenario is this: Trump will show a lead on Election Night, since his supporters are expected to vote in person, with his lead diminishing as mail-in votes are counted, perhaps stretching into days or even weeks. Trump could claim early victory. There could be contested results, state-by-state power struggles, demonstrations, social media chaos, and inflammatory tweets by Trump. This could be just the beginning of a chaotic election and aftermath.

A Trump Campaign adviser said, “There will be a count on election night, that count will shift over time, and the results when the final count is given will be challenged as being inaccurate, fraudulent — pick your word.” For months Trump has been setting the stage for this claim. At the Republican National Convention, he said, “The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election.”

An article for the November 2020 Atlantic Magazine “What if Trump Refuses to Concede?” was published online early because of its urgency. It recommends the following:

“…If you are at relatively low risk for COVI9, volunteer to work at the polls. If you know people who are open to reason, spread word that it is normal for the results to keep changing after Election Night. If you manage news coverage, anticipate extra­constitutional measures, and position reporters and crews to respond to them. If you are an election administrator, plan for contingencies you never had to imagine before. If you are a mayor, consider how to deploy your police to ward off interlopers with bad intent. If you are a law-enforcement officer, protect the freedom to vote. If you are a legislator, choose not to participate in chicanery. If you are a judge on the bench in a battleground state, refresh your acquaintance with election case law. If you have a place in the military chain of command, remember your duty to turn aside unlawful orders. If you are a civil servant, know that your country needs you more than ever to do the right thing when you’re asked to do otherwise.”

Finally, please join us in signing the following pledge at choosedemocracy.us. Tens of thousands have already signed:

  1. We will vote.
  2. We will refuse to accept election results until all the votes are counted.
  3. We will nonviolently take to the streets if a coup is attempted.
  4. If we need to, we will shut down this country to protect the integrity of the democratic process.

In closing, from The Atlantic: “Take agency. An election cannot be stolen unless the American people, at some level, acquiesce.”

Those of us who are working together are Sharon Delgado, Guarionex Delgado, Janie Kesselman, Mikos Fabersunne, Avila Lowrance, Brian Fry, Shirley Osgood, Jesse Golden, Joyce Banzhaf, Peter Galbraith. We invite you to join us. Find updated information on Earth Justice Ministries Facebook Page, which also appears on the website at https://earth-justice.org.

To receive an email notification each time Sharon posts to her blog, click the “Follow Sharon Delgado” button at the right.

Mourning Democracy

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McCutcheon Rapid Response

Today’s Supreme Court Ruling on McCutcheon vs. the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) is yet another nail in the coffin of U.S. democracy.  The high court struck down the right of “We the People” to establish laws limiting overall campaign contributions by individuals.  Such limits have been set in an attempt to create a level playing field in our democracy for rich and poor alike.

The political playing field was already unequal, since over the years the Supreme Court has increasingly granted  civil rights and constitutional protections to corporations.  This expansion of corporate rights culminated in the infamous 2010 ruling in Citizens United vs. the FEC, which prohibits our right to limit corporate spending on elections through political action committees (PACs).  The Citizens United decision resulted in the overturning of campaign finance laws at the federal level and in states across the nation.  Today’s McCutcheon ruling is also disastrous for democracy.

Our local Nevada County Move to Amend group, which works in coordination with the national Move to Amend Coalition, held a rally this afternoon to protest the McCutcheon ruling.  “Rapid response” rallies were held in over 140 communities around the country.   Our group had pre-printed signs that said “Democracy is not for sale.” Sadly, we crossed out the word “not” on our signs because, evidently, democracy is for sale, now more than ever before.  Money counts as free speech.  Wealthy donors cannot be limited in aggregate campaign contributions. Corporations are treated as persons under the law.  Large Corporations, which control vast sums of capital, count as individual people.  The Market rules.  Money is God.  This is the secular religion that now rules our nation.

This is not democracy.  It is oligarchy–rule by the wealthy.

Move to Amend proposes a solution to both the gradual erosion of our democratic rights and the occasional cataclysms such as Citizens United and McCutcheon.  Since the Supreme Court interprets the constitution and there is no higher court to whom to appeal, amending the constitution is the only solution left to us.  There is a process by which to do this, and this process has resulted in 27 constitutional amendments intended to secure and expand the rights of all people in our nation.

The “We the People Amendment” supported by Move to Amend makes clear that corporations are not people and that money is not speech.  It has already been introduced into Congress.  Move to Amend affiliates, including our local group, are working to educate people around the country about the need to restore democracy to the people and to raise support for passing this amendment.

Building the momentum to pass this amendment will require the coming together of people of every faith tradition and spiritual perspective, indeed, anyone who cares about humanity, the earth and the common good.  It is time to amend the constitution to make it clear that corporations are not people, and money is not speech.

 

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Corporations Can’t Dance

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parade 2012

According to U.S. law, corporations are “persons” under the law and are entitled to the constitutional rights and protections that we human beings have fought for and won over the centuries.  This has created a crisis in our democracy, because of the huge power imbalance between corporations and regular human beings.  Transnational corporations can harness their vast wealth to purchase media time and political power to use as a megaphone to drown out the voices of “we the people.”

Of course, everyone knows that corporations aren’t really persons.  For one thing, corporations can’t dance.  But we can!  Rehearsals start on Wednesday, June 19, at 6 p.m. in Pioneer Park in Nevada City for the “Corporations Aren’t People” dance that we will be doing in the 4th of July parade.

This will be fun!  Last July 4 our local Move to Amend group won third place in the Nevada City parade. This year the parade will be in Grass Valley, and our contingent will be bigger, more colorful, and will have even better music.  It will be a parade within a parade.  It will start with people carrying a big banner that says “Corporations are not people” and end with another that says “Money is not speech.”  Our Move to Amend truck, “Bubba,” will carry children and play  the Corporations Aren’t People song (adapted from Depeche Mode’s “People are People”).  We will have as many dancers as possible–last year at least 20 of us danced.   Others in our group will walk, carrying signs and passing out literature.  A few “corporate persons” will be in costume as well. See us in last year’s parade video.  You can also watch the full training video with Amous Lou, set in my living room with her kids playing around her.  Join us or use the training video to prepare for a parade or a flash mob.

Our local Move to Amend group is part of the National Move to Amend coalition.  We support the passage of a constitutional amendment that would make it clear once and for all that corporations are not persons and money does not qualify as free speech. We support the “We the People Amendment,” which has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

Corporations can’t dance.  Nor do they breathe air or eat food or drink water.  They can’t love or take action for the common good.  Their only conscience is the bottom line.  As John Steinbeck said in The Grapes of Wrath, “They breathe profits:  They eat the interest on money.”

But we can dance, and we will.  We will celebrate our humanity, our ability to love, our commitment to clean air, clean water, and clean food.  And we will celebrate the “power of the people” and our determination to create a working democracy for the sake of the whole community of life.

(To find out more about our local group, go to our Nevada County Move to Amend website or our FaceBook page.  Go to the national Move to Amend website for more information or to find a group near you.  For more of my writings on this topic, see “They Breathe Profits” or “Democracy is for People.”  Sign up if you want to receive notice by email of my blog postings.)