Politics | Voter.org

Congressional Republicans Have Found Their Red Line

March 11, 2022 Republicans, Their, found, congressional, line0 comment

It was fair, last week, to question whether Republicans in Congress would condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, because the party’s de facto leader was praising Vladimir Putin’s aggression as “genius” and “wonderful.” Yet instead of falling in line behind Donald Trump, most congressional Republicans have denounced Putin just as loudly as Democrats have. This fact would not have been surprising just a few years ago. But it’s one of the more meaningful distinctions that rank-and-file members of the party have drawn recently between themselves and the former president, a man…

The Vibe Shift on Capitol Hill

March 7, 2022 Hill, shift, capitol, Vibe’0 comment

Bipartisanship still exists in Washington. At President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address last night, members of both parties stood to applaud the strength of Ukrainians, to cheer for getting kids back in school, and to celebrate funding the police. In February, Democrats and Republicans came together to pass bills reforming the post office and the way that workplaces handle sexual harassment. But all is not well on Capitol Hill. Many lawmakers and staff say that something has shifted in the past two years—that the changes brought on by…

Romney Was Right About Putin

February 27, 2022 Romney, about, right, Putin0 comment

On October 22, 2012, Mitt Romney sat across a table from President Barack Obama for the final debate of the presidential election. The theme of the night was foreign policy. Obama’s campaign had been working all year to cast Romney as out of touch and inexperienced, and when the moment came, the president deployed what seemed like a devastating putdown. “A few months ago, when you were asked what’s the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia. Not al-Qaeda. You said Russia,” Obama told him. “And the 1980s are…

The Challenges of an Electric-Vehicle Revolution

February 19, 2022 Revolution, Challenges, ElectricVehicle0 comment

Judging by the ads during last weekend’s Super Bowl, electric vehicles are poised to imminently dislodge gasoline-powered cars and trucks from their privileged place on America’s roadways. An escalating dispute among President Joe Biden’s administration, congressional Democrats, and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over modernizing the Postal Service’s vehicle fleet shows why the transition may not come quite that quickly. As soon as next week, the Postal Service may place the first order in a multibillion-dollar contract meant to ensure that it relies mostly on gas-powered vehicles until the middle of…

The Supreme Court’s ‘Dead Hand’

February 11, 2022 hand, Dead, Supreme, courts0 comment

The Supreme Court has set itself on a collision course with the forces of change in an inexorably diversifying America. The six Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices have been nominated and confirmed by GOP presidents and senators representing the voters least exposed, and often most hostile, to the demographic and cultural changes remaking 21st-century American life. Now the GOP Court majority is moving at an accelerating pace to impose that coalition’s preferences on issues such as abortion, voting rights, and affirmative action. On all of these fronts, and others, the Republican…

Attending an HBCU Has Always Been an Act of Courage

February 7, 2022 courage, been, Always, attending, HBCU0 comment

On Monday, campus life at at least seven historically Black colleges and universities was interrupted by bomb threats. School leaders alerted students, faculty, and staff. Law-enforcement officers swept the grounds. By midday, some campuses had issued an all-clear while others continued assessing the situation. This was the second time in January that several HBCUs—most of which were created after the Civil War to educate Black students, while the rest of the higher-education establishment refused to—received such threats. A day later, in the predawn hours of the first day of Black…