Politics | Voter.org

The Struggle to Overcome Mass-Shooting Cynicism

December 3, 2021 struggle, Cynicism, Overcome, MassShooting0 comment

At first, the footage offers a perspective we’ve seldom seen: an inside-the-classroom view of high-school students trying to evade an active shooter. Kids crouch below their desks and strategize in hushed tones. The lights are off. Fearing that the voice on the other side of the door is that of a killer, they flee. Then, as teenagers push open a window and thrust themselves to safety, the scene starts to look familiar. The video from Oxford High School on Tuesday afternoon evoked the April 20, 1999, Columbine massacre with eerie…

Democrats Stare Into the Abyss

December 2, 2021 Democrats, into, Stare, Abyss0 comment

Since mid-summer, Democrats have been trapped in a downward spiral of declining approval ratings for President Joe Biden, rising public anxiety about the country’s direction, and widening internal divisions over the party’s legislative agenda. The next few weeks will likely determine whether they have bottomed out and can begin to regain momentum before next year’s midterm elections. Roughly since the rise of the Delta variant sent COVID-19 caseloads soaring again, the White House and congressional Democrats have faced a debilitating slog of dashed hopes and diminished expectations. Weeks of negotiation…

The Revolution Will Be Improvised

December 1, 2021 Revolution, Improvised0 comment

The word transformative appears five times in the White House’s announcement of a $ 1.75 trillion framework for tackling climate change and bolstering the social safety net. The word historic shows up another 12 times. But if Democrats are truly reshaping American government with President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda, they’re doing it on the fly. The recent frenzied days of negotiations over the plan have been confusing for seasoned veterans of the Capitol Hill sausage mill, not to mention the hundreds of congressional Democrats who must vote for…

Hill Staffers Are Wearing Sneakers Now

December 1, 2021 Hill, staffers, wearing, Sneakers0 comment

Congress has never been a place known for cutting-edge fashion. Instead, a stuffy formality has long been its trademark. As Allbirds and preppy quarter-zips swept into boardrooms and C-suites across the rest of the country, Capitol Hill remained one of the last bastions of traditional American business attire—the global headquarters of wing tips and ill-fitting suits, Tory Burch flats and bland Banana Republic pencil skirts. During sweltering D.C. summers, you could find communications directors and legislative aides wearing jackets and ties to work, wiping their sweaty brows on their uncuffed…

Mike Pence Still Has Presidential Ambitions

November 30, 2021 Pence, Presidential, still, Mike, Ambitions0 comment

Mike Pence spent much of his vice presidency quietly catering to the whims of President Donald Trump. But on January 6, he broke with Trump by refusing to overturn the 2020 election results. And now, Pence is eyeing a presidential run of his own, even though his old boss hasn’t ruled out a 2024 campaign. Pence wouldn’t necessarily stay out of the race even if Trump jumps in. “If you know the Pences, you know they’ll always try to discern where they’re being called to serve,” Marc Short, Pence’s former…

Democrats Need to Count Up, Not Down

November 28, 2021 Democrats, down, need, Count0 comment

With the finish line in sight (if still stubbornly out of reach) for the Democrats’ massive social-programs and economic development bill, the party now faces the challenge of focusing the attention of its key constituencies and the public on what remains in the package, not on what was cut in the exhausting legislative maneuvering. To meet the objections primarily of Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, party leaders underwent a grueling process of shrinking the bill roughly in half—from about $ 3.5 trillion to…