Democracy

These renegades were on the path of forming the perfect union for themselves.

Germany has a mixed proportional system, which I wish we had. In your district, in your state, you vote for your preferential candidate first. And then, you vote for your preferred party list preference. As long as a party gets a 5% threshold, they will get seats. Beyond this, my head hurts trying to explain it, but it's still better than the electoral college.

For the country to move forward, this commission is a must. If McConnell and Johnson get their way and hamstring it, they will be responsible for what will inevitably follow, a new form of Jim Crow, and that cannot be allowed.

Many brave Democrats lost their seats in 2010 for voting for the ACA but in doing so, they saved and helped millions of Americans, past, present and future. What they did was noble and profound, they changed history for the better. Clearly, Manchin and Sinema are not cut from the same cloth but perhaps they can be leveraged to do the right thing and become reluctant heroes in the end despite themselves.

Some are saying a failed coup attempt without repercussions is a dress rehearsal. For the moment, it does feel like Trump** may skate on his botched coup. But some things are stirring, which could result in server repercussions for him.

Our democracy has been collapsing under the weight of corruption that accompanies minority rule. The majority should rule and should have their will followed by their representatives. All of the issues listed above are supported by a solid majority of Americans who have been constantly thwarted by the perversion of our elections and government. It is a time for action. It's time to kill the filibuster and do the people's work.

Racism is indeed a defining feature of the American experience. As they say in the world of programming, “it’s not a bug; it’s a feature.” This defining feature propagates the very idea that the right to vote is the sole provenance of those who see themselves as having the right of ignoring the rights of those they see as racially different and thus inferior.

Imagine where we could have been right now. A hostage siege still underway in the Capitol. Trump praising them as patriots while emptily claiming to oppose violence. The Vice President of the US and/or Democratic congresspeople tied up and possibly much worse. And while all decent Americans would be in shock and disbelief at what they were seeing, the entire world including America's most dangerous enemies, would be watching and considering how to respond as they witnessed the United States helpless, threatened and demeaned.

We vehemently bid goodbye to this nightmare of a year, the quarantines, empty shelves of toilet paper, nurses forced to wear garbage bags, and ignorant white people declaring in public places that wearing a mask and sanity is oppression. So, to review the year that never should have been, we offer a selection of graphics that have appeared on PlanetPOV during 2020, in chronological order.

For decades at a minimum, the core dogma of the GOP has been fascism, insisting that only Republicans are entitled to hold power and any elections that result in Democrats winning and people of color being empowered, are by definition, illegitimate or fraudulent.