“For the People?” WHICH People?

Exhausted Friends,

Many of you are probably tired of hearing from us about new, dangerous proposed pieces of legislation. Believe me when I say, “We’re tired of writing about them.” The speed with which these measures are hitting us is incredible, and we are left weathering the storm together.

Today’s exercise in collective groaning is HR 1, the “For the People Act.” It might more rightly be called the “For the People Wanting Power Act,” because it creates an atmosphere in which certain powerful people are able to disproportionately control elections. Its dangerous components include:

• Reducing the number of members on the Federal Election Commission from 6 to 5, which allows partisan control of election security. 
• Using your tax dollars to fund candidates in federal elections at a 6 to 1 ratio (meaning that if someone donates $200 to a candidate you don’t want, and that candidate qualifies for this program, the federal government can use your tax money to give them another $1200).
• Federalizing election laws and commissions, thereby gutting the power of the States to oversee voting within their own borders.
• Overriding state Voter ID laws and loosening regulations on voters.
• Requiring that donors who give above a certain amount be searchable in a publicly-accessible database, violating citizens’ privacy and allowing them to be found and harassed by those with differing beliefs. Quite a disturbing thought in this Cancel Culture.

I could go into detail about how all of these factors could be used to suppress pro-life (or even just non-hardcore pro-choice) voters at the ballot box. But I’ll let Students for Life do that at this link. I’m going to make a broader point:

Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Any Act which threatens the integrity of election security and allows a powerful few to swamp and punish dissenting views is dangerous. It doesn’t matter if you’re Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green Party, or anything else – breaking the system hurts everybody.

Enabling election security to be partisan, depriving states of oversight, reducing voter security, violating the privacy of citizens, and using tax dollars to unfairly finance individual candidates is wrong. HR 1 would be an attack on American Democracy no matter who proposed it. 

So, as per usual for the emails lately… we’re asking you to contact your senators. You can use this automatic system or the district finder. If you feel like hitting the stretch goal, you can contact Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) at 202-224-3954 and Senator Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) through her website at this link – their votes might prove critical. Please respectfully urge those you contact to oppose HR 1; it is a threat to American Democracy.

Thank you for being so patient with all these emails. Let’s hope circumstances will calm down so we can all have a break.

For Life,

Michael Dumais

Outreach Coordinator, HLW