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Friends,

This past week, we saw devastating climate events in Louisiana and along the East Coast, threats to democracy and reproductive freedom emanating from Texas unchecked by the U.S. Supreme Court, a recall effort gathering steam in California that could tip the balance of power nationally, and the legislative relief we need doomed to die in the Senate unless Democrats reform or abolish the filibuster. Even legislation not subject to a filibuster is threatened by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).

We can't give up. Authoritarians count on a demoralized populace that can't bother to distinguish truth from fiction or right from wrong, that wants to live day to day and let someone else worry about the big picture. Democracy is the exception, not the rule, in this world. Our primate relatives don't vote and for most of human history, and in most of the world today, neither do we (and in some countries, such as Russia and Hungary, our votes don't mean much). One could argue that in many places and times, for reasons of technology and literacy, democracy was not the best form of government. Maybe the age of democracy will be washed away in a sea of misinformation and an inability to confront threats like climate change or even a widespread pandemic when an effective, free vaccine is available to everyone.

It's hard to write about this without sounding like the boy who cried wolf. We survived the Civil War and the upheavals of the 1960s with our democracy intact. Maybe we'll survive this too. But at the end of the story of the boy who cried wolf, there really was a wolf.

Texas is a Republican dream come true. If you want to know what America might become if Republicans regain Congress and the White House (they already have the Supreme Court), look the laws that became effective on September 1 in Texas, including open carry of guns without training or a permit; an almost complete ban on abortion with no exceptions for health, rape, or incest; new voting restrictions; bans on teachers discussing critical race theory; requiring professional sports teams to play the national anthem; and banning vaccine passports.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against blocking implementation of the Texas abortion ban until the court has had a chance to consider the constitutional issues. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that “Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand.”

Adam Serwer explains that "the Supreme Court issued a disingenuous midnight decision all but nullifying a constitutional right by shadow docket." Roe v. Wade might not be dead yet, but it no longer protects the women of Texas, and we could soon see similar legislation in other Republican-controlled states.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that the House will vote on the Women's Health Protection Act to enshrine into law reproductive health care rights for all women across America. Urge your members of Congress to support this legislation.

Dan Pfeiffer explains that "the Texas law is the direct result of a rigged political system that gives disproportionate power to a conservative, white male minority. Democrats could address that problem by passing the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill." The House has passed both bills. Neither will pass the Senate as long as the filibuster remains in place. Read this explainer from Jewish Democratic Council of America to understand the threats to our democracy and possible remedies.

What can we do about all this? Across the country, the GOP is waging massive voter suppression campaigns and passing laws that will take us back to the Middle Ages. The Republican base is fine with authoritarianism. We might not like to hear it, but the facts support Paul Krugman's claim that "closed-mindedness and ignorance have become core conservative values."

We must abolish or reform the filibuster, which should be obvious to anyone who understands its history. Today's GOP is using the filibuster to defeat the purpose of the Senate and to grind legislation to a halt. The filibuster should go because it has no place in a democracy, and Democrats should not be afraid of what will happen if they eliminate it and subsequently lose power. Instead, Democrats should be scared to death of what will happen if they don't eliminate it or use other procedural methods to circumvent it.

Protecting voting rights is essential but not sufficient. Abolishing the filibuster will allow us to grant D.C. and Puerto Rico (if it wants it) statehood, which would provide voting representation in Congress to more Americans (yes, Puerto Ricans are citizens). Puerto Rico' population is greater than 20 current states, and D.C. is home to 700,000 Americans, more than Vermont and Wyoming.

 

We should expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13, which "would restore balance to the nation’s highest court after four years of norm-breaking actions by Republicans led to its current composition." We will not win if the majority in this country keeps giving the minority fourth strikes and fifth downs, and it might be a long time before we get a second chance if Democrats lose in the midterms.

The Republicans are not the Taliban and they are not Nazis. We must be careful with our rhetoric. Republicans are Republicans, and as Shai Franklin explains in this short thread, that's bad enough.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. The FBI reported that Jews were the most targeted religious group in 2020, with nearly 60% of hate crimes against religious groups targeting Jews, who are about 2% of the U.S. population. That's true. It's also misleading.

Laura E. Adkins tweets that the same FBI report shows that 676 of 7,759 reported hate crimes — 9% — were anti-Jewish, and hate crimes against Jews were down from the previous year even though hate crimes rose overall. That's still 676 too many, but a different perspective, especially considering that "the Americans most often the victims of hate crimes — and like Jews, disproportionately targeted — are Black Americans. 2,755 of 7,759 hate crimes reported to the FBI in 2020 — or 36% — were anti-Black. (Black Americans are ~13.4% of the U.S. population.)"

In her full article, Adkins adds that "while the total number of reported hate crimes in 2020 increased by 6%, the number of anti-Asian and anti-Black hate crimes surged 70% and 40%, respectively" and unlike attacks on Jews, most anti-Asian and anti-Black hate crimes targeted people, not property.

The main concern about the FBI statistics, though, is accuracy and underreporting, in part because "many of the most frequently targeted groups also have concerns about immigration status, general distrust of the police or cultural taboos that make them wary to report incidents to the authorities. This leads to massive underreporting of hate crimes — with one significant exception: Jews." So if anything, hate crimes against Jews are an even smaller percentage of the overall total.

None of this makes even one antisemitic incident acceptable. As President Biden said on Thursday, "anti-Semitic attacks aren’t just a strike against the Jewish community; they’re a strike against the soul of our nation and the values which we say we stand for."

But we don't help our cause by trying to win the victim Olympics with misleading statistics. Many people in America face far greater and more dangerous bigotry than we do. If we expect them to help us, we should be doing even more to help them--not as a quid pro quo, but because we were once strangers, and we of all people should know how it feels.

L’shana tovah u’metukah--May we all be inscribed for a good and sweet year.

Last week's newsletter.

ICYMI. Remarks by President Biden on the end of the war in Afghanistan.

Tweet of the Week. Jake Maccoby.

Twitter Thread of the Week. Michael Harriot.

Video Clip of the Week. Jen Psaki.

Upcoming Events. Politics with Dana Gordon and Steve Sheffey is back to live events. Join us outdoors in Highland Park, Illinois, on Sunday, September 12, at 3:00pm CT for a special event with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY). Torres is progressive, pro-Israel, and a rising star in Congress. Contributions are encouraged but not required. Vaccinations are absolutely required. RSVP here if you want to attend. This event will be entirely off the record and closed to press.

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The Fine Print: This newsletter usually runs on Sunday mornings. If you receive it as an ICYMI on Wednesday it's because you didn't open the one sent on Sunday. Unless stated otherwise, my views do not necessarily reflect the views of any candidates or organizations that I support or am associated with. I reserve the right to change my mind as I learn more. I am willing to sacrifice intellectual consistency for intellectual honesty. Smart, well-informed people may disagree with me; read opposing views and decide for yourself. A link to an article doesn't mean that I agree with everything its author has ever said or that I even agree with everything in the article; it means that the article supports or elaborates on the point I was making. I take pride in accurately reporting the facts on which I base my opinions. Tell me if you spot any inaccuracies, typos, or other mistakes so that I can correct them in the next newsletter (and give you credit if you want it). Advertisements reflect the views of the advertisers, not necessarily of me, and advertisers are solely responsible for the content of their advertisements. I read, value, and encourage replies to my newsletters, but I don't always have time to acknowledge replies or to engage in one-on-one discussion. Don't expect a reply if your message is uncivil or if it's clear from your message that you haven't read the newsletter or clicked on the relevant links. © 2021 Steve Sheffey. All rights reserved.