eVoter
February, 2021  

President's Message

February 15, 2021


On February 14th, the League of Women Voters celebrated 101 years of empowering voters and defending democracy!  We came to the stark realization of how much our democracy needed defending on January 6, 2021.  On that infamous day, insurrections attacked the United States capitol in an effort to overturn a free and fair election at the invitation of the former President and some other elected officials.

The fuel for their horrifying attack was the lie propagated by then President Trump and his supporters that the election had been stolen due to widespread fraud. Despite months of litigation and re-counts and allegations, no evidence of widespread fraud had been unearthed. This reality did not stop the insurrectionist mob who proceeded to break windows, doors, and defile the capitol building. Their actions proved deadly and ultimately resulted in 5 deaths and many injuries.  It was shocking to see the Confederate flag inside the capitol building and the Trump flag flying higher than the Star Spangled Banner.   In later videos we saw more detail on how dangerous the situation was as we saw a noose erected outside to hang VP Pence and Speaker Pelosi and heard the chants calling for their deaths.

Ultimately, the insurrection was put down and the process to formally confirm the electoral votes for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was completed at approximately 3:41 AM January 7th (EST).  I know many of us waited until the final count was confirmed by VP Pence before we took a sigh of relief.  The inauguration on January 20th 2021 of the 46th President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris held a special significance, knowing that, at least for now, as President Biden put it, "Democracy has prevailed."  

This insurrection and Former President Trump's second impeachment and subsequent acquittal in the Senate (57 to convict and 43 to acquit) has resulted in many questions and concerns for our democracy.  Many have expressed concerns that this acquittal based on "a technicality" would embolden future such attacks on our democracy.  Voting rights advocates are asking how to ensure that everyone who has the right to vote, gets to vote without obstruction.  Most importantly, we want to ensure that these votes are counted and election systems have safeguards. The very health of our democracy hinges on how we as a nation respond to these concerns.

Our League just completed its program planning on February 13, 2021.  The three most important areas of focus: Making Democracy Work, Climate/Environment, and Homeless/Housing/Hunger.  We will discuss each of these areas in upcoming newsletters.

Until then, stay safe, stay engaged because Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport!   
 
Syeda Inamdar


               


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Climate Change Zoom Meeting
Sponsored by:  League of Women Voters Fremont, Newark, Union City and
American Association of University Women Fremont Branch
Contact:  Andrea Schacter
Email:  program@lwvfnuc.org

Climate Change Solutions:  We All Have a Role to Play

The League of Women Voters Fremont, Newark, Union City and the American Association of University Women invite you to a Zoom presentation led by environmentalist Patrick Jurney.  The program will take place Thursday, March 4, 2021 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  Jurney will talk about the many ways  he says there are as many as 90  we can contribute to personally help address the environmental crisis on a local level. He will explain how the Fremont Green Challenge can give us all concrete, actionable, affordable, small endeavors to alleviate some environmental concerns.




The Commonwealth Club has published a video that discusses Civics Education.
Many League members have decried the loss of good civics education.


FROM LWVC

WATER  WATER  EVERYWHERE 

League Members,

The excellent LWVC Water Committee continues its series of educational articles on California water with:

The Water-Energy Nexus

This is fourth in our series of eight. Check out the earlier articles here.

In addition check out the new article produced by our Water Committee, Managing the Water Under Our Feet - Groundwater drawdown, recharge, and the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

Diz Swift

LWVC Natural Resources Director

 

 
Alameda County is looking for volunteers!

Most people dont know about this, but each year a batch of twenty or so volunteers from all over Alameda County get chosen to be part of the Alameda  County Civil Grand Jury.  Their mission: investigate allegations of misconduct in local government, and bring what they find to the public.

These people volunteer their time for limited compensation and this has been happening in every county in California for over 150 years.

Civil Grand Juries can investigate any organization that receives public money, like city and county agencies, school districts, public transit agencies, jails, and hospitals. They can also investigate public officials and elected representatives. They are looking for evidence of misconduct like spending public money inappropriately or other kinds of mismanagement.


OPINION

Polarization
by
Ayla Azim, an Ohlone College student member of LWVFNUC

This moment in history is encapsulated in a word: division, a deep upheaval of hatred, anger, and rage.  Politics has never been an entirely peaceful and civil process.  Some believe, incorrectly, that what we see now arose out of nowhere and exploded into a catalytic event. Since the 1990s there has been increasing political polarization as Democrats and Republicans became increasingly divisive and more ideological. (Political Polarization in the American Public, Pew Research, 2014)

This shift is partially due to the changes in campaign financing. After the McCain-Feingold Act of 2008 and the Citizens United vs. FEC Supreme Court decision, there has been an increased awareness of the corporate spending prevalent in politics. These changes in campaign financing found politicians less dependent on corporations, which tend to be more moderate in their public spending, and instead turning to smaller donors who tend to be more ideological. Politicians are thus becoming more extreme in their views because the money they depend on is extremely ideological.  (See Campaign Finance and Political Polarization by Raymond J. La Raja and Brian F. Schaffner for a further discussion of this issue.)

Polarization spiked after Trump was elected in 2016 partly because individuals who previously kept their radical right views private expressed these views publicly when their views were legitimized by Trump. When some traditionally moderate people uninvolved in politics see radical right parties they feel threatened and become more politically active. 

Social media creates an environment that cultivates polarization because users want to present their views and display them rather than express them privately. This creates increasing hostility, especially among younger generations.

The campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Trump represented a clash of far-left and far-right in spite of sharing a demographic: the majority of the voters for both were white working-class people. Both politicians were often seen as speaking to extremists who felt they had been silenced by elitist Washington.

If Biden truly wants to reduce polarization, he must work from the ground up regarding this deep intransigent divide.  This work begins by understanding the dynamics of this deep divide.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the League of Women Voters of Fremont, Newark and Union City.