Endorsement: Save American Democracy, Vote For Democrats, The Pro-Democracy Party

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The Arizona Republic is a failed newspaper. Years ago, before it was bought by Gannett and it gutted its news staff by mass layoffs, The Republic used to do profiles of each of the legislative races and statewide races and the candidates running. No more.

It would also post the candidate questionnaires returned by candidates (in the Trump era of accusing the media of being “fake media,” Republican candidates by and large no longer complete candidate questionnaires).

The editorial board would interview the candidates for the top posts for the purpose of making endorsements. The board still does interviews, but not for the purpose of endorsements. Ever since The Republic endorse Hillary Clinton for president in 2016 – the one and only time in the paper’s long history that it endorsed a Democrat for president, for which they received threats and intimidation from Trump Republicans – The Republic cowered and changed its policy. The Arizona Republic will no longer make candidate endorsements. Here’s why. Bullshit excuse: “Readers have made it clear: You want to be informed about elections but not told how to vote. We hear you.”

The Republic is NOT informing voters like it used to, see above. Not even close. This is why this was a bullshit excuse.

In fairness, the Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) and Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff) owned by Lee Enterprises are even worse.

What we get is “bothsiderism” drivel in the old Fox News fraudulent advertising formula of “fair and balanced” and “we report, you decide.”

The media is supposed to be the “watchdog of democracy.” Arizona’s major newspapers have abandoned their duty to defend American democracy.

We currently have one major political party dedicated to defending American democracy, the Democratic Party, and the other major political party, the Republican Party, which has become authoritarian (STUDY: US REPUBLICAN PARTY IS EMBRACING AUTHORITARIANISM), and a quasi-religious MAGA/QAnon political cult of conspiracy theories, disinformation, and singular devotion to the personality of its “Dear Leader,” Donald Trump – who waged the first coup d’état against the U.S. government in American history, and is actively working to undermine our democracy today. This is treason.

As conservative icon retired Judge Michael Luttig testified to the January 6 Committee:

“Donald Trump and his allies are a clear and present danger to American democracy,” he said. “To this very day, the former president, his allies and supporters, pledge that in the presidential election of 2024, if the former president or his anointed successor … were to lose that election, that they would attempt to overturn that 2024 election in the same way that they attempted to overturn the 2020 election.

“I don’t speak those words lightly,” Luttig said. “I would have never uttered one single one of those words unless the former president and his allies were candidly and proudly speaking those exact words to America.”

 

THIS is the editorial opinion that every newspaper in America should be publishing ahead of the election: “The Republican Party is a clear and present danger to American democracy, and must be defeated and rejected by Americans who believe in our institutions of American democracy.” Just say it! Why is this so hard to do? It has the advantage of being the God’s honest truth. Defend democracy!

Instead we get this half-hearted attempt from The Republic which correctly identifies the problem, but then fails to tell its readers what must be done to save American democracy. A sinister attack on Arizona’s election system is underway. Don’t let it prevail:

Few things offer a clearer example of voter intimidation than vigilantes donning tactical gear to stake out a ballot drop box.

Two armed individuals at a Mesa voting site are part of an organized effort to watch, videotape and investigate voters dropping off their early ballots, prompting complaints of voter intimidation.

Days before, former President Donald Trump told supporters at a Mesa rally not to vote by mail because they risk getting a “potentially fake ballot.” He urged them to vote on Election Day instead.

Meanwhile, Cochise County Supervisors Peggy Judd and Tom Crosby have voted to mandate a hand count of votes for the Nov. 8 election, arguing that they don’t trust the machines counting ballots to produce accurate results.

That’s BS and they know it. But dumb they are not. They know exactly what they’re doing.

They’re helping set the stage for a legal and political showdown to keep discrediting the election process. Theirs and the vigilantes’ work is just an extension of the assault on democracy carried out by the Stop the Steal crowd since Trump lost in 2020.

Complaints have triggered legal action

“Uninformed vigilantes outside Maricopa County’s drop boxes are not increasing election integrity,” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer and Supervisors’ board chairman Bill Gates said in a joint statement.

“We are deeply concerned about the safety of individuals who are exercising their constitutional right to vote and who are lawfully taking their early ballot to a drop box,” the two Republicans noted.

They said it best. Transparency over elections is critical, but “voter intimidation is unlawful.”

Vigilante tactics are triggering a flurry of legal complaints and mobilization. Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone is deploying officers to monitor and ensure that voters’ rights are respected. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland also has said the Justice Department “will not permit voters to be intimidated.”

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democratic candidate for governor, told the Cochise County supervisors she’ll see them in court if they proceed with a 100% hand count, which many experts contend is illegal.

The League of Women Voters of Arizona also have filed a lawsuit over voter intimidation in Arizona.

Arizona voters have a role to play, too

Election deniers have failed to prove their outlandish claims that the 2020 was rigged against Trump. Yet Kari Lake, Mark Finchem and other Republicans seeking statewide office keep repeating that lie, firing up just enough conspirators to discredit the voting process.

Mandating a likely illegal hand count and posting vigilantes at drop boxes are deliberate attacks on an elections system that allows voters to freely choose their government representatives.

It’s part of a larger, more sinister attack on the voting system in case Kari Lake loses her bid for governor. She has repeatedly told Arizonans she’ll only accept the results if she wins. [Mark Finchem has also said this.]

Responsible election officials have their work cut out for them.

Penzone’s job is to keeping the peace. Interest groups are taking questionable efforts to court.

But you, the voter, also have a huge role to play. Don’t be deterred from voting early if you received a mail-in ballot. Put it in the mail by Nov. 1.

The directive which is missing: “The Republican Party is a clear and present danger to American democracy, and must be defeated and rejected by Americans who believe in our institutions of American democracy.”

Track your ballot by texting “JOIN” to 628-683 or online at BeBallotReady.Vote. You can receive text updates when your ballot has been received and counted.

Do it proudly, with confidence.

After all, voting freely and respecting the outcome is what democracy is all about.

The Republic leaves it to opinion columnist Elvia Dias to speak the truth, Still believe in democracy? Voting for Arizona Democrats is the only way to fight back:

In less than 20 days, the whole thing will be over. Will democracy prevail, or will Arizona and the country descend into the depths of authoritarianism?

The threat of losing America’s democracy is real – tangible.

We’ve seen it play out with the never-ending fight to overturn the 2020 presidential election results because Trump wanted to remain in power through whatever means necessary, including violently attacking the U.S. Capitol.

The coup failed only because America still has some brave men and women willing to fight back, and some institutions such as the judiciary remain strong despite all MAGA efforts to destroy them.

Yet the MAGA movement has caught steam. Proof of that is the fact that Trump’s slate of candidates for statewide office – Republicans Kari Lake, Blake Masters, Mark Finchem and Abe Hamadeh – breezed through the primary and now are one step away from controlling Arizona government.

Lake will only certify election results she likes

That would be a calamity. And this is why: None of them are committing to accept the results of the Nov. 8 vote.

Lake, the former news anchor leading the Arizona MAGA pack, has repeatedly stated that she’d only accept the results if she wins. This woman as governor would be in charge of certifying the results of the 2024 vote.

She’s already telling us she won’t if she doesn’t like the results. Imagine for a second that Trump is on the 2024 ballot and loses again. She’s essentially telling us she’d throw out the results, which would trigger a constitutional crisis at best or turn into a de-facto dictatorship at worst.

Finchem actively fought the 2020 results

Same goes for Finchem and election denier like Hamadeh, who as secretary of state and attorney general respectively, would decide whether to stamp the vote results.

Finchem helped organize the rally turned riot that ended with the storming of the U.S. Capitol, according to Ali Alexander, the architect of the Jan. 6, 2021, event.

Finchem says he would not have certified the 2020 presidential election results, as required by law. He also was among the group of GOP lawmakers who signed and sent a letter to then-Vice President Mike Pence asking that an alternate slate of electors for Trump be accepted instead of the official ones.

All of those things are disqualifying. He is unfit to serve at any capacity, much less as the elections chief.

Hamadeh and Masters bought into the Big Lie

Hamadeh also insists that the 2020 election was rigged, even though the outlandish claims used to back the assertion have been repeatedly debunked. As state attorney general, he says, he would prosecute those he believes were responsible for the 2020 election results.

And then there is Blake Masters, who’s seeking to unseat incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. He also is in lockstep with the lies of a rigged election.

There’s a lot more not to like about Trump’s MAGA candidates. But believe them when they essentially tell us that they stand ready to stick a knife through the heart of democratic norms.

Their Democrat opponents would respect your vote

The only way to fight back is to vote for Democrats – the ones who will respect the will of the people, like Adrian Fontes, who in 2020 accepted defeat against Republican Stephen Richer in the Maricopa County recorder race.

Fontes is running against Finchem. He would certify the results of the 2024 election regardless of who wins. That’s because he has actual experience overseeing elections and knows the numerous checks that are in place to ensure votes are properly counted and logged.

Kris Mayes, the Democrat facing Hamadeh in the attorney general’s race, is smart and has years of government experience – eight of them as a corporation commissioner overseeing regulation of the state’s utilities.

And how about Mark Kelly? Nobody with a brain can dispute his tenacity defending democracy and the U.S. Constitution.

Why our democracy is worth fighting for

There are many things I don’t particularly like about the Democrats, such as Kelly’s tepid work toward passing immigration reform and Fontes’ often arrogant style.

None of that is important when the future of Arizona and the United States is at stake. It is time to choose: [democracy or fascism?]

As a registered independent voter, I choose these Democrats because I want to preserve democracy in the country that embraces immigrants like me, who ask nothing more than just the opportunity to work.

A country that despite all its faults remains a beacon of hope around the world and whose democratic values keep inspiring so many people.

This the editorial opinion which The Republic editors should all have endorsed as their own.

You know what you must do to save American democracy: NO Republican should get your vote. You must vote a straight Democratic ballot. And vote NO on the anti-democracy ballot measures from our Republican state legislature, and YES on the citizens initiatives. Save American democracy from the fascist barbarians at the gate.

UPDATE:

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1585459592456273920?cxt=HHwWgIC84azG14AsAAAA

 





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