A conversation with David Daley, bestselling author of "Ratf*cked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count," about his new book, "Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections"
Sadly and tragically for our country, I agree with every word about Roberts and voting and everything else your guest said. I will try to listen to the podcast if my blood pressure will allow it. I grew up in small towns in central and west Texas in the 1950’s and 1960’s with a few black and a few more Latino people, far removed from the civil rights struggles; however, I did have a conscience and pay attention to the sickness in people’s souls that would murder 4 little girls going to church(when I was 10) and so much more, and I believe in right and wrong, good and evil. Rush Limbaugh and then Fox News have slowly yet thoroughly poisoned the soul of our country, and Trump may likely have helped delivered the final blow. I am still in shock, and I fully expect the Supreme Court to install him no matter what. I literally pray I am wrong, my own wife tells me I am deranged and obsessed, but I can see the future coming. I hope all my good fellow Christians enjoy their theocracy run by the most UnGodly group imaginable. Apparently they are fine with this. See my good Christian brethren Mike Johnson and his Clay Higgins take the other day. God help us. The future will not be pretty. Everyone tells me to calm down, it will be “ok,” it is just “politics,” but the cruelty and chaos and pure EVIL coming is going to be tragic and perverse, and is wholly avoidable, if all the non psychopaths and noncriminals and nonracists would stop and think for one second, and step out of the R cult. I will never understand this, never.
🤪😝😜😝Sometimes the Democrats remind me of the old Chicago Cubs, it's always next year or election. If the right wing can arrange this why can't Democrats un arrange it?
Years ago, maybe as many as 10 or more, I remember reading a profile of Roberts in the WSJ. The takeaway was that his success, going all the way back to boarding school, was that he was nice to everyone. He would just give that smuggo closed lip smile and say hello to the janitor, and before we knew it, the Nicest Man in the US was on the Yellow Brick Road to controlling how you and I define nice, and everything else we experience. That's what galls me: the unbridled urge to CONTROL other people.
The small town and rural counties abrogation of the Voting Rights Amendment is what allows so many red states to remain red. That was the key to minority party control and the set up for this and the past several elections. GOP didn't have the demographics so they took over the geographics.
I’ve been around long enough to follow John Roberts and in the beginning I admired him. Slowly I began wondering what’s his game? It became very clear as more conservative judges were approved and there was a solid majority on his court he began to act. The rest is history… down the tubes we go. The wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Yes, I was fooled by Roberts, too, and although a common enough name, could he be related to Kevin Roberts, the shovel wielding dog killer? My surprise would not be great. And just because it's on my mind after finishing the excellent book by Amy Sohn, "The Man Who Hated Women," the Comstock Act is “based on 150-year-old facts having no logical relationship to the present day,” but it, somehow, still stands, while the Voting Rights Act is all but gone. Priorities, amirite?
I was raised to believe that EVERYBODY has a right to vote, and nothing stood in the way of that, and up until about 20 years ago, I still believed that to be true. Then I started paying more attention and was as appalled by voter suppression as I was to find out that the Supreme Court was NOT an august body of nonpartisan people, chosen and confirmed ONLY for their wisdom of the Constitution and the law, and were, in fact, just another political arm of the easily corruptible Republican Party.
Even after this great revelation, I still harbored some trust of John Roberts. Am I the only person that noticed that Roberts started Joe Biden's 2021 presidential Oath of Office at about 11:50 AM, a full ten minutes before the Constitutionally prescribed time of 12 noon? No one mentioned it at the time, but Joe Biden was president by 11:53, which, in the grand scheme of things seems like not a big deal, but I'd never seen that before. And I thought, "oh, even John Roberts wanted to put Trump in the rearview mirror ASAP." What a dope I was.
I've been telling people that 2024 is the first presidential election since 2016 that I'm primarily voting FOR someone, and not just AGAINST someone else. And that's true, but even when Kamala takes the mantle of the presidency, there will still be a drag from the right, ALWAYS. And the drag on democracy and forward movement ultimately lands at the far-right Supreme Court, where John Roberts, wolf in sheep's clothing, still holds the most sway. Alito and Thomas will NEVER retire while a Democrat is in office. They will have to die before any Democratic president gets a shot at balancing this crooked Court, and even then, Democrats had better hold the Senate because we've already seen that ANY Republican Senate majority leader will stop a nomination from happening FOREVER, if that's what's called for, simply to hold onto raw power.
I've also been telling people, and I feel compelled to preach about it, even to the choir, that this MUST be a blow-out election for Democrats. The presidency, the Senate, and the House. WE have to have some power now to be able to right some wrongs that have been done over the last decade, well, maybe even the last 40 years, but let's at least start with the last decade. Have you seen those ridiculous signs at Trump rallies lately, "TOO BIG TO RIG?" Yeah, that. Vote BLUE!!
We will see. Perhaps, despite a lot of pessimism, the good guys will win. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a democratic majority in Congress and a black woman POTUS…
I’m too old to work, but not too old to contribute to the Democratic candidates on a monthly basis.
Harris as a two term president will have opportunities nominate Supreme Court judges. Good times are here again! Billserle.com
The founding fathers were, despite among other flaws their embrace of slavery, enlighten men. They created a Constitution that has been admired worldwide as a beacon of freedom, putting the good of We the People in the forefront of Democracy. They created a framework of government that addressed the evils that plagued their then existence, importantly an all powerful monarch. The Constitution is a very flawed document, not because of what it says but because of what it doesn't say. The Founder's created a framework that was meant to be a living document, changeable by future generations of well intentioned people to adapt to current times and mores.
Article 3, Section 1 created a judiciary. The Judiciary Act of 1789 filled out the details. Both were intended to be staffed by a likeness of the Founding Fathers, honorable, well intentioned men. In the system of checks and balances, Congress is empowered to oversee the judicial system.
Sadly the Founders never contemplated the likes of Leonard Leo, Harlan Crow, the Koch Brothers, Mitch McConnell and John Roberts. The kool-aid drinking members of the Federalist Society are today's Brown Shirts. While the high level corruption of the Judiciary has been in the making for several decades, this group super charged it. Could the Founders ever contemplate McConnell denying Garland the bench but then Storm Trooper rushing Coney Barrett to that bench. Did God contemplate a snake in his perfect Garden? Did both God and the Founders miss one important issue, Power Corrupts and Power is like alcohol to an alcoholic?
I wonder if the Constitution would have been a document of greater construction if women participated in it's drafting. It's framework's biggest flaw, the underlying supposition that all men are created equal, all want what is best for the country. This flaw, it addressed the concern over a monarch but never addressed a cabal of evil.
Over centuries the Constitution has survived numerous threats. Like the Bible it continues to be a source of inspiration. The biggest question, for how much longer?
TGIF🎉🎉🎉
Sadly and tragically for our country, I agree with every word about Roberts and voting and everything else your guest said. I will try to listen to the podcast if my blood pressure will allow it. I grew up in small towns in central and west Texas in the 1950’s and 1960’s with a few black and a few more Latino people, far removed from the civil rights struggles; however, I did have a conscience and pay attention to the sickness in people’s souls that would murder 4 little girls going to church(when I was 10) and so much more, and I believe in right and wrong, good and evil. Rush Limbaugh and then Fox News have slowly yet thoroughly poisoned the soul of our country, and Trump may likely have helped delivered the final blow. I am still in shock, and I fully expect the Supreme Court to install him no matter what. I literally pray I am wrong, my own wife tells me I am deranged and obsessed, but I can see the future coming. I hope all my good fellow Christians enjoy their theocracy run by the most UnGodly group imaginable. Apparently they are fine with this. See my good Christian brethren Mike Johnson and his Clay Higgins take the other day. God help us. The future will not be pretty. Everyone tells me to calm down, it will be “ok,” it is just “politics,” but the cruelty and chaos and pure EVIL coming is going to be tragic and perverse, and is wholly avoidable, if all the non psychopaths and noncriminals and nonracists would stop and think for one second, and step out of the R cult. I will never understand this, never.
Amen, Brother.
You just covered everything I hear daily. Calm down, it’s never going to happen, it’s just politics!! Lord help us!
🤪😝😜😝Sometimes the Democrats remind me of the old Chicago Cubs, it's always next year or election. If the right wing can arrange this why can't Democrats un arrange it?
Years ago, maybe as many as 10 or more, I remember reading a profile of Roberts in the WSJ. The takeaway was that his success, going all the way back to boarding school, was that he was nice to everyone. He would just give that smuggo closed lip smile and say hello to the janitor, and before we knew it, the Nicest Man in the US was on the Yellow Brick Road to controlling how you and I define nice, and everything else we experience. That's what galls me: the unbridled urge to CONTROL other people.
The small town and rural counties abrogation of the Voting Rights Amendment is what allows so many red states to remain red. That was the key to minority party control and the set up for this and the past several elections. GOP didn't have the demographics so they took over the geographics.
I’ve been around long enough to follow John Roberts and in the beginning I admired him. Slowly I began wondering what’s his game? It became very clear as more conservative judges were approved and there was a solid majority on his court he began to act. The rest is history… down the tubes we go. The wolf in sheep’s clothing.
I really started having doubt with Roberts when re oversaw the first impeachment.
What will it take before the sleepy majority wakes tf up? I guess we'll find out.
Yes, I was fooled by Roberts, too, and although a common enough name, could he be related to Kevin Roberts, the shovel wielding dog killer? My surprise would not be great. And just because it's on my mind after finishing the excellent book by Amy Sohn, "The Man Who Hated Women," the Comstock Act is “based on 150-year-old facts having no logical relationship to the present day,” but it, somehow, still stands, while the Voting Rights Act is all but gone. Priorities, amirite?
I was raised to believe that EVERYBODY has a right to vote, and nothing stood in the way of that, and up until about 20 years ago, I still believed that to be true. Then I started paying more attention and was as appalled by voter suppression as I was to find out that the Supreme Court was NOT an august body of nonpartisan people, chosen and confirmed ONLY for their wisdom of the Constitution and the law, and were, in fact, just another political arm of the easily corruptible Republican Party.
Even after this great revelation, I still harbored some trust of John Roberts. Am I the only person that noticed that Roberts started Joe Biden's 2021 presidential Oath of Office at about 11:50 AM, a full ten minutes before the Constitutionally prescribed time of 12 noon? No one mentioned it at the time, but Joe Biden was president by 11:53, which, in the grand scheme of things seems like not a big deal, but I'd never seen that before. And I thought, "oh, even John Roberts wanted to put Trump in the rearview mirror ASAP." What a dope I was.
I've been telling people that 2024 is the first presidential election since 2016 that I'm primarily voting FOR someone, and not just AGAINST someone else. And that's true, but even when Kamala takes the mantle of the presidency, there will still be a drag from the right, ALWAYS. And the drag on democracy and forward movement ultimately lands at the far-right Supreme Court, where John Roberts, wolf in sheep's clothing, still holds the most sway. Alito and Thomas will NEVER retire while a Democrat is in office. They will have to die before any Democratic president gets a shot at balancing this crooked Court, and even then, Democrats had better hold the Senate because we've already seen that ANY Republican Senate majority leader will stop a nomination from happening FOREVER, if that's what's called for, simply to hold onto raw power.
I've also been telling people, and I feel compelled to preach about it, even to the choir, that this MUST be a blow-out election for Democrats. The presidency, the Senate, and the House. WE have to have some power now to be able to right some wrongs that have been done over the last decade, well, maybe even the last 40 years, but let's at least start with the last decade. Have you seen those ridiculous signs at Trump rallies lately, "TOO BIG TO RIG?" Yeah, that. Vote BLUE!!
We will see. Perhaps, despite a lot of pessimism, the good guys will win. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a democratic majority in Congress and a black woman POTUS…
I’m too old to work, but not too old to contribute to the Democratic candidates on a monthly basis.
Harris as a two term president will have opportunities nominate Supreme Court judges. Good times are here again! Billserle.com
The founding fathers were, despite among other flaws their embrace of slavery, enlighten men. They created a Constitution that has been admired worldwide as a beacon of freedom, putting the good of We the People in the forefront of Democracy. They created a framework of government that addressed the evils that plagued their then existence, importantly an all powerful monarch. The Constitution is a very flawed document, not because of what it says but because of what it doesn't say. The Founder's created a framework that was meant to be a living document, changeable by future generations of well intentioned people to adapt to current times and mores.
Article 3, Section 1 created a judiciary. The Judiciary Act of 1789 filled out the details. Both were intended to be staffed by a likeness of the Founding Fathers, honorable, well intentioned men. In the system of checks and balances, Congress is empowered to oversee the judicial system.
Sadly the Founders never contemplated the likes of Leonard Leo, Harlan Crow, the Koch Brothers, Mitch McConnell and John Roberts. The kool-aid drinking members of the Federalist Society are today's Brown Shirts. While the high level corruption of the Judiciary has been in the making for several decades, this group super charged it. Could the Founders ever contemplate McConnell denying Garland the bench but then Storm Trooper rushing Coney Barrett to that bench. Did God contemplate a snake in his perfect Garden? Did both God and the Founders miss one important issue, Power Corrupts and Power is like alcohol to an alcoholic?
I wonder if the Constitution would have been a document of greater construction if women participated in it's drafting. It's framework's biggest flaw, the underlying supposition that all men are created equal, all want what is best for the country. This flaw, it addressed the concern over a monarch but never addressed a cabal of evil.
Over centuries the Constitution has survived numerous threats. Like the Bible it continues to be a source of inspiration. The biggest question, for how much longer?