One of the fortunate side effects of this year’s Presidential election is the demonstration of the inability of the national government to manage the actual mechanics of an election in 50 diverse states and territories. I say, ‘fortunate’ intentionally because by now our denial of the facts is painfully obvious concerning hundreds of law suits over ballot counting, the reasonable number of precincts for voting, and even matters as apparently trivial as that the receptacles for deposit of completed ballots all appear to be running with no ordaining national standards. As I have quoted earlier and elsewhere Section 4 of Article I of the Constitution;

                  The Time, Places and Manner of holding Elections                                                   for Senators and Representatives, shall be                                                                   prescribed in each State by the Legislatures                                                               thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law                                                  make or alter such Regulations, except as to Places                                              and chusing of Senators.  (bold emphasis added )

This broad authority which is intentionally reserved for Congress needs to be asserted to begin to create a system that is less porous to fraud and abuse.  This, or course does not get at the scandal that is the Electoral College and the chicanery over Presidential elections and the role of political parties and money bundling that assures that only a candidate  approved by one of the two main political parties can rise to office of President, but it does allow the national government to insure the rights of the people to vote and have their votes counted and the tally verified. Paper ballots remain the gold standard still in that regard; and democracy itself is only a dream if these weaknesses are not corrected.

The little pocket Constitution from which I gathered the above quote is one that the government prints for free distribution (Twenty-Fifth Edition). On the back of the cover is a quote from John Marshall, who first put real power behind the idea of judicial review by the Supreme Court; “a constitution, intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs.” This would appear to be a very early summary of the argument against originalism and textualism. We shall soon see if the United States government is capable of saving itself from some of its worst habits, and if the as yet unmet promise of ‘consent of the governed’ and ‘majority rule with full minority rights’ will be honored in fact.

This poster originally from the Fredrich for Congress campaign of 1974 has been Sharpied-Up for reuse in the Fredrich for President race. The idea then was to focus the voters on my opposition to the Alaska Pipeline as I was an early advocate for leaving fossil fuel resources in the ground. Many people commented on how it was a nice picture except for the rusting Volkswagen. I had to reassure them that that was precisely the point.

The sudden departure of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, not unexpected after a long struggle with cancer, (and May She Rest in Peace and Power), is the signal for the real struggle to begin over the control of our national destiny. Now, with The Covid and The Trump Recession on one front, and the nomination of a replacement to RGB on the other, the battle is joined at a higher level. It’s been made clear over recent years how much in this period of divided government the power of the federal courts has risen. That is the chief reason that Majority Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has done little other than obsess about appointing federal judges and justices inclined toward his ideas of partiality, favor and advantage. The hypocrisy of Senators like Lindsey Graham, Tom Cotton and Mitch himself, who as a group with others of their ilk would not even favor Merrick Garland with a hearing, much less a vote, to hurry to judgement at this delicate moment  should energize all those who understand what is at stake to make the maximum effort to throw out The Party of Corruption and Lies. As the Trumpublicans have tactically exposed their flanks to  the reality of how they wish to govern, largely in absence and with favor toward only some, the opportunity for a decisive victory is stronger. Now the Great Trifecta — House, Senate and Presidency is within reach. Do not allow the opportunity to slip away. The JKF campaign is becoming very much a secondary matter.

Labor Day in the fall is an artifice of American culture born of the concern of the political leadership that allowing the celebration of working people to occur on May 1st, in solidarity with those who toil across the world, would only enhance the power of the international forces trying to reform capitalism. That fact, the importance of May to the forces of revolutionary action, is one big reason why I began my campaign on May Day. Now though, it is also true that our fall celebration is the official start of the final round leading up to the elections at the beginning of November, “the first Tuesday after the first Monday”, and signifies the moment of truth for the many years of planning, organizing and fund raising that those who aspire to be elected have undertaken. Therefore, because of the tremendous stakes of the next sixty days in this historic Presidential contest, the need for all citizens and voters to be alert, hard working and diligent in their scrutiny of the facts and their pursuit of the reality in regard to our pressing problems is particularly intense. If we are lazy or duplicitous the entire matter may slip out of our hands. Powerful forces seek to neutralize the power of workers, farmers, students, homemakers, and aggrieved minorities of many stripes, most acutely by manipulation of the narrative concerning this historic moment and then the actual results of the hard vote on November 3rd.

Your task is to see to it that this does not happen and to flex your political muscles with your vote for change. Remain safe and strong as we nonviolently walk the path of power to victory.

This excerpt from the Postscript of the Second Edition of my book, Delusion and Abandonment, is pertinent to the issue of the place of firearms in American society and rights of the citizens as guaranteed in the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution:

The nation cries out for remedy to the plight of about 100 fatal gun deaths a day and many mass shootings over the years, and still they (the Congress) refuse to act. The Second Amendment is quite clear about the matter of ‘a well regulated militia’, and Congress could artfully pass a Well Regulated Militia Gun Registration Act to obliterate the ill-conceived notion of unregulated firearms, to require that war weaponry and assault weapons be stored in public armories, and to create a data base and survey for all guns and owners in the United States for the simple purpose of public safety and national defense. They could require not just the inventory of all weapons in private possession but whether the owner is willing to serve in the militia. Even a world-class sophist such as Antonin Scalia, the champion of a very suspect concept of originalism about the intent of the writers of the Constitution, would be hard-pressed to delineate how this exceeds the charge of Congress to act in behalf of the general Welfare and to insure domestic Tranquility.

By this time in three months it should be more obvious to most Americans what kind of a county they live in and in what direction their country is headed.

Last week in the funeral services for John R. Lewis, one of the true heroes of the fight for human rights for all in the United States, the charge to all who were listening was to answer the call to move forward in creating a society that actually lives up to its word and promise. The response from the Electoral College winner of the 2016 election was a resounding doubt as to whether the country can even hold an election on November 3rd. Never mind that Donald Trump has sworn an oath that entrusts him with the responsibility to see to it that just such an event occurs, and that he should be working mightily in behalf of all for that to come off without a hitch, his trial balloon was a bald admission of the fact that he is not qualified to hold the position, not now and not in 2021. It is unlikely that someone who cannot even manage the United States Postal Service is able to discharge the other more taxing responsibilities of office; we do know, however, that the vote will take place and that it is the duty of the states to count and report honestly and accurately the results. It’s our duty to register and to vote by one of the various methods the law allows. Not to do so would be distinctly unpatriotic.

Moreover, moving beyond patriotism and this year’s vote, now is the time to respond to former President Barack Obama’s clarion cry to advance the cause of democracy through the restoration of the Voting Rights Act, renewed by both Presidents Bush, and  blatantly subverted in the 5-4 Supreme Court decision of Shelby County v. Holder in 2013. With these rights reinsured, the importance of the principle of one person/one vote can be further actualized by passage of the 29th Amendment to the Constitution — the elimination of the Electoral College and the direct election of the President of the United States by a majority of its voters. Improved Democracy should be our goal and the President should be elected by a majority.