Dear John,

 

I’m not one for hyperbole, so believe me when I say this: Our democracy is in grave danger, and we must find 50 votes in the U.S. Senate to save it. 

 

Republicans are using Donald Trump’s Big Lie to limit ballot access, purge voters from the rolls, curb voting hours, lock in GOP control through gerrymandering, and, if necessary, simply throw out election results they don’t like.

 

Today, President Biden went to Georgia, which was ground zero for the battle for democracy in 1964 — and is again today. He delivered a major speech calling on the U.S. Senate to carve out a filibuster exception for critical voting rights legislation.

 

At Inequality Media Civic Action, we refuse to accept that a majority of U.S. Senators are more loyal to the filibuster than they are to our nation’s democracy.

 

Inequality Media Civic Action is using our vast social media reach with key voters to demand 50 senators — no matter their party — reform the filibuster to protect voting rights. Will you chip in?

In 2021, 49 states introduced a total of 440 bills to restrict voting access. Nineteen states passed 34 new laws making it harder to vote.

 

The Freedom to Vote Act will preempt state efforts to suppress votes and take over election machinery. The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act will protect voting rights in states with a legacy of racial discrimination.

 

These are enormously popular bills. Yet thanks to the filibuster, 41 Republicans, representing just 21 percent of the country, can block them from becoming law. 

 

We cannot accept that.

 

The anti-democratic filibuster has no basis in the Constitution and should be abolished altogether. But if nothing else, senators must create an exception to it so that voting rights bills can pass with a simple majority.

 

The Senate has created exceptions before. It did so late last year to raise the debt ceiling. When Trump was in the White House, it did so to confirm Supreme Court nominees on the slimmest of margins.

 

So far, Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have professed more loyalty to the filibuster and some abstract notion of 'bipartisanship' than to preserving our democracy. We will continue to insist that they reconsider.

 

But they aren’t our only hope. There’s Susan Collins, who in 2015 joined John Lewis and other national leaders in Selma for the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday; and Lisa Murkowski, the only Republican who voted to bring the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to a vote last fall. And there’s Mitt Romney, whose father was a staunch supporter of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

 

There is no more left vs. right. It’s now democracy vs. authoritarianism, voting rights vs. white supremacy. We cannot allow one or two senators to stop the legislation we need in order to defend voting rights — and we'll stop at nothing to get the votes we need.

 

Inequality Media Civic Action is calling on the U.S. Senate to carve out an exception to the filibuster for voting rights, and pass legislation to save our democracy. Will you chip in to help fuel our work at this critical moment?

 

Thank you for helping us protect our democracy,

 

Robert Reich

Inequality Media Civic Action

Copyright ©  2022 Inequality Media Civic Action, All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
P.O. Box 9323
Berkeley, CA 94709

If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe.