John --
Casting a dark shadow over next week’s election is the violent attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, last Friday—and the blasé or outright cruel reaction to it in some quarters. Slowly but surely, political violence is becoming normalized in the U.S., and most disturbing of all, some of our public officials are responsible, directly or indirectly, for condoning it. By suggesting that violence is no big deal or that the victims “deserved it,” they set a tone that will continue to degrade our politics.
Also just in time for the midterm elections, U.S. law enforcement has circulated bulletins warning that conspiracy theorists could become violent <[link removed]> around Nov. 8. One of the bulletins, issued last Friday by the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the National Counterterrorism Center, warned about domestic violent extremism related to “election-related perceptions of fraud.” The conspiracy theory that purports that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” is bearing dangerous fruit.
As our co-chairs, Andrew Yang, Christine Todd Whitman, and Michael Willner, wrote in Newsweek <[link removed]> this week, “While the unprecedented effort to overturn an election failed, it planted seeds of doubt and suspicion that have taken root throughout the electoral system. Election denialism is nothing new, but it's gone mainstream. In particular, on the American right, 61% of Republicans believe that the 2020 presidential election result was fraudulent. Public officials and candidates, despite all evidence to the contrary, promote and normalize that lie, making it accepted as gospel among millions of Americans.”
At Forward, we stand on the side of democracy, because it's not a partisan concern—it's an American one. Lies about our election come at a steep cost. They destroy confidence in our electoral system, suppress voter participation, and as we've seen, can lead to violence. We know there is a better way.
- Candidate for Fayette Pa. House seat assaulted amid warnings about election-related threats and violence —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette <[link removed]>
- <[link removed]>Mark Cuban blasts two-party political system that boosts ‘extreme views’ —Axios <[link removed]>
- <[link removed]>Partisan hardliners likely won’t fare well under Alaska’s new election system. Here’s why —Alaska Public Media <[link removed]>
- <[link removed]>A bigger table: A look at third parties and our political system —Connecticut Public <[link removed]>
- <[link removed]>Schmidt: Putting country, state, or county over party —St. Louis Post-Dispatch <[link removed]>
OTHER NEWS & VIEWS
More than 40% of Americans would vote for a new party
“A plurality of Americans are open to voting for a candidate from a new party that sits between Republicans and Democrats, a new Public Religion Research Institute poll finds, as a large majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the current state of the U.S. and partisan politics. Independents were unsurprisingly most likely to consider a centrist option, with 57% saying they’d vote for a moderate candidate, but Democrats were more likely than Republicans to cast a ballot for a new centrist choice (with 40% of Democrats versus 34% of Republicans).” —Forbes <[link removed]>
Voters don’t think either party has the right to govern
“Heading into the midterm elections, while likely voters are split on which party they plan to vote for, they largely feel that neither party has earned the right to govern after November. Overall, 51% of likely voters say Democrats haven’t earned another two years controlling the federal government, while 39% said they have. Among independents, 50% say Democrats don’t deserve another two years and 34% said they do, while Democrats and Republicans mostly answer in accordance with their party. Yet things are no better for the GOP, as 55% of likely voters also say Republicans have not made a good case for why they should be given control of Congress for the next two years, compared with 35% who say they have. Notably, 61% of independents say the GOP has not, while just 27% say they have (once again, Democrats and Republicans largely answered in line with their partisan views).” —FiveThirtyEight <[link removed]>
Taylor: It’s 10 days until the election. Do you know who’s on your ballot?
“Lies, conspiracies, and hate—especially when promulgated by public officials—can fuel real-world danger, not only to democracy but to people’s lives. The rise of these radical candidates demonstrates the injurious impact of hyperpartisanship, which significantly lowers our standards of candidate quality and discourages good candidates from running at all. Character matters; leaders who lack it have a corrosive influence on the whole of society. The relative success of these candidates in the primary elections speaks to the need for primary reform, so that candidates are rewarded for unifying ideas that appeal to a broad swath of the electorate, rather than for throwing red meat to an ideologically extreme base.” —Miles Taylor in The Topline <[link removed]>
Zakaria: Our primary problem
“The primary system American parties use to choose their candidates is extremely unusual; no other major democracy has one quite like it. Primaries ensure that the candidates chosen are selected by slivers of the parties—around 20% of all eligible voters. And this selection is not at all representative—these are the most intense, agitated activists, often far more extreme in their views than run-of-the-mill registered Republicans or Democrats. Add to this decades of sophisticated, computer-enabled gerrymandering, and you get extreme candidates who run in safe districts where the only threat to them is a primary candidate who is even more extreme.” —Fareed Zakaria in The Washington Post <[link removed]>
Under the two-party system, the nation’s challenges continue to mount—from pocketbook issues like inflation to large-scale crises like climate change to systemic problems like an outdated election system that promotes extremist candidates. Add to that an unhealthy dose of distrust, doled out by dishonest brokers who crave power, and you have a recipe for suspicion, dysfunction, and, increasingly, violence. Thankfully, Americans get it and are ready to move Forward.
All the best,
The Forward Party Team
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Forward Party - PO Box 9172, Fredericksburg, VA 22403, United States
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