The GOP Nixes Plan to Court Women and Minorities

Here we have them, the House of Representative Committee Chairs.  Committees are where the work of government takes place in Congress, and who chairs them dictacts what gets done.  Look at them.  Old white men, thin white men, middle-aged white men, balding white men….Yes, the GOP is very diverse.  While it is undoubtedly true that much of senior leadership in the Democratic party is dominated by people who do not represent the diversity of the country, the Republicans party has been doing some public soul searching since the 2012 election three weeks ago.  While some are content with ‘business as usual’, other have advocated for policies that are more inclusive.  While they have a majority of white men on board with a social agenda that ignores the last 50 years in America, women, African Americans, Latinos, immigrants, and other under-represented minorities are not.   If taking away their right to vote is not an option, then finding common ground is the only viable alternative.  Maybe that is the plan, but the message is that power remains in the traditional hands within the GOP.

No real change there.  And part of the plan is to limit the right to vote.  The admission by departed member’s of the Florida GOP committee that the effort to restrict early voting and to require voter ID was solely aimed at limited voter turnout.  There is no evidence, despite lots of searching, that there is widespread voter fraud in the US.  Fortunately, despite these efforts in battleground states and some egregiously long lines to vote on Election Day, people voted.  Not enough of them, but enough to prevent the outcome that those who oppose affording every eligible voter the opportunity to vote hoped for.  So strange, that we would send troops to other countries to establish democracies, but advocate for limiting the vote in our own country.