Democracy Held Hostage

Written by TJ Hyland - December 11, 2020

An email hit my inbox this morning titled, “bad news (re. Electoral College),” but when I opened it up, it read more like a threat, telling me I had better take action now! It’s from the DNC. I always read these to see what tactics they’re using on the sheeple these days. This one is about abolishing the electoral college, and it reads, “This is a hard email to write. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and John Oliver. Everyone warned you… But we’re about to miss our major $15,000 fundraising deadline for the Abolish the Electoral College Fund. And sadly, we just checked… Progressive donations are PLUMMETING!!! If we CAN’T raise the remaining $9,391 for our Abolish the Electoral College Fund, then we will HAND Republicans a HUGE victory. REMEMBER: Republicans NEED the Electoral College to win…”

The email goes on to beg for $5 from everyone who reads the email, and I wonder how many people rush to donate $5 immediately? Because what runs through my mind isn’t taking action to donate a penny. What runs through my mind is a rage that stirs the blood. How dare they?

Whitehouse.gov reported that there are more than half-a-million homeless people in the U.S. who need their representation. There are 17 people out of every 10,000 - homeless. I think about the small northern California town I came from with a population of 60,000 people. That’s 102 homeless people for that one town alone. Childrensrights.org reported that well over half a million kids (over 670K) spent time in Foster Care in 2019, and they need their representation. In July 2020, Forbes reported more than 30 million eligible workers were unemployed during the pandemic, and they need their representation. In total, for these groups alone, we’re talking about more than 32 million people in the United States of America that are not represented by the people who govern them––at all. And now you want to tell us that you’re not going to help the other 81.2 million people who voted blue in 2020 either?

If the Republicans NEED the Electoral College to win, that means the Democrats NEED to abolish the Electoral College to have a fighting chance. So, let me get this straight––if we don’t HAND over more money that we don’t have during a pandemic, they will HAND the Republicans a victory? You can’t bleed a rock! Where’s the stimulus check that without so many people are suffering? Send me the stimulus – I would gladly hand back $20 from it. Why are the American people being extorted for more money? The DNC is holding valuable legislation hostage that will protect the future of democracy for our children until we give them more money. Why are they withholding stimulus funds and sending out emails equivalent to them standing there with a handout begging for money? But worse, they’ve targeted registered Democrats who already donate to them and vote for them because they believe in the cause. They’re now experiencing this hostage situation for all legislation as the DNC holds the proverbial gun to the head of their democracy and screams––if you don’t give us more money, you’re forcing our hand. Don’t make us do it––we’ll kill your democracy!

DNC – If you don’t Abolish the Electoral College, that’s on you. We, the people, will remember your choice. Refusing to act is your choice. We, the people, will remember you cared more about money than representing our interests. The people elected you to represent the people, and if you’re refusing to do that with the money we allocated for you to DO YOUR JOB and instead choose to hold legislation hostage until we give you more money you don’t need, that’s your choice. Just like any other hostage situation, you’re choosing to extort the people. The people aren’t forcing you to do anything, and we will #NEVERFORGET.

References:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/The-State-of-Homelessness-in-America.pdf

https://www.childrensrights.org/newsroom/fact-sheets/foster-care/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahhansen/2020/07/24/30-million-are-unemployed-and-more-pain-is-on-the-way-here-are-8-numbers-that-sum-up-the-destruction-in-the-us-labor-market/