Democracy is an unfinished draft always in motion, Congressperson Jamie Raskin told more than 200 attendees at the Grassroots Emergency Election Protection (GREEP) weekly zoom meeting on June 30. Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) fights to open up democracy. People in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico deserve voting rights equal to the rest of us.
We need to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to undo the damage done to the 1965 Voting Rights Act when its section 5 was gutted (Section 5 required pre-clearance of any voting or election-related legislation being considered by states with a past history of discrimination in these areas.). Raskin specified the discriminatory practice of eliminating from voter rolls those who miss even one election and requiring them to reregister--which can be a notoriously complicated process in states like Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, among others-- an "outrageous injustice."
"We need to revitalize democracy," which is being deformed in so many ways by the Trump administration. The No Kings protest day brought out millions who agree, an event that GREEP co-convener Harvey Wasserman noted was probably the real target of the bombs dropped on Iran's nuclear facilities so soon afterwarad.
IN the Q&A session that followed his brief presentation, Raskin told Ray McClendon, head of Communities United for Justice, that he couldn't specify the contents of the "big beautiful bill" simply because everything is done behind closed doors. There is concern that provisions of the SAVE Act are being incorporated, a move the Senate Parliamentarian has ruled against, he said. The SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship from all voters, including a drivers license, and birth certificate or passport, AND in the case of women who changed their surname when they married, a marriage license to validate their identities--a great way to undo the Nineteenth Amendment by keeping married women from voting, Wasserman noted.
"How can progressives reclaim and secure our democracy? We are the real patriots." Raskin corroborated this, noting that Donald Trump never quotes or even refers to the founding fathers because he's rebelling against democracy. He canceled the Smithsonian's exhibit of the Enola Gay, the plane used to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, because he thought that "Gay" referred to the LGBTQ+ population.
Mayor Heide Lambert of Waldport, Oregon requested amicus support from the Congressperson relevant to a trial scheduled for early July relevant to her ouster from her office by conservative political opponents for no reason--she was subsequently reinstated though the hearing is still scheduled--and Raskin was most interested and promised to review the relevant material.
Former Green Party presidential candidate Howard Hawkins broached the subject of ranked choice voting, which Raskin supports. He said that it would be great to substitute that system for the Electoral College. We're the only country in the world with only two major candidates for president. But politicians are slow to reject a system that put them in office, he said. He then referred to the Interstate Compact, which would allow states to allocate all of their electoral votes to the presidential candidate with the largest number of popular votes. More than two-thirds of the states have ratified it, but two-thirds of the House and Senate must also ratify it once the individual states have.
"MAGA is dancing around the Constitution," said GREEP engineer Steven Caruso, who called the Congressperson a true patriot. Raskin observed that we need a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to vote to all American citizens.
Wasserman asked what can be done to reverse the stance of Democrats who support the use of nuclear rather than sustainable energy sources. Raskin's recommendation was to pressure Republicans elected in swing districts-- that support from Elon Musk is even possible.
And what of the dismemberment of the Department of Agriculture, asked Rudy Arredondo, founder of Latino Farmers and Ranchers International. No one is talking about this crisis in food availability and its relevance to climate change. Raskin noted that support from the GOP representatives in rural districts is crucial. The immigrant raids in farm country are scaring away the people who harvest foodstuffs--no one will come to work, he said. ICE raids are killing agriculture, a dangerous situation.
Wasserman referred to the two red states, Texas and Iowa, where wind is the leading source of energy; Ohio comes in third. Said Beyond Nuclear activist Kevin Camps, wind and solar power have been sabotaged, and nuclear waste is a growing menace, even beneath the Tacoma (MD) stop of Washington DC's Metro subway system, in Raskin's own district. "We must win the 2026 election (and 2028)," the Congressperson said. Some Republicans like Nancy Mace of South Carolina want carveouts to retain necessities like Medicaid.
We must ally with people like [attorney] Marc Elias to protect our vote in 2026 and 2028, or we're done, said Wasserman.
And will Raskin seek the presidency in 2028? He is considering it.
"Hang tough, everybody!" he said in conclusion.
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