Rights / Democracy - OtherWords

Disenfranchising Voters is Un-American

You may not realize just what depths the Republican Party has been plumbing to regain the presidency next year.

Defending the Ballot Box

The 2008 election was a hopeful one for African Americans in our democracy — not because of who was elected, but because of who turned out to vote. We voted at a nearly identical rate to our white neighbors for the first time in U.S. history. In fact, African-American women had the highest turnout rate of any group of any race.

Reading Frog Entrails

by Donald Kaul

The Iowa caucuses may be over by the time you read this. But it doesn’t matter. The caucuses are the second-most fraudulent event on the nation’s political calendar.

Missoula’s Supremely Important Vote

by Jim Hightower

In November’s elections, the national media gave extensive coverage to a proposed “personhood amendment” to Mississippi’s state constitution. This extremist, anti-choice ballot initiative declared that a person’s life begins not at birth, but at the very instant that a sperm meets the egg.

The Rich are Profiting Like It’s 1929

by Donald Kaul

No wonder the American people are confused — about the economy, the nation, the Middle East, the onrushing election, and everything else. People keep feeding them bad information.

Influence Peddler for President

by Jim Hightower

Mea culpa, I misspoke, my bad. I stand corrected. I have called Newt Gingrich a lobbyist. Apparently, he hates that tag, even though he has indeed gotten very wealthy by taking big bucks from such special interest outfits as IBM, Astra Zeneca, Microsoft, and Siemens in exchange for helping them get favors from federal and state governments.