Democracy in the US is being killed off and may be dead soon, and we all need to ACT NOW to protect and improve it!

A variety of pro-democracy and social justice issue advocates are joining forces on this Thurs. Dec. 9 for a national day of action to protect democracy in the U.S. It is coinciding with the opening of a two-day virtual Global Summit for Democracy that is being convened by President Biden. We all commend this effort, but also want to call attention to the attack on democracy that is already well underway here at home, and the imperative for our leaders to counter it RIGHT NOW. Here in New York, we are joining with others in the Fair Elections for New York campaign, Black Voters Matter, and the Workers Circle to manifest the New York component.

We invite you to join us for a “Funeral for US Democracy? Voting Rights Now!” event that will be taking place outside the United Nations starting at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Thurs. Dec. 9^th). We will gather on the east end of Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (1^st Ave. and 47^th St.) to undertake a solemn funeral march to the US Mission to the UN (nearby at 1^st Ave. and 45^th St.) for a media conference, and then continue on to the front gates of the UN campus located at 1^st Ave. and 42^nd St. for a concluding activity. We ask all participants to wear black clothing, and to dress warmly since the forecast is for cold weather.

How you can participate:

• RSVP here so that we know how many to expect (…and then be sure to show up!)
• Share this Facebook event with others to encourage awareness and participation.
• Use this social media toolkit before, during, and after the event.
• Watch livestreams from Fair Elections for New York over Twitter and Facebook (if you can’t make it.)

Here’s the backstory:

For over a decade now, a variety of political and economic forces have joined forces to directly and more broadly undermine democracy in the U.S. at the national, state, and local government levels. Their tools are laws and court rulings that 1) suppress voter participation, 2) inject “Big Dark Money” into the political process, 3) rig legislative districts, and 4) overturn election outcomes. To date, 19 states have adopted laws that promote these goals. (New York is not one of them.) Taken together, the outcome they foster is a political system dominated by a politically-conservative minority and plutocracy that values corporate profiteering, racism and sexism, and unfettered power for its own sake, with little if any concern for the needs and desires of everyday people.

There are three major bills now advancing in Congress that will counter these efforts and improve the democratic process overall:

• For the People Act (S.1/HR 1,,Merkley /Sarbanes)
• Freedom to Vote Act (S.2747, Klobuchar)
• John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (S.4, HR 4, Leahy/Sewell)

These bills must be enacted before the end of this year to have any significant impact on next year’s midterm elections so that a) as many people as possible can vote, b) Big Dark Money influence will be lessened, c) legislative districts will be impartial, and d) election results will be respected. NONE of these outcomes will be guaranteed otherwise, and our core democracy will be undermined. Congress will be recessing for the upcoming end-of-year holiday season in less than two weeks, so movement on these bills must happen NOW!

We urge everyone to contact Senators Schumer and Gillibrand and YOUR member of Congress to express your opinion about the bills listed above, and the need for immediate action to protect and improve our democracy so that next year’s elections can be fair, just, and inclusive. If successful, we will have a much better political landscape on which to advance measures toward universal health care here in New York and nationally.

Democracy and health care:

We here in the US would have had a robust national, universal health care program long ago were it not for the inordinate influence that the various corporate special interests and their political shills have over our nation’s political system. These influences have long compromised our democracy in many ways to prevent lawmakers from taking action to improve the health and well-being of everyday people in order to protect and expand corporations’ profiteering. In fact, enacting a universal health care program would be a dramatic advancement of democracy per se. For us, democracy reform IS health care reform.