Candidate Day of Training
It is more important now than ever before to make sure we have great Democratic candidates running for office. Here are some important dates for you if you are considering running for local office.
Gay Marriage Is Next Up on the SCOTUS Chopping Block
By Jay Michaelson, The Daily Beast — I am approximately zero percent surprised by the draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, authored by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, that was leaked to Politico. Not only am I unsurprised—I predicted it, several times, in this publication. And not just me, of course, but everyone in my profession.
Pride Month — History and Promise
By Susan Gamache, El Dorado Hills — “Gay Pride Day” initially began as a day of commemoration, but soon grew to encompass a month-long series of events, and to be celebrated as LGBTQ Pride Month. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is celebrated in June to honor the Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, and the greater issue of human rights.
Fred Winn Democratic Party Essay Contest, first place: A contaminated experiment
By KIÊN VU, Oak Ridge High School Student — The Union is in peril — it always has been and must always be. The volatile nature that constitutes the foundation of the United States is what strengthens it. The unending struggles between the states and the federal government, among the states themselves and between sectional and national identity provide the catalyst with which America has been able to achieve global prominence. The democratic experiment proved to be, by most measures, a runaway success. The Revolutionary War gave birth to a country sturdy enough to grant its citizens significant liberties, with ample ability, though not necessarily abundant will, to facilitate social change — all inside a federal framework that has effective, though not dictatorial, power. However, that struggle has evolved beyond a healthy test of character and threatens to tear the country into two. The Union is in serious jeopardy, threatening democracy in America, and by extension, the very idea of democracy.
Fred Winn Democratic Party Essay Contest, second place: Promoting protection and solving suppression
By SUMMER DIXON, Oak Ridge High School Student —Throughout history, it is evident that the ability to vote has significantly evolved to expand the political power of citizens. Classical Greece, the Roman Republic, the United States, universal white male suffrage, and the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th Amendments all illustrate this distinct global and domestic development.
Fred Winn Democratic Party Essay Contest, third place: Exploring equality in our elections
By MADISEN BERRY, Ponderosa High School Student — Voting has always been an integral aspect of the United States; it represents our democracy and freedom from the previous tyranny of past monarchies. Throughout the country’s brief history, one can see the ups and downs of voting rights, from the highs of women’s suffrage to the lows of the Three-Fifths Compromise. With all that has gone on surrounding voting rights in the United States, it remains a controversial topic. I whole-heartedly believe in equal voting rights. The ability for someone to vote should not be hindered by their ethnicity, social status, or race. That being said, some people still struggle to vote because of the systems put into place by the government. State governments have recently been changing their laws to make it easier, or harder, for some people to vote.
History of Earth Day
Before the EPA, the Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act, there were no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our environment. Rachael Carson’s profound book, “Silent Spring” opened many people’s eyes regarding the incredibly damaging effects of pesticides and the complacency of our goverment in blindly accepting industry talking points about their safety. In spring 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day as a way to force this and other environmental issues onto the national agenda.
Republican Hypocrisy in Overdrive
by JOHN GARON, Placerville – Republican alarms about deficit spending and inflation reflect the party’s limitless capacity for hypocrisy. The GOP opposes the Build Back Better Act because it would cost $3.5 trillion and will “bankrupt the country” — conveniently forgetting the important qualifier: “$3.5 trillion spread over 10 years.” Mind you, it’s the same GOP that voted for $9.1 trillion Trump and Bush II tax cuts, spread over one year.
Senator Braun of Indiana Said States Should Decide
Right on cue, Republican Senator Mike Braun of Indiana today told a reporter that states not only should decide the issue of abortion but should also be able to decide the issues of whether interracial marriage should be legal and whether couples should have access to contraception.
Success of Newsom’s mental health proposal requires overcoming California’s biggest hurdle
BY THE SACRAMENTO BEE EDITORIAL BOARD
The decision to place a loved one in psychiatric care can be traumatic, let alone the more overwhelming possibility that they might decline the care they need. Left untreated, psychiatric disorders can lead to homelessness, crime and incarceration or isolation in which the conditions may worsen.
Factual Findings
Since I (Allen Stansbury) shut down my daily briefing e-newsletter I’ve been asked to contribute to the El Dorado County Democratic Central Committee monthly newsletter by way of a column.
The Nature of Environmental Education
The naturalist who was leading the hike was skilled at pointing out the little details. I spotted several small foamy blobs on the riverside vegetation and inquired, “What’s that?” “Oh, that’s what spittlebugs do in the springtime,” replied our hike leader. I was immediately fascinated by these tiny plant-sucking nymphs which encase themselves in foam. It was the beginning of a lifelong passion and interest in the study of nature.
Russia’s blitzkrieg on day one has failed
Illia Ponomarenko, a defense reporter with the Kyiv Independent, reported today that according to Ukraine’s top general, “Russia’s blitzkrieg on day one has failed.”
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
Could any nation “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” survive, or would such a nation inevitably descend into hierarchies and minority rule?
COVID vaccinations — a question of character for leaders
“You will have blood on your hands!”
That is how one member of the audience
confronted a friend of mine who spoke
against an El Dorado County Board of
Supervisors resolution opposing COVID-19
vaccine mandates, a resolution that was,
unfortunately, approved Nov. 16.
Weird disconnect caused by voters wanting “normalcy”
The policies President Joe Biden and the Democrats are putting in place are hugely popular, and yet Biden’s own popularity numbers have dropped into the low 40s. It’s a weird disconnect that Cohn explains by suggesting that, above all, voters want “normalcy.”
Democrats and Republicans both joined in praising the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
This afternoon, President Joe Biden signed the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, into law.
What politicians mean when they cry “socialism”
As soon as the Democrats in the House of Representatives, marshaled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), passed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) by a bipartisan vote of 228–206 last night, Republicans began to say that the Democrats were ushering in “socialism.”
CA-04’s Ridiculous Representative
There’s a certain mindset in a committed cult member. Whether he’s a true believer or just willing to go along to achieve the goals of the leader, he will follow even the most ridiculous commands.
Susan B. Anthony has just been found guilty of “illegally” voting
She was not convicted by a true jury of her peers, because women could not serve on the jury. Nor was she able to eloquently make her own case to the all-male jury.