The fate of our Democracy is on the ballot this fall. The crucial test is whether a Constitutional coalition of Democrats, independents and Liz Cheney Republicans can stop the Trump attempt to win major offices and take control of running future elections in battleground states. The media treats the 2022 campaign as a rerun of the traditional Red […]
For all the uproar among Democrats over restrictive voting laws passed by Republican legislatures in 17 states, Democrats have only recently awakened to the more dangerous threat to American democracy – Republican moves to take partisan control of counting votes and even overturn the popular vote in future elections. For months, Democrats in Congress and […]
Washington -Joe Biden’s stunning victory on his boldly ambitious $1.9 trillion corona relief package and its striking popularity with voters, including grassroots Republicans, now tempts many Congressional Democrats to think that they can go-it-alone and leave Republicans on the sidelines. But will it work? Senate filibuster rules are a formidable, if not insurmountable barrier. The […]
Washington – If you’re thinking of voting by mail this fall, pay close attention to what happened in the primary elections across the country this spring and summer. Tens of thousands of mail ballots were disqualified and not counted. So we need to figure out how to beat this problem pronto – both at the […]
WASHINGTON – Do you sometimes feel as if our democracy is coming apart at the seams? Gridlock, hate speech, dark money, negative ads, political parties at each others throats instead of working together for our common good? It’s almost enough to make you give up on American democracy. But please,don’t go there. Because I know […]
(Editort’s Note: Five months ago, on June 4, this was our warning – and now Trump is doing just what predicted, using the mail vote to try to dispute and overturn the results of the election.) Washington – The ominous threat behind Donald Trump’s mindless, factless fear-mongering about mail voting is that his real aim […]
Washington – No state has done more for voter rights and ballot access this year than Virginia, and women were the key drivers of those reforms. Go back half a dozen years and Virginia’s state government looked Deep South and Deep Red. The Virginia legislature was run by Republicans, mastered and marshaled by men. Democrats […]
Washington – Just a few months ago, the smart money in Democratic political circles was no longer betting on Wisconsin as a likely winnable state in the November election battle to unseat President Trump. But the surprising outcome of the state’s April 7 election has put Wisconsin back in play. Wisconsin voters set off Republican […]
by Hedrick Smith What struck me when I began reporting on grassroots citizen reform movements in states as varied as Florida, Connecticut, and South Dakota was how creative and ingenious political amateurs were in generating ideas for reform and how gutsy and resourceful they were in mobilizing millions of voters to adopt state-level reforms […]
by Hedrick Smith It’s been a couple of weeks since our film, THE DEMOCRACY REBELLION, began airing on PBS stations across the country, and the response to these stories of grassroots political reforms has been fantastic! “Your brilliant program is the only bright spot in my day. I actually watched it on my cellphone in […]
Hedrick Smith, who conceived this website and is its principal writer and architect, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and Emmy award-winning documentary producer for PBS and PBS FRONTLINE. more »
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