The Republicans successfully blocked the For the People Act. This legislation is intended to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, limit the unfair practice of partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.
For some reason, the “Party of Lincoln” thought this act was a “power grab” by the Democrats, possibly inspired by the discredited notion that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. There is also the Republican Party’s perception that this act would expand voting rights for people of color, and African Americans tend to vote for the Democrats.
The Grand Old Party may have won a Pyrrhic victory, since this action will haunt Republicans in the future and could tarnish the Republican Party legacy. Consider this for a moment: In what serious democracy would any politician or member of Congress try to limit voting rights? If the Republicans are afraid of losing elections if more Americans are allowed to vote, perhaps they need to create a more just and appealing platform for all Americans, including those who are marginalized.
Regarding historical legacy, Sen. Mitch McConnell might look at Abraham Lincoln’s last speech, which concerned Louisiana and that former slave state’s eagerness to rejoin the Union and adopt the 13th Amendment. What is significant is Lincoln’s statement concerning suffrage for Black citizens. It proved too much for John Wilkes Booth standing in the crowd that night. Booth swore it would be Lincoln’s last speech — a threat that came true.
Here is what Lincoln said about Black suffrage:
“Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore slave-state of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful political power of the State, held elections, organized a State government, adopted a free-state constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to black and white, and empowering the Legislature to confer the elective franchise upon the colored man.” (Abraham Lincoln, April 11, 1965.)
Why do we even have this current controversy in the Congress over voting rights? Wasn’t this issue settled in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law? After three marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama — the first, a bloody confrontation — to demand voting rights for African Americans, President Johnson addressed Congress. Here are President Johnson’s closing remarks using a phrase from a Civil Rights Anthem:
“Even if we pass this bill, the battle will not be over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life. Their cause must be our cause, too, because it is not just Negroes but really it is all of us who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice. And we shall overcome.” (Lyndon Johnson, 1965.)
What speech from 2021 will be quoted in years to come regarding this issue? Sadly for the Republicans, it might be a quote from Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer:
“This vote, I’m ashamed to say, is further evidence that voter suppression has become part of the official platform of the Republican Party.”
It will be interesting if the Republican Party loses credibility and becomes the party of obstruction, not progress.
Michael Corrigan graduated from San Francisco State with an Master of Arts degree in English and creative writing. He was active in theater and attended the American Film Institute. He retired from Idaho State University as an instructor of English and speech communications. He has written several books, including “Confessions of a Shanty Irishman,” “Mulligan” and “These Precious Hours.” NPR broadcast his play for two readers: “Letters from Rebecca.”