MICROBYTE: YOU HAVE WAY MORE POWER THAN YOU EVER IMAGINED.

The truth is, our founders thought that the fate of democracy was far too important to be left up to politicians. 

Through the Constitution and various amendments to the Constitution, they put the ultimate power in the hands of We The People in the form of the almighty vote. 72% of the world’s people are denied that power.

Now, the original version of the Constitution left voting qualifications up to the states. But over time, various amendments––notably, the 15th, 19th, 24th, and 26th––put limits on nefarious attempts to restrict suffrage, explicitly barring certain forms of discrimination by race, sex, age for those over 18, and egregious poll taxes.

The right to free and fair elections is what separates us from the likes of Russia, China, North Korea, and Hungary.

And, as I’m sure you’ve read, the need to protect the vote is a battle that will likely never end.

Now,  nearly everyone understands the power of the vote at election time. But let me tell you how to use the power of the vote effectively between elections. Let’s begin with a gross fact of life: the thing politicians care about most is getting elected. And what they fear most is getting unelected. 

That very fact puts the ultimate power, the fearsome power of the all-mighty vote, in the hands of We The People. And we don’t have to wait for an election to use it. 

Now, the midterms are just around the corner. And the general trend is that the party of the incumbent president—meaning the party that won the last presidential election—typically loses seats in Congress during the midterms. Since World War II, the president’s party has lost an average of 26-28 seats in the House and about 4 seats in the Senate in these elections. This pattern holds true about 93% of the time in the House and roughly 70% of the time in the Senate.

The midterms are just around the corner, and fear is in the air.

If it hasn’t occurred to you already, here’s how you use it. If you care about something, now is the perfect time to shoot the people you elected a strongly worded email. Will it matter? Or will it go directly into trash?

Big news: A survey was conducted with congressional staffers (those are the people who really run things in Washington),–and btw, those are the people who really run things in Washington, and according to the survey, staffers say it takes less than 50 personalized messages, 50, to get their bosses to think seriously about voting the way we want them to. 

So email away! And just for good measure, add a polite, Or Else, at the end.

MICROBYTE: JEFFERY EPSTEIN REFUSES TO STAY BURIED.

Echoes of the Watergate cover-up, the cover-up that drove Richard Nixon out of office, are hard to ignore, and the scent of desperation in the White House is palpable. 

What we learned from the embarrassing, amateurish, and ultimately futile Todd Blanche “interview” with Ghislaine Maxwell was that Epstein did nothing wrong, Maxwell saw nothing, did nothing, and that Donald Trump was always the perfect gentleman, and that giving a good interview can get you moved from an unpleasant jail to a far more luxurious Camp Fed. Maybe even a pardon.

Well, that seemed to satisfy almost no one. And this morning, the victims finally got their time at bat. And, no less a Trump supporter than Marjorie Taylor Greene was standing with them shoulder to shoulder. 

Bit by bit, the cover-up is unravelling.

And now, enter Alexander Acosta, the man who knows all. Acosta was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida during the first Epstein investigation, the guy who brokered the sweetheart deal that amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist, a plea deal to State charges of solicitation of prostitution (including one with a minor under 18), resulting in 13 months in county jail with work release (which means he was allowed out and about in Palm Beach all day, and only required to return to jail for the night), registration as a sex offender, and immunity from federal prosecution

Finally, due to popular demand, that Alexander Acosta has come out from hiding and has graciously agreed to be interviewed, interviewed, behind closed doors, by the House Oversight Committee on September 19th. No. not a formal public hearing, not a deposition, and not, repeat, not under oath. 

And so, the embarrassing, amateurish attempts at a cover-up continue. 

But, as I said in the post, we can’t let this one go by. Government transparency isn’t an option; it’s essential to a functioning democracy. So, waste no time, get hold of the people you elected, Democrat or Republican, and let them know that We The People are watching.

THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM. (Author, Hannah Arendt, Publisher, Mariner Books, 479 pages)

(Warning, this is not a beach book, It's a heavy read but well worth the effort) Hannah Arendt explores the institutions and operations of totalitarian movements, focusing on the two genuine forms of totalitarian government in our time. Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, which she recognizes as two sides of the same coin, rather than opposing philosophies of right and left. From this vantage point, she discusses the evolution of classes into masses, the role of propaganda in dealing with the non-totalitarian world, the rise of terror, and the nature of isolation and loneliness as preconditions for total domination.

“The work of one who has thought as well as suffered…a disquieting, moving, and thought-provoking book.” The New York Times. As an Amazon Associate, we earn commission from qualifying purchases.