Date: June 25th, 2020 Author: Misty Hook For many, the 2016 election was a wake-up call. It certainly was for me! Sure, I voted in every election but I didn’t know who my local elected officials were or what some of my local governmental entities did. I’d lived in Texas for 16 years and had never heard of a Commissioner’s …
New Rule in Memory of George Floyd
New Rule: A white person cannot be hired as a police officer, sheriff, or constable for the next five years. Inspired by Bill Maher’s New Rules segment on the HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher. This is meant more to provoke conversation rather than be a serious proposal 4 June 2020 Please note, the opinions are my own and do …
Medicare: Our Single-Payer Health Insurance
By Tarek Lucien Radjef. Medicare is not a government-run healthcare system like the Veterans Health Administration. Medicare is a single-payer primary health insurance coverage like the French system, but restricted to age 62 and older. All care and drug providers are independent, unlike the Veterans healthcare system where the government pays salaries to care providers and owns the hospitals, like it does in Great Britain. One has to wonder how many of our Republican senior friends refuse …
The End of Democracy — Unless We Defend It
June 27, 2019 Mike Rawlins, County Chair Today, in a deeply flawed ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States of America ruled that the courts have no power to rule on complaints of explicit partisan gerrymandering, despite that the justices recognized it is undesirable and has negative effects on our democracy. At best, this five to four decision is a shirking …
Ignore the Media Frenzy – Let’s GOTV and Win in 2020
By Sudhir Joshi, Communications Director CCDP. Have you noticed when there is a big event, every news channel covers the event in the same way? This results in a common narrative emerging while opposing points of view are suppressed through lack of media attention. Let me give you a non-political example. When there is a birth or marriage in the British royal family, it …
On Saturday’s Runoffs …
Observations from Another Municipal Runoff By Mike Rawlins, CCDP Chair. There were high visibility runoffs in Dallas, Plano, and Richardson Saturday. Things turned out okay in one city with two Democrats to choose from for mayor, but not so great elsewhere. We congratulate State Representative Eric Johnson for his win as Dallas Mayor. A progressive candidate opposed by the establishment Richardson …
Is It a Flaw in the Constitution? Fifty Senators Represent Less Than 17% of Total U.S. Population
By Tarek Lucien Radjef. The smallest state, Wyoming has 600,000 people. Kentucky is the 25th smallest with 4.5 million Kentuckians. The total population from 1-25 is 53 million. These states are listed at the bottom of the article. The total U.S. population, including territories is about 330 million. Senators have equal power in their Chamber. This means that when Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris of California vote,representing 40 million people, it can be nullified by Mike …
We Get What We Vote (or Don’t Vote) For
By Mike Rawlins, CCDP Chair. With another odd-year non-partisan election almost behind us, we first want to thank everyone who stepped up to run. It’s a significant commitment of time, energy, and often money, and we appreciate the passion for public service that led you to take the step. Though not as many Democrats won as we would have liked, we …
Tolerance and the First and Second Amendments
By Tarek Lucien Radjef Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion, Speech, and the Press Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Amendment …
Our Politics Are Local
Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill, famously said over thirty years ago that all politics are local. That is especially true as voting begins for the May 4 general election. With city councils, schools boards, and Collin College Board of Trustees on the ballot, these elections are as local as we get. And you need to vote! With extreme reactionary candidates running for several of …
Why We Need to Participate in Census 2020
By Donna Buesing, CCDP Staff Writer Spanish Translation The U.S. Government’s regular Census is approaching. Please do NOT disregard this vitally important bit of paperwork. It may seem to be intrusive, but it truly makes a HUGE difference (or it can) in what happens in our communities. It’s ONLY AFTER 72 years that the specific data is released. That …
Why Is Collin County Important to Democrats?
By Jennifer Mott, Collin County Precinct Chair. Collin County, located just north of Dallas, is the 6th most populous county in Texas and sits adjacent to three other of Texas’s 10 largest counties. We are experiencing some of the fastest population growth in the country, and, according to 2017 census data, Collin County is home to three of the nation’s …
About Nationalism and Cholesterol
BY TAREK LUCIEN RADJEF. Most of us are aware that there is good and bad Cholesterol. The bad LDL must be under 100 mg/dL and the good HDL must be over 60 mg/dL. Well, there is good and bad Nationalism. It took me a while to realize that because I never talked about it in the past. Now, when the …
WHAT’S SO?
By Barb Walters, Vice Chair, CCDP. Collin County Democrats turned out in record numbers in November 2018; and although we didn’t turn the county blue, we had some significant wins: Colin Allred is now our Democratic Congressman in CD23; and eight of the thirteen Justices on the 5th District Court of Appeals are Democrats! We registered more voters than even before …
Break Out of the Capitalism Vs. Socialism Narrative
By Sudhir Joshi, CCDP Communications Director. Democrats Need to Talk About Fairness and Balance. As the race for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination heats up, I am constantly hearing interviewers trap Democrats in the Capitalism vs. Socialism paradigm. The interviewer might ask a question like, ‘Are you a socialist?’ Then, I see the Democratic candidate go down the conversational rabbit …
What if ALL Eligible Voters Went to the Polls?
By Tarek Lucien Radjef. About our right to vote … The United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights states that “The will of the People shall be the basis of the authority of the government. This shall be expressed by periodic and genuine elections.” Thomas Jefferson observed that “We do not have a government by the majority of the people; …
Importance of Party and Nonpartisan Elections
By Mike Rawlins, County Chair. With the May nonpartisan elections for various city councils and school boards heating up, and with Senator Sanders again announcing for President, there has been a lot of talk about who is and isn’t a real Democrat. This raises an even more basic question about why we even have political parties. I’d like to step …