March 02, 2021

Fight for Democracy Underway

We have to fight once more for the right to vote.

White southerners were outraged when other people won the vote after the Civil War. Eventually, through outright violence and reactionary local laws, white southerners prevailed from roughly 1876 to 1965 when the sacrifices of thousands of civil rights activists finally paid off.

As this is written,  Republicans in 33 states “have introduced, prefiled, or carried over 165 bills to restrict voting access” according to the Brennan Center for Justice (Washington Post Columnist Eugene Robinson on March 2). Many of these bills await action in the Texas Legislature.

The Projects Committee of the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans wants to fight back. Many of the  voters being scheduled for disenfranchisement will be Texas seniors. TARA has always advocated vote-by-mail for seniors and we do not intend to stand by while our rights are limited.

The attacks on voting rights come at a time when democracy itself is at stake in America. Undemocratic forces have used every possible method, including storming the U.S. Congress, to overturn democracy in America.  Seniors must use all legal means to win back democracy and the right to vote for all Americans.

One suggestion at the March 1 meeting of the Projects Committee was that seniors prepare themselves to write letters-to-editors.

Your letters-to-editor require very little effort and will find more readers than almost anything else you can do. TARA activists should find out how to send letters to the publications they read so that they can be ready to respond quickly when opportunities arise. The editors who decide what’s published and what isn’t are not interested in your grammar or writing technique. They only want to know what will interest their readers.

TIPS ON GETTING PUBLISHED

* WHAT you write and HOW you write are not nearly as important as WHEN you write. Watch for anything on your subject, then quickly send your comments.

* SHORT is better than long. One single point is much better than several.

* Positive statements about something else they published, are better than complaints.

FOR EXAMPLE (I made this up)

Dear Editors,

Thanks so much for your Friday editorial on the history of democracy in Ancient Greece. Then and now, democracy makes all the difference in our lives. Today, democracy is threatened by more than 130 voter suppression bills in the Texas Legislature. Those who do not want us to vote are trying to tear down our precious democracy.

As a member of the Lubbock Chapter of the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, I urge everyone to stand tall for Texas and fight voter suppression.

Yours in appreciation,

–Gene Lantz, Secretary, Texas Alliance for Retired Americans

Gene Lantz, Secretary