A tale of two Joes
鈥淚t was the best of times.鈥 鈥 (Joe Biden) 鈥淚t was the worst of times.鈥 鈥 (Joe Manchin)
鈥淚t was the age of wisdom.鈥 鈥 (Biden) 鈥淚t was the age of foolishness.鈥 鈥 (Kyrsten Sinema).
鈥淚t was the season of Light.鈥 (Democrats) 鈥淚t was the season of Darkness.鈥 (Republicans).
The nation is now, as much as ever, at a crossroads in the battle over voting rights.
For the Democrats, it simply doesn鈥檛 look good.
Even on this, Martin Luther King Day 2022, the guarantees first forged in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 seem threadbare.
We can thank Republicans and two Democrats for this.
Manchin and Sinema could have easily sided with their fellow Democrats and unblocked the Republican snarl that allows states to openly make it difficult for Black and brown people to vote.
They鈥檝e both stood on 鈥減rinciple.鈥
To hell with their principles.
Not all principles, mind you 鈥 just theirs.
The fact that Republicans are so quick to be disinclined to approve measures that would help all eligible citizens vote is troubling.
Especially since they repeatedly claim those measures are really about the Democrats鈥 fight against voter ID laws.
Democrats have mainly abandoned such resistances to voter ID laws. They, for the most part, are more concerned that voter ID laws might be accompanied by more stringent laws that could systematically hinder minority representations at the polls.
Democrats have proposed two bills that are designed to keep voting fair for everybody.
鈥淭he John Lewis Voting Rights Act鈥 and the 鈥淔or the People Act鈥 would help prevent states from writing laws that tend to gut voter rights.
If you don鈥檛 think states are busily throwing up roadblocks to voting, then why do you suppose (according to the Brennan Center for Justice) 鈥19 states have enacted 33 laws that will make it harder for Americans to vote,鈥 as of last October?
If that doesn鈥檛 convince you, then consider what John Kavanagh, a Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives prescribed in March 2021.
鈥淓verybody shouldn鈥檛 be voting,鈥 said Kavanagh. 鈥淨uantity is important, but we have to have to look at the quality of the votes, as well.鈥
It鈥檚 that same 鈥渜uality of votes鈥 philosophy that seems to have permeated the ridiculous 鈥淪top the Steal鈥 movement.
That鈥檚 why Democrats have decided to move full-speed ahead on getting those two pieces of legislation through Congress.
However, as it stands, that鈥檚 not going to happen.
Nine Republicans would be needed to vote for the bills, along with every Democrat.
Not a single Republican senator will vote for either of those two bills.
While the Democrats hold a majority of the votes in the Senate (50 votes, plus Vice President Kamala Harris鈥 tiebreaker vote), the only way to get those bills through to the president鈥檚 desk would be a vote to break a filibuster.
Neither Arizona鈥檚 Sinema nor W.Va.鈥檚 Manchin find it worthwhile to side with their fellow Democrats in the matter.
鈥淚t was the epoch of belief (48 Democrats), It was the epoch of incredulity (two lost Democrats).鈥
No amount of arm-twisting will shake Sinema and Manchin away from their positions.
Democrats learned that with their solid stranglehold on the Build Back Better Bill.
But there鈥檚 something about their reluctance to help thwart voter suppression that鈥檚 particularly distasteful.
Perhaps Manchin and Sinema should learn the significance of Dr. King鈥檚 push for voting rights back in August of 1963.
鈥淲e cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote鈥 are words from his historic 鈥淚 Have a Dream Speech,鈥 that still apply today.
This is a country that once allowed certain states to institute literacy tests and poll taxes as ways to keep Black people from voting.
Nowadays, there are the same sentiments. A little more sophisticated than they were in the 1950s and 鈥60s, but they still exist.
It certainly isn鈥檛 the 鈥渟pring of hope,鈥 but 鈥渢he winter of despair.鈥
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.