With the coronavirus pandemic threatening the nation, how and when will people be able to focus on the 2020 general election?
During this period of national suffering and mourning, will our country’s normally apathetic voters become more politically aware? Will the American public recognize the president’s daily press conferences for what they really are: blustering, pernicious, perfidious, self-aggrandizing campaign propaganda?
Will the reality of the damage done by the incompetence, ignorance and ineffectiveness of the leaders of this administration give rise to a groundswell of public indignation? In a time of economic hardship, will voters be outraged by the enormity and waste of campaign spending?
Will there be a wave of public awakening that overwhelms the 2020 general election, sweeping a new administration into office with a mandate for election reform? Election reform including: the abolishment of the Electoral College, bipartisan commissions to eliminate gerrymandering, a nationwide ranked voting system, universal vote-by-mail, a national public holiday for primaries, public funding for all elections (eliminating private campaign contributions), and shortening the election process.
Our election campaigns, distorted by dark money and fraught with shameful voter disenfranchisement, are an embarrassment to democracy in America.
Chad Mullins, Salt Lake City
