Greetings, Friends --

I'm now on the outskirts of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, some 5 days ahead of my scheduled arrival, so I'm walking daily to "bank" miles to use in a wide variety of contingencies:    #1 - When the route to my next destination is via an interstate where I'm not allowed to walk and there is no nearby parallel road.  #2 - In the event of bad weather and I can't get in my 50 miles per week; or #3 -  In the event of a major issue with the RV, the tow-car, or me!

On a much broader and more important note, our U.S. Supreme Court majority's decision on presidential immunity in Trump vs. United States is now before us. It's devastating. I encourage you to read three short articles:

#1- Ruth Marcus, columnist and deputy editorial page editor of the Washington Post,   Opinion | God save us from this dishonorable court Supreme Court reporter (Note: The recipient of a gift article can read it for free for up to 14 days, without having to subscribe to The Post. Gift article recipients will need to register for a Washington Post account.)

#2-Akhil Amar, Legal historian and Yale Law School Constitutional law professor’s responsive article in The Atlantic,  "Something Has Gone Deeply Wrong at the Supreme Court." 

#3- Lawrence “Larry” Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, wrote bout Trump's immunity claims in Rolling Stone back in May, "A Legal Scholar Explains Why Trump’s Immunity Argument Is Bogus!'"  

Early in our colonial history, King George was using his immunity from prosecution to burden his subjects in the American colonies unfairly while benefiting Great Britain financially.  We broke from Great Britain and declared our independence for this very reason.

To counter this depressing development that erodes the very foundation of our Constitution, let me review many positive changes already made, or being made, in several states.

Making our primary and general election process more fair, equitable, inclusive and competitive clearly benefits citizens. Moreover, it's the very job our elected representatives take a Constitutional oath to do.  The stated purpose in the Constitution's Peamble is to "promote the general welfare" of "We the People." Several states repeat this exactly, and almost all establish their Constitutions with wording to promote the common good or to benefit its people.

Yet, despite the oath they've each taken, many establishment politicians of both parties OPPOSE improving the workings of our primary and general election systems!  Those improvements would serve the common good, but embracing those improvements might make it harder for THEM to get re-elected and remain in power?  It's a glaring conflict of interest!

Thus, so far, these improvements are occurring only in states allowing change via citizen ballot initiatives, 

Improving representation via Open Primaries with all candidates on a single ballot and electing general election winners by a majority via either Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) or Run-Off Elections.

In my next email, I'll give you an update on which states are proposing or discussing open primaries and RCV, which is very exciting news, indeed!     And again, I hope these three articles will be useful in helping you process July 1st's corrosive decision by the U.S. Supreme Court's majority.  

Until later this week, onward!

Rick

Rick Hubbard

Walking To Fix Our Democracy

P.S. - We need volunteers to assist with the walk.  Want to take a summer vacation for Democracy?  Find out more here!