US Election Day and a post-election fight over voting coming up

Karen Greenberg of Fordham Law's Center on National Security, who has among other things has been closely following the ongoing trials in Guantanamo Bay, in the alternative-law enclave that the Cheney-Bush Administration created and the Obama-Biden Administration very shamefully refused to close, as of course did the Trump-Pence Administration, writes about the ways that the American state is failing on both the COVID-19 pandemic and on basic democratic processes. (Donald Trump’s Failed State: America’s Daunting New World and the Coming Election TomDispatch 10/29/2020).

She concludes with this concerned, defiant, and hopeful conclusion:

While some may view the coming election as a precipitous cliff, with dangers lurking everywhere, I also see it as an opportunity, which is why the tsunami of early voting, often involving hours of waiting, is an encouraging sign. Despite the abyss that we face after four years of chaos and cruelty, this country still has a chance to prove that we are not a failing state and to reclaim our trust in our government, our protections, and one another. Only then will we be able to begin to repair the economic damage, the rank divisiveness, and the unequal allocation of resources that has fueled our disastrous pandemic response and, with it, a further erosion of trust in government.

Maybe we need to accept the challenge of proving in this election that one of the world’s longest-standing democracies can rise to the occasion and vote to uphold the foundation of its system, elections themselves. Maybe, using this very election, we can harness the civic pride that could lead to a successful restoration of our basic beliefs in constitutional principles and the rule of law. The chance to vote, no matter how long the lines and the wait, might be just the opportunity we need. [my emphasis]

She is describing the stakes in this election accurately.

If Biden wins the Presidency, as she rightly says, the US will still be staring into an "abyss that we face after four years of chaos and cruelty."

In other words, we will have won a reprieve of the democratic system from Trumpism. But the longterm problems that have accumulated over three decades of dominant neoliberal economic policy and the specific problems created and exacerbated by the Trump-Pence government will remain. And the American oligarchy's grip on the government will still be very strong.

That's why at least progressives can't afford to let up the pressure for substantive popular reforms that secure the vote, combating the depression that has set in, adequate responses to the corona virus, limiting the role of money in politics, and much more.

Trump may be leaving the White House, but Trumpism is now the Republican Party. It's not going away. And the Republicans have seen in the past 12 years that by a combination of aggressive obstruction of Democratic initiatives and full-blown program of implementing an oligarchical restriction of democracy under the massively corrupt Trump Administration. Ending that will require the Democrats to reframe politics around a pro-democracy narrative and concrete programs to improve the lives of ordinary people and restricting the power of the oligarchy.

But this will definitely require civil society institutions, as they are generically called - progressive grassroots pressure in more specific terms - to push the Biden Administration starting on Election Day and continuing for four years. The Republicans will not stop fighting to reimpose Trumpism. If too much of the Democratic base metaphorically breathes a sigh of relief and goes to brunch, we will have a restoration of Trumpism sooner rather than later.

One group that has been generating ideas and strategies that the people can use to block Trump's planned attempt to nullify the election next week is Choose Democracy, headed by Joshua Kahn Russell. You can check out online their Ten Things You Need to Know to Stop a Coup.

They also feature on their website What’s the game plan if Trump really does try to steal the election? 7 tactics to stop a coup 10/21/2020 by Daniel Hunter from Waging Nonviolence.

Choose Democracy's 10 major points are the following:

1. Don’t expect results Election night.
2. Do call it a coup.
3. Know that coups have been stopped by regular folks.
4. Be ready to act quickly — and not alone.
5. Focus on widely shared democratic values, not on individuals.
6. Convince people not to freeze or just go along.
7. Commit to actions that represent rule of law, stability, and nonviolence.
8. Yes, a coup can happen in the United States.
9. Center in calm, not fear.
10. Prepare to deter a coup before the election.

Joshua Kahn Russell was a guest on Sam Seder's Majority Report 10/29/2020, starting around 18:00:

Slate's Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern are covering the Supreme Court actions related to the election both individually and together, as in their joint article The Supreme Court Wants to Determine Who Votes and Who Wins 10/27/2020. They will be good sources to follow over the next week, and probably longer, for election-relation SCOIUS actions.