Nothing like a nearly successful insurrection to get your attention. This year we’ve decided to run things a little bit differently. We are not waiting until year-end to make grants. This is because, as you may have noticed, there is a radical effort to limit the ability of voters to get to the ballot box.
Furthur friends, we have a problem. The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the US as a “flawed democracy” in 2021, thanks to “the decline and trust in government”–no surprise there–and what they called “issues related to the electoral process.”
Meanwhile, Freedom House, a US-based nonprofit that ranks countries based on personal, legal, and economic freedom, ranks the United States 17th in the world, behind Estonia, Sweden, Iceland, Japan, and Germany. We did edge out Portugal, Taiwan, and Latvia, but not by much.
All this by way of saying that there’s work to do to preserve democracy in this country. Ben Franklin, when asked at the Constitutional Convention if the US was to be a republic or a monarchy, answered “a republic, if you can keep it.”
We want to keep it.
We believe it should be easy to vote. Just 60% of eligible Americans voted in the 2020 Presidential election. Compare that to 70% in France, 75% in Spain, 76 % in Germany, and 92% in Australia. We shouldn’t have to wait in line; we shouldn’t have to take time off work; we should be able to mail it in. At a minimum.
So last month we pulled ourselves together and made some grants. We scanned what they call the “battleground states”–places where it was entirely possible that an election would enshrine election deniers, voters suppressors, and insurrection supporters into important government positions.
We don’t support candidates. We don’t support a particular party. We just want to ensure everyone’s voice gets on the table. And there are a lot of groups doing voter turnout, legal strategies, and public education to make sure that every American knows what their rights are, where their ballot box is, and how to get their vote recorded. That’s where most of your money is going this year. Not all, because many old and new friends are proven worthies that we will continue to stand behind.
But enough to think that we might have a small impact in November. Looking forward to stopping electoral malpractice and supporting a truly free and fair election. See our 2022 Grantees here.
So keep those cards and letters coming, and thanks for all you do.
Go Furthur,
Andre, Bobby, Natascha, Greg, Chloe, Trevor, Gabriel, Chris, Monet, Mark, and the rest of the Furthur Family.
