President Joe Biden hosted a small group of scholars and historians for lunch on Wednesday as he gears up for a speech framing the upcoming election as a battle for the nation’s democracy.
The discussion revolved around “ongoing threats to democracy and democratic institutions both here in America and around the world, as well as the opportunities we face as a nation,” the White House said in a statement.
Princeton’s Eddie Glaude Jr. and Sean Wilentz, Harvard’s Annette Gordon-Reed, Yale’s Beverly Gage and Boston College’s Heather Cox Richardson were among the attendees, as well as presidential biographer — and occasional Biden speech writer — Jon Meacham.
Attendees were tight-lipped about what was discussed at the gathering. One would only go so far as to say they “talked about American history and its bearing on the present — a lively exchange of ideas.”
Another person in the room, who like the others was not authorized to speak publicly about a private meeting, said the historians urged the president “to call out the moment for what it is.” In blunt terms, the academics discussed looming threats to the nation’s democracy and warned about the slow crawl of authoritarianism around the globe.
I disagree that rcv etc will help. Ive looked extensively into voting audits and all the alternative voting. While useful on a local level there are real problems for national election performed at state and county administration in US… not to mention changing every state constitution.
RCV can be gamed, it’s nearly impossible to recount or transparent audits, with the exception of removing anonymous ballots (yes even with crypto because hackers or admin or two party key holders can reverse the crypto if you have receipt type proof)
A viable third party could have happened by now, except for decades of the crying about spoiler candidates and throwaeay votes and all the usual fake excuses