All objective analyses and data point to the Democrats numerically defeating the Republicans on November 3 in at least the House of Representatives and possibly the US Senate. It is a realistic possibility that on November 4^th we will wake up to learn that one or both houses of Congress will no longer be under Republican control come early January.

Without a doubt, IMHO, this is the most important issue before progressives and decent-minded people in the USA right now and up until November 3.

The Trumpfascists are making efforts to reverse their massive unpopularity, not by changing their policies but by using a variety of tactics. They lie about who the Democratic candidates really are and what they stand for. They go all-in on the “culture war” approach. They do all they can to both suppress the vote, particularly the votes of Black and Brown and Indigenous people, and/or to create such confusion and division over the way that elections are conducted that they can then somehow parlay that into maintaining control of at least the Senate. We know they will again try to enlist the support of a majority of the US Supreme Court for their nefarious and regressive purposes.

And of course they are clearly enlisting most of the billionaire class and their filthy money in this endeavor.

Arrayed against these regressive, backwards-looking political and financial forces are 1) public opinion, which is strongly opposed to most Trumpist policies and 2) the efforts of both independently organized groups all over the country in every state and the Democratic Party.

As has been true for decades, there are important “election protection” efforts to frustrate the anti-democracy and un-American groups’ efforts. Common Cause is probably the most well-known. Another one is https://protectthevote.net. Here is how they summarize their efforts:

“Every election year, we recruit, train, and deploy thousands of Election Protection volunteers across the nation. These trained, nonpartisan volunteers serve as voters’ first line of defense against confusing voting rules, outdated infrastructure, rampant misinformation, and needless obstacles to the ballot box.

“With misinformation running rampant on social media and thousands of proposed new anti-voter restrictions, we need our programs to match or exceed that effort in every election this year. This is simply an unprecedented time for our elections, and that’s why we’re asking for your help today.”

Two other important initiatives are https://goodtroubleliveson.org and https://blackpowerwarroom.com/freedom-summer.

Even more is needed this time. This time, the democracy mass movement which brought out over 8 million people in 3,300 localities in all 50 states on March 28 must be prepared to come out into the streets, specifically outside polling places, with our phones and cameras and info about who to call if and when the anti-democracy, racist groups attempt to suppress the vote.

Almost all of these groups will be made up of backwards-looking white people, predominantly white men. At least one government agency, ICE, could also be involved. These anti-democrats will likely be particularly at polling places where the forces of reaction determine they have the most chance of winning hotly-contested election campaigns for the US House and/or Senate, primarily in “red states.”

Perhaps I will be wrong about ICE’s involvement. Perhaps voting rights lawyers will be able to enjoin their direct and overt, or any other, involvement; I hope so. But we must get prepared, appreciate that the power of the people, organized, connected through social media and signal groups and with links to objective mass media sources, must visibly, intelligently and nonviolently show itself as needed at early voting and election day polling sights in late October and on November 3. Truly, the people, organized, must not be defeated this time!

Ted Glick has been a progressive activist and organizer since 1968. He is the author of two books, Burglar for Peace and 21^st Century Revolution, published in 2020 and 2021 and both available at https://pmpress.org . More info can be found at https://tedglick.com