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More than a year ago, as leading voices on opposite ends of the Democratic spectrum, we sounded the alarm that third-party candidates could once again hand the White House to Republicans. The candidacies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jill Stein have made that threat more real now than ever before.

Trump has attempted to muddy the waters by characterizing RFK Jr. as a Democrat plant and a radical left liberal. No one should be fooled by this desperate attempt to define RFK Jr. as a liberal, or even a Democrat. His policy stances read more like a resume to be Trumps running mate. He and third-party candidate, Jill Stein, are parroting views right out of the MAGA/Vladimir Putin playbook and yet, perhaps counterintuitively, they risk dividing the anti-Trump coalition and putting a convicted felon back in power.

Neither third-party candidate has any chance of winning the presidency. But, for a moment, lets put aside their lack of a path to 270 electoral votes and talk about their agendas.

RFK Jr. came to national prominence as a conspiracy monger and anti-vaxxer. Since then, he sounded even more like a MAGA radical: he has argued for a 15-week national abortion ban, declared that the government can do nothing to restrict gun violence, said climate change is a pretext for clamping down totalitarian controls, and proclaimed that Biden is a greater threat to U.S. democracy than Trump. He also released a YouTube video on the Ukraine war riddled with so much Russian propaganda and misinformation it took one journalist almost 3,000 words of analysis to correct the record.

Stein has echoed similar MAGA sentiments, also arguing that the U.S. is at fault for Putins war. She has a long history of touting Russian propaganda, and after dining in Moscow with Putin and Trump aide Michael Flynn, she received help from Russian election-meddlers during her 2016 run.

Its no coincidence that this time, Stein has directed her attacks exclusively at Democrats and Biden not Trump. She has lied about Bidens climate laws, lied about his expansion of the Affordable Care Act, lied about his immigration policy, and accused Democrats of being fascists posing a threat to democracy.

These are not the views of radical left liberals. Indeed, they are antithetical to Democratic values and the MAGA elite know it. Beyond a long list of MAGA endorsements, there are some eye-popping donations from Trump allies to these supposedly independent candidates. RFK Jr.s super PAC, American Values 2024, got $25 million from Timothy Mellon, a MAGA financier who has also donated tens of millions to Trump.

There is a reason MAGA donors see bankrolling third-party candidates as money well spent: they know a strong third-party showing even from those spouting MAGA rhetoric is going to help Trump and hurt Biden.

Biden won previous third-party voters by 30 points in 2020. Young voters, moderates, and independents all top targets for the Stein and RFK Jr. campaigns backed Biden by double digits last cycle. Recent polling shows that a multi-candidate race this cycle could siphon off those exact voters. The national polls tracking Stein and RFK Jr.s on their impact on the race remain fluid, but simple math shows that if a tiny percentage of these voters in the swing states back RFK Jr. and Stein this November, they could tip several battlegrounds from Biden back to Trump.

Simply put: There will be no President Kennedy or President Stein. But third-party candidates could determine who holds the White House. That happened in 2000 and in 2016, and the data and evidence suggest it could happen again in 2024.

MoveOn and Third Way represent different views about the future of the Democratic Party, but we share a common goal: protecting our democracy and fundamental freedoms by ensuring Donald Trump is defeated.

Democrats failed to take the third party threat seriously in 2000 and 2016, and they cannot make the same mistake again in 2024. RFK Jr. and Stein are on the Red Team, and a vote for either could help Trump retake power and destroy our most sacred institutions. We have to sound the alarm now.

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No debate: RFK Jr. is a threat to Democracy - Salon

Nearly 100 organizers, affiliates, and Cambridge residents gathered on Mount Auburn St. Sunday afternoon to protest the July 1 closing of the Democracy Center, a meeting place for activists and nonprofit organizations.

The Foundation for Civic Leadership, which owns the building, announced the centers indefinite closing for renovations in an April 2 email to affiliates, writing that the building would be used for different purposes going forward. The announcement sparked frustration and shock from local activist groups, many of which hold regular meetings at the center and rely on the building for office space.

Organizers previously asked FCL leadership to reconsider the closing at two April meetings, but FCL President Ian T. Simmons 98 has held that the decision is not changeable. However, the FCL did announce the formation of an advisory council following criticism from the Cambridge City Council.

According to Alan B. Palm, executive director of the Better Future Project and a speaker at the rally, a community advisory council formed by a group of local activists requested negotiations with the FCL to begin on May 21, but the FCL maintained that they alone will make the decision to close the center.

Some of the organizers are set to meet with FCL leadership this Thursday, which Palm lamented is one business day before the announced closure.

In response to a request for comment, interim FCL Executive Director Sue Heilman reiterated that the building needs to close for renovations and is still set to close on July 1. She added that there has been ongoing communication between FCL and the organizers, whom FCL will keep involved in the process.

In an April meeting, Simmons said the renovations would likely take many, many years. Once they are complete, FCL leaders say the space will become an outlet of Democracy House, an FCL-sponsored organization that inspires rising generations to defend, strengthen, and improve democracy, according to its website.

Simmons has also insisted that local organizations will be welcomed back into the space after the renovations, though some have remained doubtful.

Palm said their demands to pause the closure, to have a transparent and community-led process, to have shared decision-making power, and no retaliation for organizing have been largely ignored.

Despite the minimal acknowledgement of our demands to pause the closure for a community-led process, there still remains so much opportunity for goodwill and for the renovation of the Democracy Center to be a celebration, as it should be, Palm said at the rally.

Speaking into a megaphone from the roof of the Democracy Center, activists led chants of Show me what democracy looks like, to which the crowd responded, This is what democracy looks like.

Several speakers and attendees said the decision to close the center contradicts the principles of accessibility and democracy that it was founded on.

We are here because we believe in democracy. What we are unfortunately encountering is the profound betrayal of democratic principles, said Evan C. MacKay 19, former president of the Harvard Graduate Students Union.

In my time at FCL, we were dedicated to bringing people into the democratic process who were too often excluded, former FCL employee Sam Heller 18 said. Ive been disappointed to see the FCL now close the Democracy Center without transparency.

Does that sound like democracy to you? Heller asked the crowd, who responded with a loud No.

Attendee Kelly Regan said the top-down nature of the decision was hypocritical.

For just one person, or just one entity, to make a decision that impacts everybody in the Cambridge community it doesnt seem fair to me, it doesnt seem right or democratic, Regan said.

So this is not adhering to their own stated values, Regan added.

Dara Bayer, co-director of the Cambridge Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team, said groups used to relying on the Democracy Center have few other options as Cambridges housing prices continue to increase.

As we know, Cambridge is incredibly gentrified. There are basically no spaces left that are affordable for people to exist in who are trying to build something from the ground up, Bayer said at the rally.

Several speakers at the rally drew attention to recent pro-Palestine organizing outside of the Democracy Center, intermittently leading chants of Free Palestine. A banner draped across the building read Resist Displacement from Gaza to Cambridge and Save the DC, accompanied by the Palestinian flag.

After the rally, attendees and organizers filed into the building for a discussion and planning meeting.

Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.

Staff writer Saketh Sundar can be reached at saketh.sundar@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @saketh_sundar.

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This Is What Democracy Looks Like: Democracy Center Affiliates Rally to Protest Closing | News - Harvard Crimson

People around the world generally believe representative democracy is a good way to govern their countries. But as a new Pew Research Center survey highlights, many are dissatisfied with the way it is working. And in several high-income democracies, dissatisfaction has been on the rise.

This Pew Research Center analysis focuses on views of democracy in 31 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.

This analysis draws on nationally representative surveys of 36,412 adults conducted from Jan. 5 to May 15, 2024. All surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Surveys were conducted face-to-face in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ghana, Hungary, India, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In Australia, we used a mixed-mode probability-based online panel.

In the United States, we surveyed 3,600 adults from April 1 to 7, 2024. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Centers American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATPs methodology.

The survey was conducted right after the 2024 legislative elections in South Korea. In India, Mexico and South Africa, the survey was completed before the most recent elections.

To compare views of those who support the governing party or parties with those who do not, we grouped respondents based on their answers to a question asking them which political party, if any, they identified with in their country. For more, including country specific classifications, read our Political Categorization Appendix.

To compare educational groups across countries, we standardized education levels based on the UNs International Standard Classification of Education.

Prior to 2024, combined totals were based on rounded topline figures. For all reports beginning in 2024, totals will be based on unrounded topline figures, so combined totals might be different than in previous years. Refer to the 2024 topline to see our new rounding procedures applied to past years data.

Here is the question used for this analysis,along with responses, and the survey methodology.

Since 2017, weve regularly asked people in 12 economically advanced democracies how satisfied they are with the state of their democracy. Overall, satisfaction declined in these countries between 2017 and 2019 before bouncing back in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2021, however, people in these nations have become more frustrated with their democracies. A median of 49% across these 12 nations were satisfied with the way their democracy was working in 2021; today, just 36% hold this view. (The 2024 survey was conducted before the European Parliament elections in June.)

Related: Representative Democracy Remains a Popular Ideal, but People Around the World Are Critical of How Its Working

Satisfaction is lower today than it was in 2021 in nine of the 12 nations where we have asked the question consistently. This includes six countries where satisfaction has dropped by double digits: Canada, Germany, Greece, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Satisfaction has not increased in any of the 12 countries surveyed.

In addition to the 12 countries where the Center has consistently asked about satisfaction with democracy over time, we asked the same question this year in 19 other countries. Across 31 nations polled in spring 2024, a median of 54% say they are dissatisfied with their democracy, while 45% are satisfied.

The countries included in this analysis receive moderate to positive ratings from research organizations that rate the health of democracy, such as the Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House and the Varieties of Democracy Project. Countries in our 2024 survey that are classified as autocratic or a hybrid regime by more than one expert source were excluded from this analysis.

Looking across regions, opinions in Europe vary widely: 75% of Swedes are satisfied with their democracy, compared with just 22% in Greece. The same is true in the Asia-Pacific region, where more than three-quarters of Indians and Singaporeans but only 31% of Japanese are satisfied with the way their democracy is working. (Our survey took place before recent elections in India.)

In sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, about two-thirds or more of South Africans, Chileans, Colombians and Peruvians express negative views about their democracies. (Fieldwork in South Africa also took place prior to the countrys recent elections.)

Related: In Their Own Words: What Can Improve Democracy?

How people feel about the way democracy is working is strongly related to how they believe their economy is working. In all 31 nations polled, people who rate the national economy negatively are more likely than those who rate it positively to be dissatisfied with their democracy.

Similarly, how people feel about the governing party in their country is linked to their assessments of democracy. In 27 countries, supporters of the governing party or coalition are particularly likely to say they are satisfied with the way their democracy is working. (Refer tothe Appendixfor country-specific governing party classifications.)

In eight countries Argentina, Chile, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the U.S. people with less education are less satisfied than those with more education with the way democracy is working in their country. And in seven countries Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Peru, Singapore and South Korea adults under 35 are more satisfied with democracy compared with those ages 50 and older. In other countries surveyed, there are few differences by education level or age.

Note: Here is the question used for this analysis,along with responses, and the survey methodology.

Read more:
Rising dissatisfaction with democracy in high-income nations - Pew Research Center

Vineyarders filled Union Chapel Saturday afternoon for the third annual Juneteenth Jubilee Cultural Festival, attending conversations with Representative Ayanna Pressley and former NASA Administrator Charles Boden, as well as artists and a culinary historian.

Kahina Van Dyke, event founder, summer Oak Bluffs resident, and financial technology executive, welcomed the crowd and introduced guests.

The chapel audience also kicked off the jubilee with a standing rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing, led by ToriTori, Boston Music Awards 2023 R&B Artist of the Year.

Pressley, in conversation with Van Dyke, spoke at length about serving as a Black woman in Congress she is Massachusetts first Black representative and warned against dangers to democracy in the United States.

Speaking first about her early experiences with politics, Pressley recalled being exposed to policy issues at a young age through her mothers struggles with health care and fair pay. I knew my mother as a woman first, she said. Someone whose traumas were unhealed, someone who was gaslit by our health care system and her pain delegitimized and questioned, someone who was not paid according to her work.

When Van Dyke asked Pressley whether the nations democratic institutions and processes were endangered, the representative answered Absolutely.

Pressley highlighted recent Supreme Court decisions including the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and a challenging five years in office that included a government shutdown, two impeachments, an insurrection and a global pandemic.

Speaking about the Supreme Court, Pressley supported term limits, investigations of impropriety and a code of ethics for justices, as well as adding seats to the court.

She also dedicated a large portion of her appearance to discussing Project 2025, a collection of policy proposals from conservatives intended for a second Trump presidency.

The proposals, organized by the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank and written in part by multiple Trump administration officials, include recruiting conservatives to replace federal civil servants, increasing the presidents power over the executive branch, abolishing the Department of Education, and cutting funding for climate research.

Pressley, who herself serves on the recently formed Congressional Stop 2025 Task Force, noted the projects funding by major conservative donors such as Leonard Leo, and added that many on the far right seek to put loyalists in positions of power and to ban books. They want to ban words from all federal policies, like diversity, equity, and inclusion, abortion, she told the chapel crowd. They dont make threats. They make promises.

When asked what individuals concerned about democracy should do, Pressley first recommended voting in every election.

We know what legislative hurt and harm looks like. But we cannot legislate to actually heal an injustice if you dont vote. So voting is an act of self-care, she said, adding that, I would encourage people to take the personalities out of it and focus on the policy.

The policies determine who lives. The policies determine who dies. The policies determine who survives. The policies determine who thrives, Pressley told attendees.

Pressley, known for being a left-wing member of Congress, also addressed negative press coverage she has received while in office, comparing it to her experience as a Black woman. When people ask What is it like to be targeted and surveyed? and all of these things that I experience just because I hold the title of Congresswoman, I didnt stop being a Black woman How I show up is disruptive to people who cannot handle the light of this melanated bald crown.

It is what it is, she added. They get nervous, sis.

Pressley also supported abolishing the filibuster, and recommended that people donate to organizations like the ACLU that combat political misinformation.

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Rep. Pressley addresses threats to democracy at Juneteenth celebration - Martha's Vineyard Times

Eve Jacobs Carnahan had a long career as an elections lawyer before her experiences with the American electoral system gave her the idea for something different. In 2018, she started Knit Democracy Together, a project that aims to fuel productive conversations about improving democracy with pairs of needles and wool.

Knitting is an act of love, Carnahan said.

Thursday afternoon, Carnahan and New Hampshire Humanities presented a knit model of the New Hampshire State House in a 50th Celebration & Knit Democracy Together Exhibit Unveiling at the state library. Carnahan created the woolen replica by combining patches and chords knitted by people from all over the state. Over the past several months, she hosted knitting circles in six parts of New Hampshire, inviting community members as well as students in local schools to participate. Carnahan led her guests in knitting while facilitating discussions about preserving and advocating for democratic action.

Dori Hamilton, who knit her square remotely, sourced her own wool from the sheep she used to keep on her farm in Lisbon. Hamilton believes in knitting for a better world.

Her connection to American democracy runs deep: Hamilton was a nurse in the Navy as well as the senior nurse at the White House under the Carter and Reagan administrations. She volunteers for the General Federation of Womens Clubs, for her local farmers market and for the Lisbon Area Historical Society museum. While Hamilton thinks theres plenty of room for democracy to improve, she didnt knit her square for lack of hope.

We all have a say in our government as long as were willing to participate, she said.

Thats the tricky part, though its difficult to get people to attend events like Carnahans if they dont already care about democracy, which means that most of the people involved in the state house reproduction werent exactly branching out.

Michael Haley Goldman, the executive director of New Hampshire Humanities, was candid about this. Hes proud of his organizations partnership with Carnahan.

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Were not only talking about it were actually doing something, he said. But Goldman is well aware that their scope of participants is limited. Everybody in the room on Tuesday was white, and almost everyone was an older woman with a standing interest in fostering democracy. And in knitting.

Theres still a long way to go for us to find out how to get everybody in the same room, Goldman said.

Sophie Levenson can be reached at slevenson@cmonitor.com.

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Knitting together to foster conversations on democracy - Concord Monitor