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DEMOCRACY UNDER SIEGE

EDITORIAL
A voter submits a ballot in an official drop box during early voting in Athens, Ga., Oct. 19, 2020. A new Georgia law, among other constraints on voting, restricts the availability of drop boxes for absentee ballots.
MLB, corporate leaders wake up to assault on voting rights
The question remains: What’s the long-term plan to protect the citizens of Georgia and other states threatened with disenfranchisement?

IDEAS | TOM JOUDREY
Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando in the 1951 film, which cut against the grain of Hollywood's usual populist consensus.
Stanley Kowalski’s populist rage was a prescient warning
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ stirred up controversies over sex and censorship. But it deserves to be remembered for foreseeing the rise of authoritarian populism.

Kimberly Atkins
A sign outside the Capitol Rotunda in February memorializes Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Civil suits could be the path to holding Trump accountable for the insurrection
The lawsuits could bring forth evidence that would not only prevail over the disinformation that Trump continues to spew, but also aid in criminal prosecution.

EDITORIAL
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia is hesitant to eliminate the filibuster. He and his fellow senators ought to at least support a special exception for civil rights bills.
Stop the filibuster’s stranglehold on civil rights
The Senate should suspend the fraught practice at least to secure voting rights and civil rights for millions of Americans.

Scot Lehigh
A woman dressed as Lady Liberty wears a shirt with the letter Q, referring to QAnon, at a Jan. 6 protest in Olympia, Wash., against the counting of electoral votes in Washington, D.C.
Can conspiracists be rescued from the rabbit hole?
Not likely, say two experts.

Renée Graham
Senator Ron Johnson's most recent malicious comments managed to vault from stupid and laughable to unapologetically racist and dangerous.
As Republicans normalize political violence, the Jan. 6 insurrection goes on
For now, odious legislation has replaced lead pipes as the GOP’s weapon of choice in dismantling democracy.

Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg and Louise Dubé
The road to a stronger democracy begins in the classroom
A new program provides guiding principles that educators can use to transform how civics is taught in schools.

LETTERS
Audience members applaud as former president Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando on Feb. 28.
The GOP has its guy, still (yep, that guy)
Maybe next time, their ultimate goal will be realized: to actually overturn a presidential race won decisively by the Democrats, successfully disenfranchising millions, and installing a dictator-for-life.

Kimberly Atkins
Yaritza Dudley listened during a rally for voting rights at Nubian Square in Roxbury on Nov. 7.
History will clearly see this existential moment for voting rights. Lawmakers must see it now
Voting rights are being eviscerated by state legislators, the Supreme Court, and the GOP. Lawmakers cannot afford to miss the battle before them.

EDITORIAL
Protesters set up barricade during an anti-coup protest march in Yangon, Myanmar, on Monday. Defiant crowds had returned to the streets of the country's biggest city, despite security forces having killed at least 18 people around the country on Sunday.
Blood on the streets of Myanmar
The international community must act even as protesters risk everything to reclaim their fragile democracy.