What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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Clinton said, explaining that we are still in a debate in our country about what we the people means and who it includes. "I think the arguments and debates are healthy … (but) there's always been pushback against that." Pushback includes claims about elections without basis, fact or evidence that are motivated by a deep fear of expanding "We the People" to include all of us, she said. "Those in power do not give it up willingly. They have to be persuaded or pushed aside." Clinton pointed to the Civil War as one of those power struggles, noting the significance that Benton County separated from Arkansas when the state left the Union and that 1,000 Northwest Arkansas men served the Union army. "We have, I think, in quite a miraculous way, kept pushing forward over lots and lots of obstacles about whether or not we could expand the meaning to include former slaves, freed Blacks, women, people from immigrant backgrounds, and we're still having that argument," Clinton said. Voting is among the biggest ways someone can be included in the voices of our country, but Clinton acknowledged that in some places several groups are being prevented from voting, including African Americans, Native Americans, people of Hispanic descent and young people. "Because people who want to hold on to power, who are worried that groups that they are not a part of have a voice to vote, are trying to limit the definition of 'We the People,'" she says. Maxwell said voter suppression became more pronounced in the South after the Supreme Court's ruling on the Shelby County decision, that states that used to have redistricting and voting rules suddenly didn't. Clinton said that during her time in the Senate, there was a vote to extend the voting rights act that passed, 98 to nothing, which the Supreme Court took back after President Bush had signed it. Clinton also talked about the presidential role in leading the American people to accept the outcomes of the democratic process and described Donald Trump as the first president to truly flout the norms. "When the Supreme Court said that George W. Bush was going to be president, without counting the votes in Florida, and Al Gore won the popular vote by 5,000, he didn't say, 'Go to the streets and stop it from happening,'" Clinton said. "As a matter of fact, when I won the popular vote…" the audience devolved into laughter. "I can just tell you my personal experience," she said. Giving her concession speech following the results of the 2016 presidential election was a part of those same norms, but she didn't find many of those met at Trump's inauguration. Most presidents take care to acknowledge a hard-fought election and make an effort to bring the country together so they could move forward, but that's not what she heard. "We were hearing carnage in the street and dark, dystopian views about our country, and I was sitting there thinking 'What's happening?' That's beyond the norm," Clinton said. When Trump ended his speech, President "Bush turns to me and says, 'That was some weird sh*t.'" Maxwell brought up the division of cities into multiple congressional districts and suggested that there should be more federal oversight to ensure that state rules match. Clinton said there should be greater focus to better rationalize our elections, with the example of a case that is currently before the Supreme Court that would essentially give states the ability to approve or deny who won elections regardless of what the vote reflected. "It's very troubling, seeing our elections, which have always been viewed as the centerpiece of our exercise of democracy, being so targeted," Clinton said. During her time as Secretary of State, Clinton said she encouraged free and fair elections wherever she traveled, but it wasn't always well received. She gave for example the instance of an election in which Russian President Vladimir Putin had publicly planned to step down to become Prime Minister, then taken it back in a dictatorial announcement that he would be president, followed by a blatantly rigged election. "There were so many videos of people stuffing ballot boxes and throwing ballots away," Clinton said. "So I said, 'The Russian people deserve to have a free and fair election where they get to choose their leaders.' I don't think that was very controversial." The audience laughed again. But shortly after, tens of thousands of Russians with the same opinion took to the streets to protest the sham election. "Putin blamed me for causing their riot, and the rest is literally history." 6 WHAT'S UP! DECEMBER 11-17, 2022 Clinton Continued From Page 5 Clinton acknowledged that Crystal Bridges' "We the People" exhibit of priceless documents — the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Proposed Bill of Rights and the Articles of Confederation — alongside artwork continues to tell the story of democracy and said she hoped people would go see it if they haven't already. (Courtesy Photo) BENTONVILLE