About Paul Waugaman

Paul Waugaman lives in Tucson near his children and grandchildren, and is active in the OLLI program at the University of Arizona and his church. He retired from a 45-year career in biomedical research administration, having worked for a government research agency, two academic institutions, and as co-founder of a consulting practice. He has also taught U.S. history and several courses on technology management practices and volunteered for Democratic candidates in Maryland, North Carolina and Arizona.

America Needs National Election Reform to Protect Voting Rights

The most consequential legislation that the national Democratic leadership must pass this year is the two voting rights and election policy bills: HR.1/S.1 and HR.4. These two measures will stop state legislation in Arizona and 41 other states from blocking access to the ballot box and restrict how elections are run. Georgia's Republican legislative and executive leadership has already enacted a menu of election-limiting outrages designed to limit citizens' voting rights. They affect minority voters in the Atlanta area and communities of color throughout Georgia. I will remind you, dear readers, that the governor of Georgia was the Secretary of [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2021-04-09T14:02:14-07:00April 8th, 2021|Arizona, Elections|

Protecting Voting Rights and the Democratic Agenda

Only Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is standing strong against voter suppression. As a nation, we have committed ourselves through our President and the Democratic majority in Congress, who in concert enacted legislation that sets Americans on a path to control and end the COVID-19. The American Recovery Act gives the federal, state, and local governments the resources to do both jobs quickly and responsibly. However, the work of government is never over. Among the many issues left in the pile of wreckage that greeted President Biden and the Democratic leadership of Congress, one issue looms large. That [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2021-03-15T15:29:03-07:00March 15th, 2021|Voter Suppression|

What’s Next for Dems After the American Rescue Act

Public opinion polls tell us that President Biden’s vast rescue plan, the American Rescue Act, is quite popular—backed by over ¾ of the public, including a clear majority of people who say they are Republicans. Why, then, are the so-called Republican “leaders” -- members of Congress—not taking advantage of an opportunity to support the bill as it moves toward final passage? I have two theories: First, they are afraid of their party’s anger, and its shrinking base that remains wedded to the former president’s hateful and divisive politics. The “big lie” is that he actually won the election, and a [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2021-03-10T18:53:18-07:00March 10th, 2021|Economics|

Republicans Ignore Constituents and Hate Voters

Recently we saw a series of bad-faith efforts by Republican leaders to undermine majority rule across our democratic republic. Then the self-styled Dowager President from Mar-a-Lago emerged at the annual Conservative Political Action Committee meeting in Florida. Along with him were two of his handmaids cleverly disguised as U.S. Senators. Once more, they amplified The Big Lie and vowed to fight on. The CPAC performances made this cautionary essay even more germane. Let's start in our Nation's Capital It appears that Republicans in Congress have decided to turn their backs on their constituents and ignore their needs, which are meet [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2021-03-03T16:03:17-07:00March 3rd, 2021|Elections, Voter Suppression|

Dear Senator Sinema: About the Filibuster and Impeachment

At this point, I believe it is important once more to let you know my concerns about your vote on two more important issues as the new Congress gets down to important business. Filibuster Rule The first issue is adopting a Senate Rule concerning voting practices, commonly known as the Filibuster Rule. News reports in Arizona suggest that you and perhaps your colleague from West Virginia, Senator Manchin, will vote to sustain the Filibuster Rule that would require the Senate to pass most legislation with a 60-vote majority. In former times this was a time-honored rule. In those former times [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2021-02-02T15:13:08-07:00February 2nd, 2021|Arizona, Local Candidates and Electeds, US Senate|

The Assault on Election that Refuses to Die

Commander Covid seems to be retreating to the next ditch in his losing battle to hold on to an office he does not know how to fill. It appears that his battles to get recounts and to have perfectly legal votes cast by perfectly legal voters in a mostly secure election had gotten him and his minions nowhere in both state and federal courts. It’s been so bad for him that even solidly Trumpkin officials in two of “his” states, Arizona and Georgia, have followed the only course open to them -- the legal course -- and certified the returns [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2020-12-04T11:52:07-07:00December 4th, 2020|Elections|

The Damage from an Incompetent, Devious, and Ambitious President

Commander Covid created the current period of uncertainty with his inability to understand that he lost the election and his desperate attempts to torque the outcome to his favor. In contrast, President-elect Joe Biden wishes to let bygones be bygones and "move forward" in the country's interests, unbound from partisan interests. I may overstate his benevolence toward the opposition, but I believe this is a dangerous approach if not moderated by reality. Over the past four years, Commander Covid and his minions have tried to manage the government, reward their friends, punish their enemies, and look after their personal financial [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2020-11-22T09:05:43-07:00November 22nd, 2020|President|

Despite Challenges for Dems, “It’s the Message, Stupid.”

As I sit in my office on a bright morning with the sun streaming in the window, I have finally concluded that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will indeed be inaugurated as President and Vice President in two months, and that Mark Kelly will be our Junior U.S. senator soon. It appears this morning that Commander Covid’s attorneys are losing stomach for frivolous lawsuits over stolen votes, miscounts, sleight-of-hand, and the like (except for Arizona, where someone needs to confiscate Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward’s credit card). However, we Democrats face the challenge of governing a deeply divided [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2020-11-15T12:02:15-07:00November 14th, 2020|Elections|

Where are we? What has happened? Where do we go from here?

I still am trying to process the results of the 2020 General Election, which drags on and feels as welcome as the last guest at a dinner party who wants to hang out and talk well after the coffee has been served, and the hosts want to clean up the kitchen (you may remember a time when friends joined around a table to enjoy a nice meal and good conversation). This election season seems unnecessarily long. We have gotten through a protracted campaign phase with primary elections, conventions, speeches, rallies, debates, and COVID. We have survived a longer than usual [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2020-11-08T18:33:50-07:00November 8th, 2020|Elections|

Republican Voter Suppression Is Entangled With Virulent Trumpism

As the 2020 general election process comes completes the voting phase of its protracted course, I have been left like most of my fellow Democrats, wondering about what's next, and hoping that the course forward will be in the hands of the voters without undue interference. A column by opinion writer Catherine Rampell in today's Washington Post argues that the Republican party is doing a sufficient job of interfering with the voting process, allowing Russia and other foreign actors to stand down from their efforts. This got me thinking about how we got here as our great democratic republic rocked [...]

By Paul Waugaman|2020-11-03T12:42:43-07:00November 3rd, 2020|Elections|