The communist government in China has approved a resolution to overhaul Hong Kong's electoral system.
China calls it the "patriots governing Hong Kong" resolution. It passed the National People's Congress (NPC) on Thursday.
One day earlier in Washington, Democrats in the House passed an election reform bill that would essentially nationalize elections.
The so-called "For the People Act" is now under consideration in the Senate.
The similarities in the Chinese communist and U.S. Democrat way of thinking is chilling to say the least.
In China, the Hong Kong election reform resolution will reduce democratic representation and allow a pro-Beijing panel to vet and elect candidates.
Under the deal in which the former British colony was handed back to China in 1997, Hong Kong had its own mini-constitution and an elected parliament.
Critics say the new resolution abolishes Hong Kong's ability to channel dissent through the political process.
"What they're really referring to [when they say 'patriot'] is that they will pick the people that they like, someone who is one of them," one resident told BBC Chinese.
The BBC's John Sudworth pointed out: "Almost 24 years after China took back control of Hong Kong from Britain, this was the moment it remade the free-wheeling, sometimes unruly territory's political system in its own image. The symbolism couldn't have been starker. Seated in the Great Hall of the People, 2,895 delegates voted in favor of the changes, none against."
In the U.S., Democrats, with only one holdout, passed their attempt to seize elections from the states, H.R. 1, on March 3. Not one Republican voted in favor.
The legislation would effectively nationalize election laws that were, in most cases illegally implemented by states in the 2020 vote that opened the door to fraud on a massive scale, according to now-marginalized attorneys, analysts, journalists and even a few politicians.
"This is a bill as if written in hell by the devil himself," Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee said in an interview with "Fox & Friends". Lee added that the Democrats' legislation is "rotten to the core," and he disagrees with "every single word in H.R. 1, including the words 'but,' 'and,’ and 'the.' "
Lee said it removes constitutionally designated authority from the states and gives to Congress "all sorts of decisions the federal government has no business making."
Attorneys general from 20 states agree with Lee, saying in a letter to House and Senate leaders that the bill is unconstitutional and warning they may have to take Congress to court.
The state AGs said the For the People Act of 2021 "betrays several Constitutional deficiencies and alarming mandates that, if passed, would federalize state elections and impose burdensome costs and regulations on state and local officials."
H.R. 1 has already passed the House and is now being considered in the Senate.
The bill effectively repeals state voter ID laws, allowing individuals to vote without a sanctioned ID by simply signing a statement declaring their identity. It would give felons the right to vote and expand Election Day registration. It also would force taxpayers to give $6 to political candidates for every $1 the candidate raises.
Mail-in voting, which is highly susceptible to fraud, would be expanded. And the bill allows third parties, including political activists, to collect and deliver ballots. It also would ban witness signature requirements for mail-in ballots and force states to expand the voting period. And it would insert partisan politics into the bipartisan Federal Election Commission.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the passage of the bill "reminds me of what it might have felt like at Valley Forge."
The Democrat Party base "has moved so sharply left that even swing-state Members are more liberal than many liberals in the Clinton years. Democrats lost not a single vote in the Senate and only one in the House. The fear of primary challenges from the left, which took out House war horses in 2018 and 2020, has concentrated incumbent minds," the Wall Street Journal noted in a March 10 editorial.
Joe Biden "is no moderating political force," the Journal added. "Democrats in the House and Senate are setting the agenda, and Biden is along for the ride. He’s the ideal political front-man for this agenda with his talk of 'unity' and anti-Trump persona, but he isn’t shaping legislation. He is signing on to whatever chief of staff Ron Klain tells him he needs to support.
"For now at least, there also isn’t much of an opposition. With a few exceptions, the media are marching in lockstep support of whatever Democrats want. The substance of the Covid bill was barely covered outside of these pages. Opposition to H.R.1, the federal takeover of state election law, is literally reported as a revival of Jim Crow racism."
Free Press International
