I’m sure there’s a master plan, but my concern is HR1 more than any other agenda position. If I understand it correctly, it would set a baseline for voting rights and access below which individual states would have to at least get very creative to fall. Yet I’m not hearing much about it. If that gets passed then the Republicans will in all likelihood have to slink away from all the tactics of repression and develop a more centrist agenda that could legitimately win elections. America will thrive if Republicans recover in an honorable way, making the two party system a battle for the soul of America that is waged on ideas. I’m an unremitting lefty but here in Canada our dominant party (the Liberals) suffer from the smugness of considering themselves the “natural governing party” and they are susceptible to minor corruption and a fair amount of arrogance. We have a party to the left, but they’ve never won an election federally. I’d love to see them do so. Our party of the right (Conservatives) has a schism where part of it persists in engaging in the culture wars that wrack America. The rest of the party understands that this sort of nonsense simply will not fly in Canada. But the split prevents them from winning all that often and when they do, they have to stay away from issues such as abortion, trans rights etc. Our society is too tolerant for that. As for election access and voting rights, there is (mercifully) not even the threat of an issue. Elections are run by the federal government. There is one set of rules. They work mostly. It’s all pretty boring actually. But I’m comfortable with that. As with anywhere, we are highly imperfect people. There are racist elements, a pronounced unfairness to indigenous people. There is a fear among some of sexual equality and gay/trans rights. But the vast majority of Canadians live in big cities and I’m convinced that it is in those environments that one learns at least a baseline tolerance towards “the other”. Although we love America our political and social lineage is British in nature. We are perhaps not as volatile and individual rights-oriented as Americans are. On the other hand, we are often relatively aloof to one another. We lack that open disarming and confident American friendliness that I’ve experienced so often when I’ve been in the States.