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Dennis Aftergut

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    Voting

    Three bills showcase democracy at work and what is needed in the next two years

    Dennis Aftergut
    December 23, 2022
    U.S. Capitol; Senate vote on omnibus spending bill

    A couple stand under an umbrella outside the Capitol, where Congress passed a spending bill that includes reforms to the Electoral Count Act.

    Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    Aftergut, a former federal prosecutor in San Francisco, is co-counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy.

    When Charles Darwin returned to England in 1836 from two years aboard the HMS Beagle, visiting the Galapagos Islands, Chile and Australia, he reflected on his observations of rare species and developed his theory of evolution.

    His “Origin of Species” shook the scientific world with his concept that genetic variations explain how organisms adapt and thrive, particularly when adverse conditions threaten them.

    Likewise for human organizations – business or government institutions nimble enough to adjust to adversity can reform and grow.

    Such evolution is not automatic. It requires stakeholders who demand it.

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    electoral count act

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    Leveraging big ideas

    Four inspiring takeaways from a bipartisan gun safety victory

    Norm Eisen
    Neal R. Sonnett
    Dennis Aftergut
    July 19, 2022
    President Biden signs gun safety bill

    President Biden, joined by first lady Jill Biden, signs the bipartisan gun safety bill on June 25.

    Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

    Eisen is a senior fellow at Brookings and a former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic.Sonnett is a former federal prosecutor, criminal defense attorney and a board member of Lawyers Defending American Democracy. Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor, currently of counsel to LDAD.

    Shootings continue in America, including the slaughter on July 4 in Highland Park, Ill. The legislative breakthrough that happened late last month didn’t stop them.

    But it was a breakthrough nonetheless, one created by Americans committed to making a better country, along with bipartisan elected officials pushed into adopting the first gun safety bill in 30 years. Few believed it could occur.

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    guns
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