Ornstein & Aftergut: The Freedom to Vote Act could save democracy

"If passed, the Freedom to Vote Act will advance election-safety provisions in five ways. First, it will require paper ballots in every state in order to ensure that vote counting is hacker-free and subject to reliable recount. Second, the bill will allow local election authorities to apply for grants to purchase updated and secure voting equipment. Third, the measure will require, for the first time, that candidates and their election committees report to federal authorities any foreign contacts seeking to contribute to or coordinate campaign efforts. Fourth, the compromise will curb the gerrymandering that Republicans have used to maintain power in disproportion to the popular vote. And last, but certainly not least, the bill will help moderate the dark-money political contributions that tilt laws in favor of the mega-wealthy." —Norm Ornstein & Dennis Aftergut in The Atlantic

Norm Ornstein is a contributing writer for The Atlantic, a contributing editor for National Journal, and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. Dennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor, currently of counsel at the Renne Public Law Group in San Francisco.

MORE: 'Incredibly dangerous': Trump is trying to get Big Lie promoters chosen to run the 2024 election —CNN

Sargent: How far was Mike Pence willing to go?

"Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the Jan. 6 select committee, says the new details suggest its investigation will have to fully flesh out Pence's role. 'We need to look and see how far things went in 2020 in order to determine what correctives we need to make for 2024,' Raskin told me. The point about 2024 is key: This isn't merely about reconstructing past events, but also about safeguarding our system against a future stolen election." —Greg Sargent in The Washington Post

Greg Sargent is a columnist at The Washington Post and the author of "An Uncivil War: Taking Back Our Democracy in an Age of Trumpian Disinformation and Thunderdome Politics."

MORE: Trump says he sides with Jan. 6 riot defendants, as police brace for new Capitol rally —CNBC

Lowry: Is the GOP's 'stolen election' myth becoming its Achilles' heel?

"The choice that was forced on [California gubernatorial candidate Larry] Elder—admit that Biden won the election and alienate MAGA voters, or say it was stolen and alienate voters in the middle—will be faced by Republican candidates around the country for the duration. That won't change as long as Trump has an outsize influence on the party. He's not letting 2020 go, rather is bent on vengeance against those Republicans he believes betrayed him by not embracing his various conspiracy theories. … This is a cynical and corrosive view of American democracy that, to the extent it becomes GOP orthodoxy, can contribute only to further Republican frustration." —Rich Lowry in Politico

Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review and a contributing editor with Politico Magazine.

MORE: Anthony Gonzalez, a Republican who voted to impeach Trump, won't run in 2022 —The New York Times

Stolberg: The politicization of vaccine mandates

"Resistance to vaccine mandates was once a fringe position in both parties, more the realm of misinformed celebrities than mainstream political thought. But the fury over Biden's mandates shows how a once-extreme stance has moved to the center of the Republican Party. The governors' opposition reflects the anger and fear about the vaccine among constituents now central to their base, while ignoring longstanding policy and legal precedent in favor of similar vaccination requirements." —Sheryl Gay Stolberg in The New York Times

Sheryl Gay Stolberg is a Washington correspondent at The New York Times covering health policy.

MORE: DeSantis opens new war with Biden over Covid treatments —Politico

Olsen: Politics are changing everywhere

"Americans often wonder why their traditional party system seems to be dissolving into a fractious and ungovernable mess. The answer is simple: The entire developed world is experiencing the end of the stable party systems built to answer the political questions posed by the ends of the Second World War and the Cold War. New political questions always lead to new political coalitions, and neither the United States nor the rest of the world is nearing the end of this global political realignment." —Henry Olsen in The Washington Post

Henry Olsen is a Washington Post columnist focusing on politics, populism, and American conservative thought, and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

MORE: China, France furious at new U.S. security alliance with Australia, Britain —NBC News

Mancuso: A bipartisan blueprint for climate action

"Thoughtfully crafted solutions where both sides are counted in governance requires party members to put the country ahead of partisan politics. Passage of the Senate infrastructure package was a start; now it's time to do it again and this time working together tackling the climate crisis. Neither America nor the world can afford for the efforts on the infrastructure bill to be a one-hit wonder of bipartisanship." —Mary Anna Mancuso on RealClearEnergy

Mary Anna Mancuso is a political strategist and a spokesperson for RepublicEn.org.

MORE: Biden holds 2nd climate summit with aim of cutting emissions 30% by 2030 —UPI

Gephardt, Hart, McCleary & Medish: Restore the balance of power

"The country survived [a] perilous stretch, but we may not be so lucky next time without new guardrails on the presidency. Fortunately, senior lawmakers are now sponsoring legislation to reaffirm the checks and balances that are vital to our constitutional order. It's a remarkable effort that Congress should quickly rally around—as should President Joe Biden, even though it would diminish his own authority. The Founders knew from colonial experience that power corrupts. It's precisely why they established a system of checks and balances. Presidential arrogation of power is a threat not to one party or the other, but rather a threat to the separation of powers and thus to the whole constitutional order." —Richard Gephardt, Gary Hart, Joel McCleary & Mark Medish in Politico

Richard Gephardt represented Missouri and served as majority leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. Gary Hart represented Colorado in the U.S. Senate. Joel McCleary and Mark Medish served at the White House under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, respectively. All four are members of Keep Our Republic, a civic education organization.

MORE: Milley: Calls to China were 'perfectly' within scope of job —Associated Press

Consistency seems like a four-letter word to some people. Mandates, for instance. Love them or hate them, but be consistent. The same when it comes to government intervention. Hence, I'd love to hear any of the MAGA-hat governors explain why the federal government cannot issue mandates with regard to Covid, i.e., vaccine mandates, and yet those same governors can issue their own mandates, i.e., bans on universal school masking or vaccine mandates.

Funny, because schools already have vaccine mandates for other diseases. The MAGA-hatters say a mandate to require a Covid vaccination is "unconstitutional"—yet vaccine mandates are okay for polio, smallpox, etc.—but a mandate to prevent schools from requiring masks is not? They claim they "staunchly" oppose government intervention. Yet they have no problem when THEY perform GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION. The governors don't want the Fed in their "business" because they are elected officials, and yet they sure have no problem getting in the "business" of towns, cities, and school boards, which all have their own elected officials. Consistently inconsistent. —Bill T., Arizona

Gov. DeSantis' PAC began selling "Don't Fauci my Florida" merch on July 12. More than 7,000 Floridians have died from COVID-19 since then. Who will hold him accountable? —Ken G., Colorado

The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.