It didn’t get much play, but on Jan. 3, Democrats introduced the For the People Act of 2019 in the 116th Congress. This bill purports “To expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and for other purposes.” Unfortunately, “for the people” is a misnomer. In truth, this bill is “for the Democrats.”

Investor’s Business Daily says, “Far-left media advocates for the Democrats’ have benignly called the proposed new law ‘election reform’, claimed it ‘could save American Democracy’ and characterized it as ‘a sweeping anti-corruption proposal.’ It is none of those things. Instead, H.R.1, the new law’s official designation, is a shocking power grab on the part of the Democrats who seek to nationalize all elections so they can permanently silence the Red States that stand in their way. It does so by transferring most of the power over elections to the federal government, and taking it away from the states, as the Constitution requires.”

On Jan. 29, the Conservative Action Project unveiled an opposition memo, which Investor’s explains is cosigned by “some 154 conservative former government officials, think tank heads, writers and activists.”

The memo reveals that the legislation “would allow the Federal Election Commission to track and and catalogue more of what Americans are saying, register even very small political donations, and make public those who donate to different charitable and nonprofit organizations.”

Furthermore, “H.R. 1 reasserts the ability of the federal government to micromanage state elections through a process known as ‘preclearance.’ Preclearance, which was previously overturned by the Supreme Court, requires states to get permission from the federal government for changes as small as modifying the hours of an election office, or moving a voting location from a school gym to the library.”

As if that’s not bad enough, “The Federal Election Commission, which is currently a neutral body, would be given a 3-2 makeup, guaranteeing a partisan outcome with little accountability toward the actual votes which are cast. H.R. 1 also includes a 600 percent government match for political donations, and authorizes even more public dollars to campaigns. The bill also wants to make Election Day a new paid holiday for government workers, with additional paid vacation given to bureaucrats to oversee the polls. All of these changes are designed to distance the outcome of the election from those casting their votes.”

The memo further explains that voter registration would become mandatory; all felons would be permitted to vote; early voting would be protracted; same-day voter registration would be required; the ability to cross-reference voters from different states would be hamstrung; election observers would be free from having to assist in cases related to election abnormalities; political speech that may dissuade a person’s voting would be outlawed; states would be forbidden from legislating mail-in votes; chief election officials partaking in federal election campaigns would be made illegal; absentee ballots would become “free”; and redistricting commissions would be necessitated.

The cosignees warn that “H.R. 1 would cause sweeping and irrevocable damage to the free speech, privacy, and integrity that are central components to free and fair elections in America.” Investor’s adds, “It’s a blatantly unconstitutional Democratic attempt to create a permanent national majority, a one-party leftist state. That would freeze out Republicans, conservatives, libertarians and even most Independents.” Of course, neither the GOP Senate nor President Donald Trump would ever sign off on the For the People Act of 2019. But this is the mother of all omens. And it signals some of what Democrats hope to achieve if future elections tilt their way.

It would, for all intents and purposes, be the most damaging attack yet on our Republic and accelerate — perhaps irreversibly — its demise.