"Once Again Rendered a Prophet Without Honor"

"On April 16, in Los Angeles, Chairman Brock assured Reagan that he now opposed the election reform package. An issue of the RNC magazine First Monday ran an article on 'Fraud and Carter's Voter Registration Scheme'; then subsequently, under Brock's own byline, another headlined the 'Democratic Power Grab.' John Rhodes, after what The Washington Post called 'unremitting opposition for his original stand,' directed his House Republican Policy Committee to adopt a statement of formal opposition. When the first item on Carter’s reform agenda, extending public financing to congressional elections, came up for consideration, New Right organizer Richard Viguerie drummed up one of his patented direct-mail scare campaigns, and the measure was filibustered to death. The other items expired soon after: a more perfect democracy, sacrificed on the altar of right-wing political expedience."

Rick Perlstein in The Washington Spectator brings up Jimmy Carter's doomed 1977 proposals for expanding voter participation.