Republicans are not a reliable bunch and while on every one of the insane things that happens they claim there is some group of them that oppose the madness but...they never speak up. There are just a tiny handful that say anything at any level of government. Local, state federal, does not matter. If they speak out against the crazy crap the party is up to they are greeted with death threats and calls for their removal.
The courts are stacked. McConnell saw to that. The fact that a majority in the Supreme Court let this stand is appalling. The Democrats are as slow footed as they come in responding with Abbott signing this back in May. This is not an accident that Texas is attempting this and that part in the article I posted about how this will set a legal precedent that opens the door to challenging other protections we used to have under the Constitution in the same manner. This was all thought out, coordinated, funded, and Texas is a test case. They want this crap in the courts because McConnell stacked the courts for this purpose.
We sort of sit here thinking "Oh, the courts are our protection. That is the firewall. Our justice system protects us from this happening."
No, that should be true but McConnell made sure they addressed this in the earlier phase of this horrific plan. They have judges that will rule and push this case up to SCOTUS which will decide what cases to hear and rule on and the fact they demonstrated a majority on this Texas idiocy is a warning of what is to come. They want this fight in the courts. They want these cases to take years to snake through the justice system like a slow working poison up to SCOTUS where the hammer will drop and the Constitution will crumble.
The total insanity at the federal level with Republicans is honestly nothing compared to what is going on at the state or local level. There is a full court press by Steve Bannon and his backers to fund and organize putting Marjorie Taylor Greene type morons in every possible post from school boards to selectmen right up through state positions. These people are being fed what to say and what to do in order to create the destruction of every institution we have. Bannon is gleefully promoting this garbage and selling the idea, which he is correct about, that if you control all these local and state positions you then have the power to tear the federal level apart. This is because worthless scum like Kevin McCarthy will never challenge what is happening and the expectation, and they are again correct, is that at the federal level Republicans will fall in line.
Basically, I see the way to get out of this mess is only through business leaders speaking up and using their clout to say "Hey, look if you are going to destroy the Constitution, take rights away from the people we have working in your state, we are going to leave your state."
If the jobs and revenue move out, that is going to get the attention of Republican politicians.
Republicans won't put a stop to this madness and they won't speak up against it. They will do their little whisper campaigns "Oh, we really oppose this. I'm totally against it. It will eventually fail." but they won't lift a finger or their voice to put a stop to it.
Voters can't be counted on because they are being fed misinformation at an alarming rate and I'm not sure what they are aware of or not aware of. How there was not an avalanche of people going apoplectic when Abbott signed this back in May is sort of beyond me.
I mean I know the media was then focused on things like the destruction of voting rights in states like Texas but come on. This is one of those test cases to see if people in Texas sit there and take this. I'm thinking they will. If they do, look out. Florida is all about doing this and red states will all jump in the pool like it was a 120 degree day and they were surrounded by a forest fire.
I don't know about Venezuela but Texas and Florida and southern states are going to eat this vigilante stuff up with a giant spoon. You've got an enraged populous, that is armed, hates any sort of government oversight, and will absolutely adore being able to get 10 grand a head to go after friends, neighbors, doctors, cab drivers, young women, teachers, counselors, and all of the people they already hate and man are they going to be pushed to go after these people by Right Wing Media nut jobs and Bannon's army of wacko activists.
Get ready for that, brother, because man will the floodgates open to total chaos. I don't think they had anything like the megaphone to push this and the incredibly angry population willing to inflict the damage.
Plus our former president sits in the wings so happy to stoke this. Venezuela had nothing like this to amplify the message.
You saw the capitol riot, Ross? They want to go bigger and this is just the kind of thing to open the door to that.
I do wonder where Pat Brown is on this stuff. I would guess he won't say. Maybe I can take some solace that in polling 52% of Texans feel the state is headed in the wrong direction. Problem is, who knows what they mean by that. They reelected Cruz, the absolute definition of spineless, worthless, do nothing politician. They elected Abbott governor. And now they have potentially the least freedoms of any state in the country...and I am not seeing much outrage over it.
