The GOP is Getting More Authoritarian By The Day
The GOP is getting more authoritarian by the day. I wish that were a hyperbolic statement. I really do. But it’s not. I’ve written before on how the GOP was on the cusp of being an anti-democratic (small d) party the likes of Viktor Orban’s Fideusz party in Hungary. They’ve crossed that line. The US has only one major political party that adheres to the principles of democracy. I’ll go through a large (but not nearly exhaustive) list of examples here.
Tennessee has signed a ban on all forms of gender-affirming care for minors under the age of 18 and restricting drag shows in the presence of minors. It should be noted that gender-affirming care is backed by mountains of scientific evidence and supported by all major medical organizations in the United States. The rationale against drag shows, that it “harms” youth, also fails the sniff test. There are hundreds of examples of people in drag, both in film and in cartoons, of characters in drag. Were you harmed by seeing Bugs Bunny in a dress?
Texas has proposed a ban in public libraries any materials that “contains any type of romantic or sexual attraction between individuals of the same sex”. What’s funny about this language is that it would cover the Bible. Whoops. Another Texas state legislator has proposed a ban on internet services allowing users in Texas from getting any information regarding abortion or abortion related services, including medications or physicians who provide the service.
Florida has a ton of examples. Here’s one where a state Senator submitted a bill that would require bloggers to register with the state if they receive compensation for blogging about the Governor, his Cabinet or a member of the state legislature. If the blogger regularly posts about any of these individuals, they would be required to file monthly reports on their activities.
Here’s another that would require the Florida Department of Education to force universities in the state to remove any programs focused on diversity, inclusion and equality as well as any majors/minors on the same topic. From the article, “Universities would also be prohibited from funding or supporting any "programs or campus activities" that "espouse diversity, equity, and inclusion or Critical Race Theory," the bill says.”
A third example from the Sunshine State (which should be called the “fascist-lite state”), would expand Florida’s already bigoted and repressive “Don’t say gay” bill. This new one, HB 1223, would mandate schools K-12 use the pronouns that were assigned to the student at birth, regardless of their preference. It would also ban any kind of sex ed or teaching of sexual orientation from Pre-K through 8th grade.
Florida is just racking up the authoritarian points today, so let’s continue with a fourth example. Blaise Ingoglia, a GOP state rep, submitted a bill that would “cancel” any political party that historically supported slavery and cancel anyone’s voter registration who was affiliated with that party. Now, those of you who know your history understand that it was the Democratic party that supported slavery in the 18th and 19th centuries. But those of us who are educated also understand that those Southern Dixiecrats moved to the GOP in the 20th century.
And the fifth and final one. The Lee County GOP has proposed a ban on the COVID-19 vaccines. Not a ban on mandating vaccinations. A ban on the vaccines. This is how badly the Florida GOP has jumped the shark.
In Mississippi, the state House approved Bill 1020 which would expand the existing Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID), which has its own police force and assigns judges rather than elects them, to cover more of the city of Jackson. Keep in mind that Jackson, Mississippi is 80% Black. Hinds County, where Jackson is located, elects judges in a normal election cycle. This bill would give the chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court and the state Attorney General the power to assign judges and prosecutors within the Jackson city limits, or at least the parts falling under the expanded CCID. No Black person has been elected to statewide office in Mississippi since Reconstruction…over 150 years ago. So now a group of White men will be appointing judges and prosecutors to oversee an area that is overwhelmingly Black, in the most racially polarized state in the country. What could go wrong?
On the national level, as I previously wrote, the Dominion Voting Systems court filing showed that Fox News not only intentionally spread misinformation and lies about the 2020 election, but it acted as the personal propaganda arm of the Republican party. Fox gave Jared Kushner confidential information on Biden ads and debate strategies.
The Supreme Court recently signaled that it might defer Moore v Harper, the case on its docket that could throw our elections into chaos. You might say, “Well, isn’t that a good thing?” Yes and no. At issue in the case is something called the “Independent State Legislature Theory”. That theory (which has absolutely no basis in the Constitution or even logic) states that State Legislatures have purview over all elections and can ignore any and all court orders regarding them. The case in question is regarding racially gerrymandered maps in North Carolina. In 2020, the Democratic majority on the NC Supreme Court said they were unconstitutional. NC Republicans sued.
SCOTUS heard the arguments late last year and at least 4 justices seemed keen on accepting some form of this ridiculous legal theory. But then, the 2022 election happened. Democrats lost their majority on the NC Supreme Court (those justices are elected). So SCOTUS might punt the issue because the change in majority suggests that the state court might revisit their decision, which in turn means the case before them doesn’t represent a “final judgement or decree”. That, in and of itself, is a ridiculous rationale because it suggests that no ruling could actually be final. It could always be reversed at some point.
These are only some examples. And all of them are from this year (which is only 2 months in). If that doesn’t scare you, it should.