While the Powers That Be constantly warn us about foreign threats to our democracy from Russian trolls, TikTok, etc. – there is scant coverage of an actual assault on our people’s democratic liberties by forces on our own soil.
It’s coming from extremist, right-wing Republican lawmakers who have autocratic control over more than a score of America’s state governments. Their obscure anti-democracy weapon is called “preemption” – the dangerous power of state officials to nullify laws passed by local people.
It’s supposed to be used rarely, carefully, and only in emergency situations, but today’s radical Big Government Republicans have weaponized it, routinely overturning local actions that the GOP’s corporate funders don’t like. Local decisions to protect worker safety, outlaw loan sharking, shut down puppy mills, prevent workplace discrimination, stop pollution, control political corruption… and so many more popular democratic reforms are being abolished by Republican autocrats in service to plutocrats. Some 500 more of those usurpations are moving through state legislatures across the country now – with practically no public notice.
Embarrassingly, GOP leaders in my state of Texas have been leading this charge against the people’s democratic will, and they’re now enacting a nuclearized escalation of their attack. Their new weapon has been dubbed “Death Star” – a state law that will preemptively ban cities and counties from passing corporate regulations stronger than state regulation (which is infamously feeble). The ban – gleefully pushed by a horde of lobbyist for brand-name corporate elites – includes letting corporations overturn existing local protections for workers, consumers, small business, the environment, and others. “We hate cities and counties,” grumped the sponsor of the Death Star law.
This is a wholesale usurpation of your and my liberty to govern ourselves. In exchange for political funding, GOP officials are literally outsourcing the people’s democratic authority to private profiteers. Learn more at www.supportdemocracy.org.
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In the “Free State of Florida” preemption has been in high gear in the state legislature, and keeps gaining momentum each year. Texas and Florida are in a race to the bottom of the cesspool.
Hi Jim, we have the same thing occurring in WV that you brought up in today's message. We have a super majority of weirdo extreme GOP types since 2015. Before that it was 82 yrs of Democratic party rule and they didn't do such a great job either but at least they didn't try to outlaw unions, piss of the teachers, disallow public employees collective bargaining rights, privatize our state parks, and many more bad laws to protect their super majority, oh did I mention gerrymandering and limits to free speech? Your take on any issue is always welcome to the democratic patriots of our state.
Jb
Concerning the lack of local news & the buyout of regional newspapers. Lancaster Pa. News just gave its century plus old news organization to Witf TV, our regional public tv station preserving local news for years to come. Unlike the Reading Eagle which sold out & went from a staff of 90 to 20. Check it out. Phillipp Phelan Muth/Dogtown, Pa.
I just read yesterday that the Texas Senate passed a bill which allows to Governor to throw out any election votes where the district just happened to run out of ballots during voting. Of course, it only applies to Harris County which did temporarily run out of ballots during the November 2022 election process. Evidently they think it was deliberately done to prevent Republicans from voting there. According to the bill, it only takes a 2% shortage for the Governor to throw out the election.
Thank you for the link to supportdemocracy.org. I was unaware of this organization. Now, I will circulate the link to everyone I know who supports a true democracy.
Who are the “Death Star Law” sponsors?
Republicans in the state legislature.
IN SOME GALAXY FAR, FAR, AWAY
People are cheering: Never fear! The Dem party is here!
They can be counted on to save the day, of course. The party that has always defended the common good and the unionized majority--it is, after all, committed to continuing the New Deal.
Oh sure, every now and then the tiny minority of oppositional ultra rich, elite bankers, and old school conservative economists tries to undo what the vast majority of us know is a system that is best for us. These reactionaries, as usual, don't want to pay their fare share of taxes. They resent they can't just buy elections and that the silly idea that corporations are people was overturned as both extremely harmful and legally indefensible.
On the plus side, they've given up trying to privatize National Health Care and to end free tuition at public universities and community colleges. Since nearly 90% of the citizenry support these successful programs, there is no point to fighting them. Of course the major reason these were well funded was that the peace dividend totally paid off.
Sigh. If only this were true in our world--and it so easily could have been.