Editor's column: Republicans need to lose the crazy - Tennessee Lookout
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Holly McCall - March 30, 2021 Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives mill about in House Chambers. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Thursday, I was speaking to a bipartisan group about the current political environment and giving a recap on all that's happened since the Nov. 3 Election Day. As the resident progressive, I was joined by a well-known Republican consultant who has carved out a solid career in Tennessee and national politics.
For the last question of the event, the moderator asked my counterpart if he were giving advice to the Democratic Party, what would he say? And what advice would I give to Republicans?
I think a lot about the Tennessee legislature and the reams of bills produced there annually, and I didn't take long to provide my response for the Tennessee Republican Party:
Lose the crazy.
Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers so they neither need nor want my advice. And both Americans and Tennesseans are locked into partisan identities and vote for the 'R' or the 'D' by names.
But the Republican brand is tarnished these days, given the Jan. 6 insurrection and takeover of the U.S. Capitol by QAnon supporters, and that could be the start of the inevitable decline that comes to those who are arrogant and complacent. It happened to Tennessee Democrats and it will happen to the GOP at some point.
Tennessee's Republican legislators persist in filing and pushing bills that at best do nothing to improve quality of life for their constituents and at worst are both irrational and detrimental. A cursory look at high-profile legislation of the 112th session includes:
- Failure to expand Medicaid: Tennessee is one of only 12 states that has consistently refused to accept money for Medicaid expansion and as a result, we've forfeited about $1.4 billion per year since 2014 and 13 hospitals have closed. The passage of an experimental Medicaid block grant that was made possible by former President Donald Trump in his last two weeks in office is likely to be rescinded by President Joe Biden, who has offered to financially sweeten the deal for Tennessee leaders to take Medicaid expansion. Polling typically shows Tennesseans of both political parties support the expansion but earlier this week, Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton said he remains a hard 'no' on Medicaid expansion. I've been trying for years to figure out how this fits with purported Republican ideals of fiscal responsibility, and I just can't: the only explanation is that the expansion came through former President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, and if so, Republicans are cutting off their own constituents' noses to spite their faces.
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Guns. According to "strict constitutionalists," the Second Amendment gives everyone the right to carry any kind of gun anywhere they want at any time with no restrictions; hence, the bill to abolish the need to even apply for a permit to pack heat in Tennessee or to get any training before getting a gun. Permitless gun carry legislation is moving along at a steady clip, despite the opposition of the Tennessee Sheriffs' Association, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and, according to a 2019 poll, more than 90% of Tennesseans. Permitless carry isn't the only gun bill this session: 26 bills have been filed related to guns, including one sponsored by Tullahoma Republican Sen. Janice Bowling that broadens the category of people authorized to carry guns in parks.
- Anti-transgender action: Gov. Bill Lee's just signed a bill into law that bans the participation in middle school or high school sports by transgender kids, unless they participate on the team corresponding with their birth gender. This bill has no impact on most Tennesseans but to the ones it does effect, it's harmful.Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin (Photo: John Partipilo)
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Increase in banking fees. Sen. Jack Johnson is behind SB0344, which gives financial institutions the ability to increase fees to service loans, a move that clearly only benefits banks.
I could continue ad nauseum, but you get the point. Tennessee's Republican legislators are acting on someone's behalf, but it's certainly not the citizens of Tennessee. It's likely to be a few years before the Republican hold on the legislature starts to slip, but with continued actions like these, it's only a matter of time before Tennessee voters rise at the ballot box to demand change from fanaticism and irrationality.
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The gop is so out of step with voters they have their own parade on the other side of town mostly alone...
if the folks in Tennessee are unhappy, they will elect new reps.
if it isn't the majority that is unhappy, they can win elections or move.
Passing unconstitutional laws destined to be overturned is expensive, dumb and unpopular.
Red states are turning blue not other way round so I hope the damn gop keeps doing what they are doing. Specifically, shedding voters like mangy dogs shed hair!
well. why don't you simply point out the laws you believe are unconstitutional, and your legal reasoning for your belief.
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Since you asked though here is a partial list.
Did you even bother reading the article Tex?
oh. yeah. I read it, it is funny as hell!
but I don't see where it says the laws are unconstitutional, so maybe you can correct me and supply the quote.
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funny you supply a link that only goes to 2019, while your claim is that the new laws are unconstitutional
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Just what unconstitutional laws would those be? Just because you don't like them doesn't mean they are unconstitutional.
he doesn't know.
It doesn't make them crazy either
I bet lots of Florida residents disagree with you.
good to know they appreciate it!
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Gov. Bill Lee's just signed a bill into law that bans the participation in middle school or high school sports by transgender kids, unless they participate on the team corresponding with their birth gender. This bill has no impact on most Tennesseans but to the ones it does effect, it's harmful.
This is just as it should be. Boys shouldn't be on girls teams.
None of the proposed laws is unconstitutional
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It isn't just Tennessee. Texas and Florida are worse!
Look out Texas, Florida, and Tennessee! Your bastard cousin*** is coming up behind you!
***Arkansas
Arizona elected two Democratic Senators and so did Georgia. The gop is in bad denial...
I have a feeling you are going to be royally pissed off after the midterms!!
I am confident you will be wrong, like always!
But Arkansas is doubling down on the stupid. They just passed a law ensuring that the Fed gov't has no jurisdiction regarding guns. If a police unit is confronted by an agency like the FBI or ATF, our state and local police don't have to listen to their instructions and the federal agency will not have the oversight like they would in other states. The governor didn't sign it, but the assembly overrode the veto.
And they passed a "heart beat" bill that allows for no exceptions except for the mother's life. No abortion even for rape or incest. Our assembly is controlled by republicans. The governor is a republican and the state attorney general is a republican. I don't see it changing any time soon. Arizona may have seen the light, but Arkansas is a million light years behind Arizona
right. Democrats barely held the majority in 2020, and will lose it in 2022
I drove through Arkansas twice, east to west and west to east and never stopped once even though it has more unnatural wonders than natural ones.
Don't believe anything you've read or will read about the midterms. History does not care who it makes a fool of.
It really is a beautiful state and I like living here because of the things I can do outdoors like fishing. But it's run by a bunch of Medieval Neanderthals that want to take us back to the Dark Ages
history also makes fools out of those who refuse to recognize the realities of it.
Democrats barely held the House, and now will lose a few seats because of losing reps after the census, and the GOP controls more legislatures and thus the redistricting .
good luck with all that!
I don't see how they can get away with that or have any choice in the matter.
I don't, either. But I don't think there's any education requirement to become a state legislator in Arkansas because it's clear none of them have read the US Constitution
History also shows the Party reduced to saying NO to everything including to its stalwarts does not farewell.
"good luck with all that!"
if things were as dire for the GOP as some would like to believe, Democrats would have a large majority in both House now instead of razor thin ones they hold.
It's the Natural State, don'tchaknow
Why, yes it is! And I will fully enjoy the natural beauty of this state when I go fishing in the Ozarks next week!
Let's see you think it is wrong for the local LEOs to ignore federal fire arms laws but it is OK for them to ignore immigration lawslawd.
LOL!
So you think it would be ok for local police to ignore the feds
butt
It is not ok when the local police will not do the feds job for them...
Just ask any sanctuary city how they do it.
lol!
By not doing the feds job?
Democrats will come out in force like when we elected President Joe Biden.
They will come out in force for the mid-terns also.
We can't let the republicans/gqp let all those voter suppression bills win.
yes we had a record turnout in 2020, and Democrats won their smallest House majority in well over a hundred years.
Trump isn't on the ballot and neither is Biden, so a reasonable person would think turnout will be lower, like it is during midterms.
A few blue states lost seats, a few red states gained seats. and the GOP controls more state legislatures and will have a larger say in drawing new districts.
not one of those things help Democrats.
amusing talk about the infamous, fabled voter suppression!!
Such whiny little bitches!
And they're so proud of their ignorance!
That's the only way the repukes can win. By lying, cheating, stealing (suppressing votes).
and yet. no one can say how the law us suppressive, or even who it suppresses.
not a thing in my post described one thing illegal, and you merely mouthing the words doesn't prove anything is illegal.
In Georgia Ms. Abrams pointed out the many ways they're suppressive and who they suppress and that is just Georgia. The republicans are trying very hard to pass similar laws in many states BECAUSE THEY KNOW THEY LOSE OTHERWISE
:
Stacey Abrams' response to questions about "racist" Georgia voting law goes viral
BY CAITLIN O'KANE
APRIL 22, 2021 / 11:21 AM / CBS NEWS
Activist and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is going viral for her response to a GOP senator who quizzed her on a voting rights bill that was recently introduced in her home state.
Kennedy also asked Abrams if she found the bill racist. "I think there are provisions of it that are racist, yes," she said.
Kennedy then stopped Abrams to ask a question about that ID provision. Abrams said Georgia would become the fourth state to require voters to put their identity at risk while voting.
"What else?" Kennedy pressed Abrams. She continued to list provisions, and Kennedy continued to ask: "What else?"
"Is that everything?" he asked.
"No, it is not," Abrams said. "No, sir."
She continued to share that the bill would shorten voting time windows and allow counties to limit voting hours, "which may have an effect on voters who cannot vote during business hours."
When Abrams continued to list more provisions, Kennedy interrupted her again. "OK. I get the idea," he said.
"If you watch even a couple minutes of this testimony you'll see @staceyabrams do what she does best: Respectfully and seriously make a compelling argument without alienating viewers who don't yet agree with her," tweeted former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, a Democrat and the founder of a voting policy organization. "Her professionalism never comes at the expense of passion."
"Senator John Kennedy thought he was pulling a *gotcha* question on Stacey Abrams by asking her to list off all the parts of the Georgia Voter Suppression Bill that are racist, SO SHE DID," tweet Jake Lobin, a Georgia Democratic election volunteer.
"I just watched Stacey Abrams go back and forth with Senator Kennedy of Louisiana regarding the new voting law in Georgia being racist," tweeted author Jason Overstreet. "What she just articulated, in defending how it is racist in very specific ways, was breathtakingly impressive."
Georgia's 98-page election law was passed by a GOP-controlled legislature and signed by Republican Governor Brian Kemp at the end of March. While Republicans widely supported the bill, it has sparked a debate over voting rights, with Democrats and voting rights groups outraged by voter ID provisions and changes to mail voting.
Many believe the provisions will make it more difficult for some minorities and poorer voters to cast a ballot, though proponents of the bill and other similar measures introduced after the 2020 elections say they're necessary to combat voter fraud. Allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, however, were deemed unfounded by the Justice Department, then-Attorney General William Barr announced in December .
The bill's passage also inspired many major corporations, including Georgia-based Coca-Cola and Delta, to speak out against it. Major League Baseball pulled its All-Star Game out of Georgia CBS News' parent company ViacomCBS also spoke out against the bill as well.
you merely mouthing the words that they're legal doesn't prove anything is legal.
unless and until a court decides that they are illegal, then they are the law.
not one thing in that whole link that says any of the law is illegal
major fail.
It's voter suppression. Plain and simple.
lying, cheating, stealing, and suppressing votes is the only way the gqp can ever win.
all the gqp has is lying, cheating, stealing, and suppressing votes. all they got.
I forgot all of their whackjobs - in the gqp - and all their supporters
I don't know who the hell "gqp" is, nor do I care.
If that is the only way the GOP wins, why haven't Democrats sued in every damn state yet? What are they fucking waiting on?
They either have no brains and no guts or it is simply made up crap as usual.
Utter nonsense.
Utter lie.
You don't seem to mind when the local police ignore federal immigration law, why do you care if they if they do not enforce federal gum laws?
Just like trump trumped trump, I agree too much crazy will trump the crazy.
Sooner or later we all live in reality.
A reality is that Americans have no taste for hate...
Well, some do but they are a shrinking minority now!
So they want people to open carry no restrictions, no healthcare for the poor, a middle finger to transgender people...
But...by all means, let banks fleece the masses.
But what would they run on then?
They would lose all their support without all the QANon whackjobs and all the other whackjobs that appear to be the only ones who support today's republican party/gqp
Qanon, Proud Boys, KKK, American Nazi Party, Aryans, etc., etc., etc.
Far too many of those scumbags as it is - all supporting today's gqp.
There are statistics for pretty well everything, but what I've never seen, and I think it would probably be quite telling, is a statistic that compares the average education levels of Democrats and Republicans. The fact that so many Republicans can't shake their belief that the election was stolen from Trump, and even disparage their own for standing up for reality (Liz Cheney, Cindy McCain, etc) makes me curious.
Hi Buzz, I have no idea but I think it's actually more a factor of a person's natural philosophies, idology, belief system, upbringing, decisions and choices, habits, fears, desires and perhaps some peer pressure as well.
By "nature" conservative people are, well more conservative.
Liberals as well are naturally more liberal.
Personally I believe that what really makes America special and could be so capable if and when the combination works together is that:
Cons are careful by nature.
libs move forward quickly by nature.
The combination working together can move us all forward at a reasonable, responsible rate as the world as moves forward.
Education wise I'd say there are smart and not so smart folks that belong to both parties for a variety of personal reasonings.
One of the things that we now face is the radical 24/7/365 divisive internet and news content saturating our lives. Non stop political war between the sides. Dividing the people and crippling our nation's true capabilities.
United America can do great things, sadly divided mainly we just fight amongst and ironically against ourselves and our own best interests, especially long term.
sad
https.com/2016/04/29/top-10-brainwashing-and-mind-control-techniques/