Bet on the rust belt, not the rage belt
MAGA abuses power, doesn't learn and cannot govern. Happily, there is a vibrant alternative.
Across beet-red America, the rage belt, they have given up on democracy in favor of idealized old values- sexual conformity, guns, religious orthodoxy, guns, female submission, intellectual surrender, guns.
This week, yet another militia loyal to Donald Trump lost yet another battle. The Proud Boys will once again march with the Oath Keepers, but this time the only federal property they will get near is the prison where they will be held.
It is a victory for democracy and the rule of law. But Republicans haven’t learned anything from their losses. They are still determined to steal what they cannot win.
GOP Abuse of Power
In Tennessee and Montana Republicans have expelled legislators whose very presence, not to speak of their advocacy, is proof that diversity is a national strength. Proof that the GOP does not want anyone to see. In Texas, the state Senate has now passed a bill to allow the Republican Secretary of State to overturn and order new elections in Harris County- the largest county in the state, a county led by people of color, and a county that votes Democratic. The law allows overturning elections without proof of wrongdoing. Proof of wrongdoing indeed!
Where the GOP has power, we should now expect it to be abused. In Wisconsin, upon the election of a Democratic Governor, the GOP legislature quickly passed laws that stripped the governor of power before he took office. Take that, voters! In Missouri, when parents objected to book bans, the GOP legislature cut funding for libraries statewide. Too bad, readers! In Florida, Gov. DeSantis and his GOP legislature changed laws to punish the Walt Disney Company for daring to speak out against their “don’t say gay” bill. Who do you think you are, big business!
We can expect the same abuses in Washington where Kevin McCarthy and the House majority threaten to take the country to default to push a dangerous agenda they have not the votes to pass. And we must now expect the same from the highest court in the land, where abusive power elicits private jets and private hunting lodges and clandestine meetings with people who pay for influence.
Those of us who love the democracy cannot keep up with the torrent of crimes, wrongdoing, and norm eroding outrages taken by Republicans. All of it weakens our democracy.
What winning looks like
Maybe, though, we no longer need to try to keep up. After all, all that effort is palliative. It aims to stop the bleeding one cut at a time. I’m done with that. It’s time for a cure. It’s time to move from defense to offense. Let’s just win.
Winning means governing well. In the old rust belt states, where Democrats are in charge, we see investments in education and public health. That’s one reason why per capita income is ten percent higher in hard working Illinois than it is in swaggering Texas. Democrats cut taxes in Minnesota and Michigan. They protected workers. They protected reproductive choice. Meanwhile, because of legislation passed by Democrats and signed by Joe Biden, news flows of private capital are bringing innovative manufacturing plants back to America. This week’s Labor Department report showed continued strength in the economy. We have record employment. More jobs than ever. Lower unemployment than any time since 1969. The lowest Black unemployment ever. Wages are up. The United States’ post COVID economic recovery leads the world. We win when we govern well.
Winning also means giving no space for collaborators like Nikki Haley to pretend to stand on softer ground. She and others in the GOP spent a lifetime lying about Roe v Wade, politicizing churches, and stealing judicial seats. Now that they achieved what they so longed for, they do not get a pass to pretend they might not have meant it.
Winning means saying out loud that gun culture in America is a sickness, not a strength. We are less free as we are more armed. Less free to go to church, to go a parade, to go to a concert, to go to school. All places where Americans have been senselessly massacred. Book banning Texans claim to be worried about obscenity in school. The real obscenity is that Texas wants to teach third graders how to staunch a gunshot wound when there is a shooter in the building.
Winning means competing in every election, even in the reddest states. There are people in every part of this country who love our democracy and deserve better than the corrupt faucet of lies that passes for MAGA government.
Finally, winning means celebrating American hard work and American diversity both in and far beyond politics. Say no to book bans, and the Maoist-like political takeover of our universities. Celebrate the light that shines through our complicated and sometimes cruel history, and instead of fearing it, join the fight to build the world’s first truly multi-racial, multi-faith democracy.