"The Republican Party has become less a political party than an insurgency, engaged in the pursuit and abuse of power as an end in itself, justifying almost any means. So we have to refuse power to someone who could enact policies none of us believe in." - George Packer, writing in The Atlantic.
"The situation we are sitting in now, if we do not pass these proposals, is that we are going to have a very liberal governor." Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, trying to justify the Reepo power grab after the midterms dethroned Rep. Scott Walker.
"What's going on now in Wisconsin is unconstitutional and un-American. The voters spoke on November 6th loudly and clearly they wanted change. There were six Democrats on the statewide ballot and all six won. Now these sore losers, led by Scott Walker, are going back in to try to undo the will of the people". Scott Ross, Executive Director, One Wisconsin Now - on AM Joy.
"This really is the death of democracy. What we are seeing is the Republican Party rejecting everything our country is based on simply because they lose. Some of the principles being attacked, such as the separation of powers, were written into the state constitution of Michigan as early as 1776. And now under the guise of 'good governance' the Republicans are deciding the will of the people no longer matters." - Michelle Bernard, Columnist, Roll Call on AM Joy last Sunday
Well now we see Speaker Robin Vos and his Repuke underlings in the Wisconsin Assembly have made their agenda abundantly clear: to act as the insurgency described by George Packer, to take power from the state's voters - mainly in the cities.. And to ensure no "liberal" will ever be elected who can wield any degree of lawful authority. As noted in a Sunday talk show (AM Joy), Vos and his degenerates actually proclaimed that only the votes of Wisconsin's rural voters ought to count, not those in the big cities of Madison or Milwaukee.
Recall in the Nov. 6th midterms, the Dems won the popular vote for the Wisconsin State Assembly by 53% to 45% and yet because of systemic gerrymandering the Reeps still kept 64 % of the seats in the Assembly to the Ds 36%. Never mind, the Dems' Tony Evers took back the governorship from the odious scoundrel Scott Walker, while Dem Josh Kaul won attorney general. But the Reeps couldn't handle the loss of power in those positions so conspired to pass lame duck legislation to limit the power in those positions.
Drafted in secret, the GOP Wisconsin legislation was rushed to the Joint Finance Committee on Monday, December 3rd for its only public hearing. Legislators and outraged citizens scrambled to parse more than forty serious changes to state law embedded in the 141 pages of text, but the bill was signed into law last week by Walker.
Among the numerous provisions included in the legislation are ones that would limit early voting to two weeks; give Republicans more control of the state agency overseeing job creation; curtail the governor's ability to write state rules and adjust public benefits programs; and allow lawmakers to replace the attorney general with private attorneys at taxpayer expense.
As if one cue, the Michigan loser Reeps went to work on similar skullduggery to undermine Dem power, especially after taking back the governorship from Rick Snyder. In respect of the Reep mission in Michigan- the state with the Flint water poisoning compliments of Snyder - blogger Nicole Braun has pointed out analogous violations of the voters' will . For example, pushing forward a bill to drastically slow down minimum wage increases approved by voters.
Studies show that no one in America can afford a two-bedroom apartment anywhere working even full-time for minimum wage, but Republicans watered down the voter-approved increase anyway.
Outgoing Republican governor Rick Snyder signed those bills. Sadly, many folks I talked to weren’t surprised. Folks in Michigan have been suffering for years under GOP tyranny, e.g. blatant power abuses, including the undemocratic recall of elected officials. Then add to that rising inequality, a rampant opioid crisis, poverty, corruption, and egregious failures like the Flint water crisis.
“Our governor has a body count — the kids he killed in Flint,” said Will Gallivan, who lives outside Flint. He added, as per Braun's blog post:
“Expecting him to all of a sudden gain some decency is just wishful thinking. We should all be wearing yellow vests at the Capitol, 100,000 people strong. But who can afford to take time off their jobs to do that?”
What the hell gives? Well the answers, some of them, were delivered last Sunday when the actual agenda of the Wisconsin Reep poltroons was revealed for all to behold. Anchor Joy Reed then quoted from a Dec. 6th NY Times piece ('Are Rural Voters The Real Voters? Wisconsin Republicans Seem To Think So') :
"Robin Vos, the Republican leader of the Wisconsin state house, drew this distinction even more explicitly after the midterm election: 'If you took Madison and Milwaukee out of the state election formula, we would have a clear majority. We would have all five constitutional offices and we would probably have many more seats in the legislature."
In other words, the twerp admits that not even the Reepo gerrymandering is enough to deliver popular supported state control. They need to tilt the electoral field even further in their favor by eliminating all the voters in the state's largest cities. No, folks, you cannot make this shit up. Asshole Vos actually stated it for the Times. As Joy Reed put it after citing the piece, "the whole idea that only rural voters matter and 'we must rule' despite the election outcome strikes me as dramatically anti-democracy."
Well yeah, but it isn't only in Wisconsin that the Reeptards believe their Rubes must rule over everyone else. Here in Colorado we have the same issue though the departing state house Republicans are unable to do what they did in Wisconsin and Michigan. (No gerrymandering like in WI). But to give an example of the sort of mind boggling idiocy at work, Sen. John Cooke *R-Greeley) quoted in The Denver Post (Nov. 25th) said he didn't support secession when first bandied about by his Reep cohort, but "now that the state is moving toward Democratic leadership at the top level, Weld County would be better off joining its neighbor to the north, Wyoming."
Adding:
"I'm now thinking we ougtta join Wyoming instead of seceding. We have a lot more in common with Wyoming than Boulder"
Maybe, but that's a pretty big ask, and who says Wyoming would take you all in? Plus, Cooke appears not to grasp that joining Wyoming would mean de facto secession. I mean Weld would not be a part of Colorado if it joined Wyoming. In addition.the reality of a new 51st state - or a modified 50th - would take a lot of political maneuvering at the federal and state levels.
A much simpler solution to the disgust is for the Reep party to ask why so many are turning away. Might it not be the policies advanced, such as cutting essential social benefits? Or how about supporting a vile buffoon and authoritarian narcissist like Trump? Truth be told, that is the real reason so many hundreds of thousands of Colorado's unaffiliated and Democratic voters went to the polls Nov. 6th to say "enough is enough". Pandering to rural voters will not save the Republicans from becoming the new Whigs, but seriously re-examining their policies might at least re-establish them as a form of human.
What the hell gives? Well the answers, some of them, were delivered last Sunday when the actual agenda of the Wisconsin Reep poltroons was revealed for all to behold. Anchor Joy Reed then quoted from a Dec. 6th NY Times piece ('Are Rural Voters The Real Voters? Wisconsin Republicans Seem To Think So') :
"Robin Vos, the Republican leader of the Wisconsin state house, drew this distinction even more explicitly after the midterm election: 'If you took Madison and Milwaukee out of the state election formula, we would have a clear majority. We would have all five constitutional offices and we would probably have many more seats in the legislature."
In other words, the twerp admits that not even the Reepo gerrymandering is enough to deliver popular supported state control. They need to tilt the electoral field even further in their favor by eliminating all the voters in the state's largest cities. No, folks, you cannot make this shit up. Asshole Vos actually stated it for the Times. As Joy Reed put it after citing the piece, "the whole idea that only rural voters matter and 'we must rule' despite the election outcome strikes me as dramatically anti-democracy."
Well yeah, but it isn't only in Wisconsin that the Reeptards believe their Rubes must rule over everyone else. Here in Colorado we have the same issue though the departing state house Republicans are unable to do what they did in Wisconsin and Michigan. (No gerrymandering like in WI). But to give an example of the sort of mind boggling idiocy at work, Sen. John Cooke *R-Greeley) quoted in The Denver Post (Nov. 25th) said he didn't support secession when first bandied about by his Reep cohort, but "now that the state is moving toward Democratic leadership at the top level, Weld County would be better off joining its neighbor to the north, Wyoming."
Adding:
"I'm now thinking we ougtta join Wyoming instead of seceding. We have a lot more in common with Wyoming than Boulder"
Maybe, but that's a pretty big ask, and who says Wyoming would take you all in? Plus, Cooke appears not to grasp that joining Wyoming would mean de facto secession. I mean Weld would not be a part of Colorado if it joined Wyoming. In addition.the reality of a new 51st state - or a modified 50th - would take a lot of political maneuvering at the federal and state levels.
A much simpler solution to the disgust is for the Reep party to ask why so many are turning away. Might it not be the policies advanced, such as cutting essential social benefits? Or how about supporting a vile buffoon and authoritarian narcissist like Trump? Truth be told, that is the real reason so many hundreds of thousands of Colorado's unaffiliated and Democratic voters went to the polls Nov. 6th to say "enough is enough". Pandering to rural voters will not save the Republicans from becoming the new Whigs, but seriously re-examining their policies might at least re-establish them as a form of human.
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