(August 9, 2021 at 8:59 am)Angrboda Wrote: It's also a question of what we want. Texas Democrats running away is similar to the filibuster in that it is a tool which is intentionally designed to frustrate the will of the majority under certain circumstances. While Republicans are badmouthing the Texas Democrats, they are arguing animatedly about preserving the filibuster so that, on occasion, the minority can thwart the will of the majority. Is that a desirable feature? Perhaps. What Texas' legislature is doing is different in that it is making a more fundamental change in ensuring that the minority is able to overrule the majority most of the time by disenfranchising a large enough segment of the majority to make them unable to counter the minority. Is that something that we want as a permanent feature of our democracy, a situation in which the minority is given an artificial boost at all times? Let's consider what that would mean in terms of the filibuster. If the filibuster were automatic such that every piece of legislation required 60 votes to open debate, there would be a lot more sessions where nothing got done because neither side could muster a strong enough majority. Neither side wants that, and in truth, neither side wants minority rule, as ultimately that's not in the majorities interest as someday, the majority will become the minority. On that day, if rules like these voter suppression laws are allowed to stand, we'll see laws disenfranchising conservatives, and on that day, those same conservatives will be squealing like stuck pigs. The only reason the extreme right is advocating these voter suppression laws is to preserve their power in the face of forces which, like it or not, one way or another, are going to move conservatism away from the right-wing extremism it currently embraces. So rather than being any kind of principled stand, these laws are just a minority capitalizing on a small window in time to promote their own interests. And it's something they would protest vehemently if the other side were to do it. It's something they know is wrong, wouldn't condone in someone else, and which they wouldn't consider fair in the abstract. It's simply another blatant example of Republican hypocrisy.
I agree with everything you said, but I believe the real motivation for Texas and other Republicans is that they realize the demographics are pointing to a much smaller WASP voting base in the future. Non-white voters currently vote Democrat more often and the Republicans voter base looks like a snow storm in Siberia. They haven't figured out how to change the rapidly changing demographics, so instead they figured they can just install Jim Crow 2.0. Perhaps you are right and the GOP won't reside an an extremist group for long; I hope that's the case. But even those in the party that aren't really extremists appear happy to use the power of that group to their advantage.
Why is it so?
~Julius Sumner Miller
~Julius Sumner Miller