giving up on Republicans

[mellowtigger]

I'm on lunch break and wanted to get a few thoughts out of my brain. First, though, a quick distraction. foeclan might enjoy this video clip of Rachel Maddow quoting the federal judge in the case about the illegal firing (and court-mandated rehiring) of federal employees. When a news clip has over 1 million views, you know it can't be quite as boring as you'd expect. Back to the local Minnesota news.

Despite my having sworn off the Republican party back in 1996 or thereabouts, I have repeatedly defended the Republicans here in Minnesota as being much more rationally minded than their national counterparts. I commended the bipartisan citizenship here in Minnesota as recently as last summer. That endorsement ends now.

1. A few weeks ago, Republicans literally tried to steal the legislative majority in Minnesota. One seat was unfilled, so they tried to argue that the seat was therefore irrelevant. Our state Supreme Court quickly ruled that their behavior was illegal. They were literally holding an illegal legislative session, because they said they could/should. True colors of authoritarianism, not even waiting for a legal decision, just seizing power.
   
   
2. A few days ago, a state senator introduced SF 2589 which proposes defining "Trump derangement syndrome". This is yet another Russian playbook tactic, preventing dissent by outlawing it as psychopathology. As usual, every accusation from the political right seems more like a confession.

From the USA Today article about this most recent bill:

“This is why Minnesota Republicans have lost every statewide election in recent memory − every time they get an opportunity to try to improve Minnesotans' lives, they instead double down on an agenda that caters to their party’s most extreme right-wing activists,” a DFL spokesperson said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY.

I'm done apologizing for local Republicans now. They can spend the next decade in good behavior trying to win back my evaluation of their behavior as fair politics. It appears that they have, at every level of government, given up on democracy, society, and community. It's all authoritarianism now. Blech!

Comments

[foeclan]

My department is all term employees, so we weren't really hit by the wave of probationary firings, but this is still really good news.

[mellowtigger]

Also interesting is this recent quote from another VA employee.

“I understand the need for fiscal responsibility. This is not responsible governance,” he said. “A government that claims efficiency by discarding its most capable and dedicated workers is like a doctor who claims to have cured a disease by euthanizing the patients.”

[dewline]

I'm sorry that it came to this.

[mellowtigger]

And one of the guys who introduced the bill defining "Trump derangement syndrome" was just arrested for soliciting sex from what he thought was a 16-year-old girl. Because of course. Accusation is not evidence, innocent until proven guilty, blah blah blah. I'm especially amused by this suggestion (Reddit) to introduce a new TDS bill for "Trans/Gay Derangement Syndrome", because once again the example of bad behavior is not a drag queen or a transgender person, but the party that constantly complains about such issues. Every accusation is a confession, just as I wrote earlier. UGH!