If we held an ugly pageant for which state has the most Christo-fascist government, Tennessee might take the turd crown from Texas.
Of all the articles I’ve read about red state attacks on democracy, this one from The Guardian is chilling. Its title is “You Have Imprisoned Our Democracy: Inside Republicans’ Domination of Tennessee.” Please take the time to read the whole thing HERE.
(Since I queued this newsletter for publication, The Guardian wrote another article outlining Tennessee’s anti-democracy Republican Party HERE.
In fact, since this week has been like drinking from a firehose, I’m going to pull a couple of relevant quotes from this article and beg you to go to The Guardian for the rest.
Because the Christo-fascist state government described in Tennessee is a somber preview of what ignoring the rule of law looks like. State legislators have removed guardrails. They surgically change rules to put more people under Christo-fascist control. They erect more barriers to voting for populations that may vote Democrat. They ignore calls for gun control and pass laws to protect gun owners and manufacturers.
Historically, Tennessee Republicans had a tradition of bipartisanship and relative moderation typified by former senators Lamar Alexander or Bob Corker, said Dr Sekou Franklin, a political science professor at Middle Tennessee State University. That’s long gone now.
“The leadership in the state is not the old guard,” Franklin said. “They’re an extreme version of conservatives who believe that they have broad sovereignty to govern, in many respects irrespective of what goes on in the national government.”
Source: The Guardian
This behavior is classic Christian Nationalism. “God said it; that settles it.” They believe they are called by God to force everyone to live by laws drawn from their Christian Nationalist Bibles.
Christian Nationalist Republican politicians believe they are anointed by God to exact his revenge on wrongdoers. We see that behavior in examples like this one from Tennessee:
Tennessee has one of the strictest and most opaque rights restoration processes, said Blair Bowie, director of the Restore Your Vote initiative at the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington DC-based voting-rights advocacy group. In addition to having to pay all court costs and restitution and being current on child support payments, disenfranchised voters must obtain a certificate of restoration from a probation or parole officer, or a court clerk … if they know how to do it.
The process became even more difficult last year. Now voting rights can only be restored after clemency granted by the governor’s office or citizenship rights restored by a circuit court judge.
Then in January, the Tennessee secretary of state added one new criterion: a judge must also restore a disenfranchised citizen’s right to carry a gun in order to regain the right to vote.
Source: The Guardian
Christo-fascist Tennessee Republicans are carrying out these anti-democracy changes in plain sight.
I leave readers with this leaked quote from Christo-fascist Tennessee Representative Scott Cepicky:
“I think the problem I have is if we don’t stick together, if you don’t believe we’re at war for our republic, with all love and respect to you, you need a different job,” said Representative Scott Cepicky in the leaked video. “The left wants Tennessee so bad, because if they get us, the south-east falls, and it’s game over for the republic.”
Source: The Guardian
Simple and insidious playbook to kill democracy...one's vote doesn't count, so one stops voting. Fear for the day when one can't even vote with one's feet.
Tennessee sucks. I currently live here. Tennessee legislature also this year passed bill making the Aitken Bible one of the state books. Ridiculous!