The new Confederates are mad. And not in the angry sense. In the lost-their-minds sense. And desperate. Desperate enough to risk their children’s lives as well as their own in a bid to hang onto power and demonstrate fealty to their tribe. They have, as David Frum warned in January 2018, rejected democracy.
At the risk of going all Ken Burns, here is something Paul Waldman wrote on Wednesday:
So in state after state, far-right Republican governors are waging war on their own cities. Sometimes it’s about public health (Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis trying to keep school districts from requiring masks). Sometimes it’s about elections (Georgia Republicans moving to take over elections in the county that includes most of Atlanta). And sometimes it’s about GOP legislatures imposing far-right laws that even many Republicans disagree with but are especially unpopular in liberal cities (the new Texas law allowing anyone to carry a handgun with no training or license).
In every case, the message to Democrats and the places they live is the same: It doesn’t matter if you’re the majority. We have the power, and we’re going to make you live under Republican rules. Forever.
In Georgia, Republicans continue their efforts to take over elections in the state’s largest Democratic county:
Georgia’s State Election Board inched forward Wednesday in a process set in motion by Republican lawmakers using a controversial provision of the state’s sweeping new election law that could ultimately lead to a takeover of elections in the state’s most populous county.
Fulton County, a Democratic bastion that includes most of the city of Atlanta, has long been a target of Republicans who complain of sloppiness and say they want to ensure state laws are being followed. Former President Donald Trump fixated on Fulton after the November general election, claiming without evidence that fraud in the county contributed to his narrow loss in the state.
Democrats and voting rights activists have said the takeover provision in the new law invites political interference in local elections and could suppress turnout.
Those Black people in Fulton are gettin’ all, you know, uppity. Voting in large numbers and all that. Confederates mean to show them who’s boss.
Observing that “multiple Republican governors and legislators are ghoulishly competing to undermine immunization efforts, endangering the lives of children in their states,” Daniel Schultz (@pastordan) observes at Alternet:
It’s tempting to see this division not as issue-based but simply spoiling for a fight, and in some ways, that’s right. Particular issues aren’t as important as the battle, and they don’t make sense without the bigger context. At the same time, people aren’t itching for a fight just to have a fight. The little fights are simply means to picking the big fight. Every time you hear someone railing against tyranny or socialism, mentally replace their words with “Put Black and brown people back in their place!” Likewise, every time someone talks about freedom or Trump saving America again, you should hear “Put white people back on top!”
It’s not a civil war over preserving slavery they want. Slavery is gone forever. It’s the legacy caste system they want to preserve, with them on top. And they’ll sacrifice democracy and their own sons and daughters to do it.