As Congress is mired in McCarthy/MTG/Santos chaos, never lose sight of where extremism and anti-democratic attacks remain on the march, unabated.
In gerrymandered, corrupt statehouses—in Missouri. Utah. Iowa, and elsewhere—legislation and hearings are racing forward on everything from defunding public schools to censorship to ever expanding attacks on abortion access. Most of this activity has nothing to do with the interests of the people of these states, and everything to do with narrow interests that have figured out that gerrymandered statehouses are the ideal institutions to ram through a narrow and self-serving agenda. So they’ve harnessed the power of statehouse for their own ends.
And unlike in Washington, where the McCarthyite House promises to bog government down in endless debate and dysfunction, countless right-wing laws will pass across these states. As they do every session, often modeled off one another.
It’s all a reminder: The far right doesn’t NEED Washington to get what they want legislatively. They get most of they want done at the state level, where they control so much, where so few pay attention, and where there is so little accountability. What they NEED from Washington is enough power to keep Washington from stopping them back in states. Because robust federal legislation and courts could stop them on everything from gerrymandering, to voter suppression, to other matters. But a DC divided and dysfunctional can’t step up to play that role.
The irony is that, as I describe in the video, what’s happening in too many states is precisely what James Madison warned us would happen if states fell into the wrong, corrupted hands.
If he could see it all coming centuries ago, we better see the risk clearly today…and adjust our political strategy to deal with it.
