#1558 States of Hate, Right-Wing Legislatures Go Full-Tilt While the Courageous Fight Back
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 10 May 2023
⏱️ 73 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 5/9/2023
Today, we take a look at the hyper-polarization of our era and the anti-democratic instincts of the right taking hold in state legislatures. Building on a decade of gerrymandering and voter suppression within a structurally undemocratic American system that has helped Republicans create minority rule in many places and unearned super-majorities in others, they have now turned to simply ejecting their elected political opponents from fully representing their constituents.
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SHOW NOTES
America’s Congress may be gridlocked, but its state legislatures certainly aren’t.
Ch. 2: GOP legislatures gaming elections, suppressing voting - The BradCast - Air Date 5-4-23
In Ohio, Republicans are pushing a scheme to raise the qualification threshold for ballot initiatives before voters can mobilize to stop them.
MSNBC's Ali Velshi reports on the vote Wednesday by Montana House Republicans to ban Democratic State Rep. Zooey Zephyr, who is trans, after she spoke out against anti-trans legislation.
Ch. 4: Have State Legislatures Gone Rogue? - The New Yorker Radio Hour - Air Date 5-5-23
The story of two lawmakers expelled from the Tennessee legislature captured headlines across the country.
Ch. 5: Deciding the Fate of Democracy in North Carolina - The Laura Flanders Show - Air Date 5-7-23
So far, 27 people in North Carolina have been indicted in connection with the effort to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th.
Tennessee’s Justin Jones and Montana’s Zooey Zephyr, two Democratic state lawmakers who were both punished by their Republican-led legislatures for peaceful protests, say the only way to fight such anti-democratic moves is through broad solidarity.
"This is a woman who spoke movingly about her own abortion on the floor of the North Carolina statehouse in 2015 when she was arguing against abortion restrictions," says Chris Hayes on State Rep. Tricia Cotham.
The largely white Tennessee House of Representatives, with its heavily gerrymandered Republican supermajority, expelled two members, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, the two youngest Black representatives in the House.
Steven Levitsky is David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies and Professor of Government at Harvard University.
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
Ch. 10: The Polarization Of State Legislatures - Not Another Politics Podcast - Air Date 3-1-23
Are state legislatures polarizing as well? And, if they are, what can that tell us about the state of our democracy?
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 11: Thoughts on big ideas to redistribute wealth - Dave from Olympia, WA
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 12: Final comments on an analogy that explains the dangers of poorly framed arguments
SHOW IMAGE
Description: A distorted, high-contrast photo of an American flag on a flag pole against a dark red sky.
Credit: "redflag" by AK Rockerfeller, Flickr | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award winning Best of Left podcast in which we shall take |
| 0:07.4 | a look at the hyper polarization of our era and the anti-democratic instincts of the |
| 0:13.2 | right taking hold in state legislatures. Building on a decade of gerrymandering and voter |
| 0:18.7 | suppression within a structurally undemocratic American political system that has helped |
| 0:23.6 | Republicans create minority rule in many places and un-earned supermajorities and others, |
| 0:30.3 | they have now turned to simply ejecting their elected political opponents from fully representing |
| 0:36.0 | their constituents. Clips today are from the intelligence, the broadcast, the last word, |
| 0:42.6 | the New Yorker Radio Hour, the Laura Flanders Show, Democracy Now, all in with Chris Hayes, |
| 0:48.3 | and the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs with an additional members |
| 0:53.5 | only clip from not another politics podcast. |
| 1:02.8 | This year, many states are flush with cash and plenty of governors are legislating with one |
| 1:08.3 | eye on a White House run. Usually, state lawmakers and legislatures get just a fraction of the |
| 1:15.1 | attention that Congress does, but in 2023 especially, they're worth keeping an eye on. |
| 1:21.7 | There are going to be a few big themes to watch playing out in state legislatures this year. |
| 1:28.7 | The first is the continuing rise of hyper polarized policies. We're going to see blue and red states |
| 1:35.6 | push farther apart. A second will be lawmakers taking aim at companies that defy their agendas. |
| 1:41.7 | And a third is the way that governors are going to use these legislative sessions as resume building |
| 1:47.2 | for their campaigns for higher office. While Congress is gridlocked, the state houses in America, |
| 1:53.6 | they're very much not, and this year, many of the nation's hottest issues are going to play out in |
| 1:57.7 | state capitals. So let's start with the first theme you mentioned, the hyper polarized policies. |
| 2:03.1 | Tell us more about that. You're going to see red and blue states take on a whole range of issues, |
| 2:10.6 | some of which they've already grappled with, some of which are going to be newer in 2023. |
... |
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