Another Fascist Republican defeat to democracy & the call of women’s reproductive rights nationwide.
We’re not going to stop until Republicanism is dead. Period. We’re going to use the tool of women’s reproductive rights to do it, because, so far, the not-so-silent majority is on an unprecedented winning streak to send the fascists a message nationwide.
On August 8, a record turnout of highly motivated voters rejected a scam by a super-majority of Republicans in Ohio to make it harder for the will of the people to change their state constitution. This cheap and losing tactic was lashed together haphazardly for the fascists to stop the codifying of women’s reproductive rights that they robbed from them. And so, Ohio joins Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky, Vermont, California, and a growing number of states to stamp out the illegal virus heaped upon the U.S. after the ignominiously unconstitutional striking down of Roe v. Wade by a corrupt Supreme Court last summer. And it is not going to stop.
It was a nice try by the fascists to whip up a special election referendum to raise the threshold for amending the state constitution from a majority to 60%. After all, 57% of its citizenry want legal and safe access to abortion and that issue is on the ballot this November. This is thanks to a petition that doubled the number (700K) needed to get it there. Republicans had to stop it, because these hypocrites who and claim that the striking down of Roe v Wade lets states decide…. but they don’t want states to decide, because when they do their anti-woman policies go bye-bye. So, they play games, and they lost this game, and will keep losing these games until they either give up, come to the table on a national referendum to return women the rights they’ve had for half a century, or die on that hill.
I would take either, but prefer both.
The assumption by the Republicans who cooked up the idea of taking the voter’s voice from them was that not enough of them would notice – low turnout in early summer. And so, they changed the rules (even though this same body of “legislators” banned special August elections just last year) and hoped to crush the democratic process.
Although, democracy went all democracy on them.
Democrats, independents, and a surprisingly considerable number of Republicans from districts Donald Trump won by 10 to 15 points voted to strike down this “Issue 1” scam, in some cases by 40 points. The ballot-box slaughter was a vehement rebuke of fascist tactics. In the fall they will lose again.
By the way, as a matter of record and sweet revenge, the final tally was 57% voting “no” on Issue 1, the exact polling number that want legal abortion codified into their constitution.
If August 8 and red-state Ohio standing up for women’s reproductive rights is any indication, the momentum and furor over the disastrous Supreme Court Dobbs decision has not eased. If anything, it has gained fire. Just a few months ago Wisconsin, a severe 50/50 battleground state, elected a liberal judge, flipping the court for the first time in 15 years to stop the draconian anti-women laws sanctioned by state Republicans. This all but guarantees a lawsuit against their unconstitutional shenanigans will be successful and as a bonus will spark a long-overdue redistricting to disallow fascist Republican gerrymandering, which is one of the severest in the nation.
You see, Republicans are in the minority on almost every issue; gun violence, climate change, “Wokism,” LGBTQ+ rights, and abortion, among many others, and have only been competitive because of heavy gerrymandering. They have no national voice – having lost the raw majority vote in every presidential election except one (2004) – for the past 35 years, and with Mr. Soon-to-be- Convicted at the top of their ballot, this will stumble closer to half a century. They must stop you from voting, otherwise they don’t exist. Most Republicans are in their seventies and eighties and the new flock of teen-to-30 voters (Gen Z) are progressive, politically aware, and apparently voting in record numbers. The University of Ohio students had a 95% attendance rate in this August 8 vote.
If I was stupid enough to cling to the Republican party at this juncture, I’d cheat, too, but this latest attempt to do so was sent packing in a red state by a large margin in the middle of summer.
This November they will finish the job and notch another victory for women’s rights and put fascism on notice once again.
