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How easily the radicalized GOP dismantles democracy at every level where it holds power. The Ohio legislature is outrageous.
GOP canine motherfuckers done caught the car they were chasing and in 2024âto mix my metaphorsâtheyâre gonna reap the whirlwind.
This is very encouraging. Doctors are really impacted by abortion bans, and since they are on the front lines of this war on freedom itâs vital they get active and exercise their standing and oaths.
Teachers and School Administrators need to do the same on their critical rights issues (Iâm thinking Houston and Florida and Texas here).
Yes, except that calling them âoutrageousâ really understates the case.
Raising the votes required to pass is only the start of things. Currently, an initiative drive has to gather signatures amounting to 5% of the votes cast for Governor at the last election in half (44) of Ohioâs 88 counties. Issue 1 raises that requirement to 5% of the votes cast for Governor at the last election in all 88 counties. Those counts are on a county-by-county basis, by the way: itâs not 5% of the votes cast for Governor state-wide with representative signatures in all counties.
It also eliminates the ten-day period for curing signature problems. So, if you had a couple of signatures denied in Vinton County (<8500 registered voters) and that took you below the required 200 signatures you had to collect youâre fucked. You have to start the signature campaign all over again, from scratch. Under the current rules, you have 10 days to contact the voter(s) whose signatures were disallowed and overcome the Secretary of Stateâs objection to the signature.
What Pete Seeger said about management in Talking Union Blues is true of todayâs GOP:
We need a thousand pickets and theyâll all agree:
Theyâre bastards!
Unfair!
Bet they beat their wivesâŚ
Back to the origins: Self-righteous Samuel Alito thinks he knows more than any doctor. He thinks he knows more than anyone. He thinks he is all knowing and accountable to no one.
Understatement has its uses.
The Republican-controlled Ohio legislature passed a law last year banning special elections, citing their low turnout and high costs, but state lawmakers scheduled this Augustâs election despite the ban.
The party of law and order passes a law banning special elections then schedules a special election that violates the law they just enacted. How does that work?
Yes, @discobutt, Itâs Okay If You Are A Republican is a complete fucking sentence.
No, theyâre not. Theyâll just change the rules so they can never be questioned. Itâs only a matter of time before they outlaw elections altogether. The biggest failure of the left is the failure of imagination. Michael Moore kept saying trump would quit because being president was âtoo hard.â Moore couldnât imagine Trump simply not doing the job. Likewise. everyone on the left keeps imagining Republicans difficulties assuming they have to operate within in the confines of the law, and reality. Well, fuck that. They just invent their own reality and change the rules - how is requiring 60% to pass even constitutional? Why not make it 100%? Imagine the worst if you can.
But for the same reason, abortion rights, in MO there is also ratfuckery afoot from the GOP. A voter initiated petition is stalled because of the MO AG, and now the MO SoS who is running for Governor is doing his part to keep this off the ballot. Even the MO Supreme Court told them that they have to group a chance to get the signatures on the ballot. Time keeps on ticking where getting the enough signatures on a correctly worded voter petition on the ballot is getting tight on deadlines.
Beene prepared for backlash when she and other Ohio physicians came out against abortion bans. But she didnât expect that lawmakers would try to change the rules needed to pass a citizen-led amendment just months after the coalition started to collect signatures.
Not âlawmakersâ, Republicans.
This the state GOP that took bribes to bail out Ohio nuclear power companies by raising Ohio ratepayer rates. This is the state GOP that has repeatedly ignored the Ohio Supreme Courtâs order that their 2022 gerrymander was unconstitutional. They are well versed in methods to sidestep the will of the voters, law and even the Ohio constitution to get their way.
Donât be surprised if even after reproductive rights get enshrined in the Ohio constitution, the Ohio GOP will ignore it. The only durable solution is to kick the Ohio GOP out of power.
They love to spout âweâre a republic, not a democracy!â
Because they oppose majority rule and donât respect the will of the voters.
Now that Ohioans got approval to gather signatures to put abortion rights on the ballot, Republicans are now trying to increase the requirement for its approval â from a simple majority to 60 percent.
They did it in Florida when we passed a classroom-size referendum and Gov. Jeb came up with a âdeviousâ plan to undermine it.
They did it again when we passed a referendum to restore voting rights for felons who did their time.
This could be a big deal past just the abortion issue. Doctors have for a long time tended to be reliable republican voters and funders because tax breaks and ego. If they move into the D column they could pull others with them. (Especially in other areas, such as medicare, politics has become a public health issue.)
I know, Iâm dreaming again.
Itâs gotten really sad here in MO, Republican controlled for 20 years, when the public has to remind a whiny Republican state legislator that the problems he is decrying were brought forth by his own political party.
Right. We should all give up.
Itâs not a dream. Health care workers will be joined by teachers and librarians fighting against the Dark Ages agenda of the reactionaries.
Hey, if they can go after DisneyâŚ
I referred to Pete Seegerâs Talkinâ Union Blues above:
We need someone to write Talkinâ Democracy Blues.
Thatâs not what I said.
But crossing your fingers is just plain stupid. How many times do you need to be wrong before you figure out that hoping and wishing is a complete waste of time?