Culture Wars: Republicans Gone Wild
The GOP and the “liberal” mainstream media have been creating a false and dishonest caricature that the Democratic Party is radical and controlled by the left wing of the party. What the GOP and the media does is focus on the most outrageous statement from a liberal Democrat and pretends that particular Democrat represents the entire party.
Election results in 2020 and 2021 debunk this phony theory. In 2020, Joe Biden beat Bernie Sanders by a 52% to 26% margin in the presidential primaries. Moreover, most Democratic primaries are won by Joe Biden Democrats as opposed to Alexandra Ocasio Cortez Democrats. For example, deep blue New York City elected former police officer Eric Adams mayor over more liberal opponents.
That moderate lean of the Democratic Party can also be seen in President Biden’s most recent State of the Union Address. In that speech, Biden said he wanted to “fund the police.” Only one Democratic member of Congress disagreed with that portion of Biden’s speech.
This phony perception that far left woke Democrats control the party began in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election in which Glenn Younkin prevailed by running against critical race theory (CRT.) The entire premise of Youngkin’s campaign was a fraud since CRT isn’t taught at the K-12 level in Virginia. Nonetheless, mainstream media reporters praised Youngkin’s alleged “savvy” in perpetrating this lie.
Since Youngkin has been inaugurated, the mask has come off and he has governed as a Trump extremist. Shortly after he took office, Youngkin set up a so-called “snitch line” which allowed parents to report teachers who taught about allegedly divisive subjects. Subsequently, Youngkin unsuccessfully attempted to cancel a minimum wage hike and roll back gun safety laws. Youngkin’s extreme actions have driven his approval ratings down to the low 40s. Nonetheless, Youngkin told his constituents he was “having a ball.”
Youngkin’s deceptive moderate toned campaign and subsequent sharp turn to the right indicates that it is the Republican Party that is controlled by radicals. What’s happening in Virginia now is a microcosm of what’s happening at the state level across the country. The Republican Party is extreme and governing against the will of the majority.
The best example of the GOP’s contempt for the will of the people is in the area of women’s health care and abortion rights. For decades, approximately 70% of the voters have supported the Supreme Court’s holding in Roe v. Wade. This venerable precedent is widely expected to be thrown out or gutted later this year by the Republicans on the Supreme Court.
Republicans at the state level are already passing near total abortion bans in anticipation of this ruling. In Texas, Republicans passed a law that allows anybody to file a private lawsuit against a woman who obtains an abortion and against anyone who helps them. Already, the five most extreme Republicans on the Supreme Court affirmed this Texas law in the middle of the night without briefs, oral arguments or a written opinion.
Other states have followed the lead of Texas. Kentucky recently passed a near total abortion ban and Florida passed a 15 week abortion ban. Republicans in Nebraska tried and failed to pass a near total abortion ban. What makes today’s laws so extreme is that they no longer contain exceptions for rape and incest. Polling for years has indicated that approximately 80% of Americans support these kinds of exceptions.
Missouri is poised to go even further to the right of Texas and Kentucky. Republican lawmakers in Missouri are on the verge of passing a law that would allow citizens to sue women who obtain a legal abortion in another state. Moreover, lawsuits could be filed against the doctor and anybody who helps the women.
The radical right isn’t only targeting women — it’s also targeting transgender children and the LGBTQ community. A Utah bill barring transgender youth athletes from playing on girls teams was so extreme it was vetoed by Utah’s Republican governor. Governor Spencer Cox contended that this law targeted at risk children who already have high rates of suicide attempts. The Utah legislature voted to override Cox’s veto even though only one transgender girl playing in K-12 sports who would be affected by the ban.
The LGBTQ community is in the GOP’s crosshairs in Florida, which passed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. This law bans teachers from holding classroom discussions about gender identity or sexual orientation between kindergarten and the third grade. That sounds somewhat reasonable on the surface but the Florida law also contains a provision which empowers parents to file lawsuits against school districts that allegedly violate the ban. This opens up any school district that is accused of violating the law to the possibility of protracted litigation and crushing attorney fees.
The reality is that the Republican Party — not the Democratic Party- is controlled by extremists who are out of step with the mainstream on cultural issues. The GOP’s over reach in its culture war could backfire on them and create an opening for the Democrats in November.
Every Republican running for governor is an extremist who wants to turn the clock back in Nebraska. The only candidate offering any real solutions to our problems is State Senator Carol Blood. At a recent candidate forum, Blood said it best: “If you’re unhappy with how things have been the last few decades, if you’re unhappy with the fact that your property taxes are too high, then I’m going to ask you, Why do you keep voting the same way?”
State Senator Carol Blood has the experience to actually tackle Nebraska’s problems. She is the only candidate talking about genuine issues and solutions. If we are going to elect Carol Blood governor, we have to do more than vote for her. We have to contribute both our time and money to her campaign. We can do this! Let’s get it done!