Amanda Marcotte @ Salon writes (March 13, 2016):
While the nation watches the presidential race, there are scary things happening at state legislatures
What's going on in Republican-run state legislatures is just as terrifying as the GOP presidential race
Meanwhile:
It’s easy to get inured to the relentless drumbeat of stories of Republican-controlled state legislatures passing bills codifying the culture war obsessions of the right, and with the Republican primary serving as a distraction, the state horror show is getting less national attention than it usually does. Which is how Republicans like it, because they can maximize the damage while minimizing the pushback. That’s why it’s critical to pay attention, even if it can, at times, be overwhelming.
The republican’s prurient obsession with sex, guns, money, and punishment has been the catalyst for violence against women, the LGBT community, and immigrants on a national scale for many years. Since their 2010 victories, the GOP has gone rabid at the state and local level.
Amanda Marcotte lays it out clearly with this well sourced compilation of republican legislation, state by state.
* * *
Here is some of the low down on the republican forced-birth agenda:
• Florida passed a massive bill that will cut off access to both birth control and abortion, by slashing funding and passing medically punitive restrictions to make it too expensive to offer affordable care to women, especially through Planned Parenthood.
• Indiana’s Legislature has passed a bill that forces a woman to give birth if a doctor has detected a fetal abnormality even a pregnant woman who contracts Zika
• Oklahoma state Sen. Nathan Dahm is pushing a bill that would strip any doctor who performs an abortion of his or her medical license.
• state Sen. Joseph Silk, went one further,authoring a bill that would charge anyone who performs an abortion of murder.
• In Iowa, state Sen. Jake Chapman is trying to make abortion a “hate crime.”
• Missouri, Virginia and Arizona all took steps to cut Planned Parenthood patients off from getting affordable checkups and contraception.
Amanda Marcotte continues with this observation:
But while the obsession with female sexuality is so strong that one is tempted to label it “single-minded,” the sad truth is that state legislatures have plenty of time for other right-wing hobby horses.
Indeed; there is much more to the republican assualt(s):
• Wisconsin’s assembly passed a bill in February that would fine cities, dubbed “sanctuary cities” by right-wingers, that have policies geared to end police violence and harassment of immigrants, specifically Madison, which has a policy of not turning arrestees over to federal immigration unless they are charged with violent crimes.
• Iowan republicans are actually considering removing firearm age restrictions so that children under 14 years old will be allowed to handle and shoot handguns
• Arizona Koch bros Americans for Prosperity enabling lawmakers quietly started moving a bill, allowing twice the amount of ‘dark money’ that can be spent on campaigns, calling it ‘simplifying finance rules’
• Just to make sure “states rights” trump the constitution, Arizona is also pushing a bill that would ban state officials from enforcing any federal executive action, policy or court decision that restricts access to firearms.
• Idaho is considering a law that would ban this nonexistent Sharia Law.
More republican assaults against the LGBT community masquerading as “religious freedom” are in the works:
• Missouri just passed a “religious freedom” law, that codifies and protects anti-gay discrimination despite the noble efforts of Democrats that spent 40 hours filibuster to stop the attack.
• Georgia’s legislature passed similar law labeled “religious freedom” that all but licenses bigots to discriminate against LGBT people.
Not all is going so smoothly with the republican religious extremism pandering though:
• Georgia republican governor Nathan Deal, fearing backlash from his corporate donors and other business interests — is refusing to sign the bill but not without consequences from the religious fanatics:
Now the religious right is casting shade on governor Deal, insinuating he’s not the conservative Christian he clearly is. (He’s just one that doesn’t want to see his state bleed money so a few bakers can be mean to gay couples.)
Amanda Marcotte ends with this:
A lot of these bills will die in the legislative process, of course. But not all. The Florida and Indiana anti-choice bills, for instance, are slam dunks. But even if the bills don’t become law, the frequency and severity of these bills should be alarming.
The state legislatures of red states have become rat’s nests of the worst kind of paranoid right-wing nuttery.
What we’re seeing on the national stage has been bred by years upon years of this nonsense, which is now trickling up and presenting a very real threat to us all.
So as the republican campaign of hate goes on with many people seemingly unaware of it at the state level, the world remains enthralled with the same, nationally, this day — March 13, 2016
— Kudos to Amanda Marcotte for her focused reporting on important matters happening below the radar these days