Gaming the System

While I was thrilled that Ohio’s Proposition 1 went down in flames, I’m not as optimistic about any deeper changes coming.

To recap, Prop One was a dirty trick unleashed by the GOP-controlled Ohio state legislature, solely to hamper the efforts to enact statewide abortion guarantees via referendum this fall. It went like this:

·       GOP passes bill eliminating “quickie” August referenda because of low turnout and high costs.

·       GOP realizes there is vast support for a November referendum guaranteeing reproductive freedom.

·       GOP develops their own referendum to increase the point at which a referendum passes, from 50% to 60%, and slides it into the August slot they just wanted eliminated. They know a 60% threshold will be much more difficult to achieve. It also may have given them grounds to legally challenge the abortion referendum, because it also called for petition signatures coming from all 88 counties, rather than around half, which was the previous benchmark.

·       Ohio citizens recognize this blatant end-around of their own will and vote down Prop One 57%-43%. (See, they didn’t come up with “60%” by accident.)

So, just like in Kansas and a couple of other red states, the right to an abortion was upheld by general vote. Naturally, many on the Left were celebrating this victory as a sign of more changes coming.

I wish they were right but I disagree. I don’t think it means anything in the bigger political picture. Sure, it’s linked with one party more than the other, but it’s not the same as pulling the lever beside someone’s name with a “D” beside it.

Like I said when the Kansas vote happened, “I think this motion was shot down because it was just an issue. There were no “politicians” tied to it, therefore, no personal baggage or smears. (Although I’m sure there was plenty of misinformation passed around.) I believe a lot of Republicans voted to maintain the right to safe abortions because they could do it without having to vote for a damned liberal snowflake commie pedophile Satan-worshiping Democrat.”

Look at who voted for these stooges who tried to game the system, in the first place. I don’t think it’s likely that they’re totally in play, when it comes to voting for people. Democrats should make a major push to flip the Independents, though. Just keep reminding people who is pushing the abortion bans and who is fighting to keep healthcare decisions private. Perhaps they can peel off a few rational Republican voters as well, but I’m not looking for a big sea change here. People are reluctant to admit they’ve been wrong.

Speaking of gaming the political system, remember back in April, when a NC state representative flipped to Republican after successfully campaigning as a pro-choice Democrat?

Here’s what I wrote about it at the time:

“Is this the new tactic from the Right? Instead of running against an opponent from a hard Blue district, just run an imposter who can switch teams. This is one of the most depraved things I’ve ever heard of. It shows the lengths these people will go to subvert the democratic process.

“Her seat is important because it gives Republicans a veto-proof Senate, so they can override the Governor at will. There’s nothing you can tell me to convince me this move wasn’t planned ahead of time because, at this time, political differences are so stark, there is little cross-over. A Venn diagram would show the parties in two unbroken circles, several feet apart.”

“Look, you can’t advertise steak and then serve chicken. Or in this case, a bowl of rocks. This one reeks of pre-planning, especially since North Carolina doesn’t have a provision for recall elections.

It looks like NC Democratic leaders are going to have to do a much more thorough job of vetting future candidates.

Now cut to last week’s headline:

Man, sometimes it sucks to be right.

Yep, she was a wavering Democrat when she was approached by the Republican House leaders and persuaded to run in the Democratic primary. (Like it should have been any of their concern.)

It’s fine if she wants to serve as a Republican, but FFS, run as a Republican! You can’t campaign as a pro-choice Dem in a hard-blue district and then turn around and disenfranchise every voter who voted you in! It’s the dirtiest of dirty tricks and Republicans would have a collective hemorrhage if this went the other way around.

I’d like to see an investigation into her finances, campaign and otherwise, to see if there was a mysterious windfall round about the time she was recruited by the GOP, and in April when she flipped. I’m betting that someone provided more than just “moral” support.

In other news of the warped:

This isn’t even about “Woke,” this is about suppressing the idea that children can be friends regardless of race, or in other words, promoting blatant, obvious, racism. A parent complained about a classroom poster that illustrated different colored children holding hands. The parent claimed it was promoting a personal ideology. She said her child was “traumatized and had to switch classrooms.”

How badly must these parents have fucked up this kid to have such a poster cause a meltdown?

What it was promoting was NOT being a bigoted, racist, asshole. But then this is Conroe, Texas, (about 30 miles north of Houston), and they apparently demand the right to be bigoted, racist, assholes. I mean, is cross-racial friendship really that controversial? Maybe in 1950, but surely not any longer. Except maybe in Conroe, I guess.

See, this is one more step in using the education process to promote Republican ideology/racism. After all, the best way to fight racism is to see Black and White children become friends early on. Then they begin hearing the inevitable racist remarks, they have their own experiences to fall back on, which may keep the racist messaging from taking root.

This parent, and the school system who is supporting her, is falling right in line with the new conservative ethos. (Well, maybe “Old” conservative ethos, which was kept better hidden back in the day.)

Perhaps the people of Conroe, Texas might allow for a more poster favorable to their own points of view, say, one depicting brown people on one side, white people on the other, and a giant razor wire-topped wall in between. And a moat filled with Ex-Lax, alligators, and explosive mines.

Sure, that’s a “personal ideology” too, but I’m sure the school board would approve that one.