This is the 3rd part of a series of articles written by dmorista.
See Part 1 here https://ongoingclassstruggle.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-changing-political-power.html
and
Part 2 here https://ongoingclassstruggle.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-changing-political-power.html
The Changing Political Power Configuration of the
United States: Part 3
Written by dmorista
Control of State and Local Governments by Right-Wing Forces
So far I have pretty much focused on the Federal level, reapportionment, elections and political power. But the fact is that control of state and local government is often more important to people’s daily lives. There was a rough equivalence between the liberals and the reactionaries in local and state governments. The right, who were fully capable of comprehending what the demographic changes in the U.S. portended for them, began to move to take control of State Legislatures in the late 1990s.
The State Legislatures races feature election campaigns that cost a tiny fraction of what campaigns, for the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, or the Presidency, require for financial outlays. Furthermore, there was much less focus from the Media, once a State Legislature was seized. In fact, when considering the precipitous decline of local and regional newspapers, and the bowdlerization of TV and Radio “News”, once a State Capital has been brought under Republican control there is very little public scrutiny. There were a number of important legal battles, in which the reactionary dominated Supreme Court (this did not just start in 2020) made it much easier to control populations that were opposed to the Right-Wing Corporate agenda. As an article from Reuters published in 2015 pointed out:
“Since losing the White House and Congress in 2008, the GOP has focused time, money and talent on gaining control of state governments.
“Their efforts have paid off. In the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections, older, white and upper-income voters, including many Tea Party supporters, turned out in force, while Democratic constituencies, including many young and minority voters, stayed home. The result is that Republicans control both the governor’s mansion and legislature in 24 states, 70 of the nation’s 99 state legislative chambers, both chambers in 30 states, plus Nebraska’s single chamber, and 31 governor’s mansions. ….
“Republicans hold super-majorities in many states and have wasted no time in adopting radical elements of the Republican agenda. What they’ve done so far provides a telling picture of what a red America could look like.
“North Carolina is a poster child for how far a red state can go. Though its voters are almost evenly divided between the two parties, the Republicans have overwhelming majorities in the state legislative chambers, and the party has dominated the congressional delegation since the 2011 redistricting. Before 2010, the state’s congressional delegation was made up of eight Democrats and five Republicans. In the 2012 North Carolina congressional races, Democrats won more votes than the Republicans — 50 percent to 48.9. Yet gerrymandering gave the GOP nine seats and the Democrats four. Republicans today hold 10 House seats, though they won only 55 percent of the 2014 congressional vote. The current state legislative numbers are similarly disproportionate: 74-45 in the house and 34-16 in the senate.
“In 2011, when the Republicans took over in North Carolina, they soon began to implement a conservative agenda. They loosened gun rules, limited citizens’ rights to bring civil lawsuits and cut funds for early-childhood education programs. After a state panel warned of rising sea levels from global warming in 2012, the legislature banned any use of climate-change science in setting coastal policy
“In 2013, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key section of the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder, state Republicans immediately introduced and passed a massive voter suppression law — it has 20 provisions, 19 of which make it harder to vote. The law has since been challenged, and a trial has just concluded.
“In that same session, North Carolina reduced unemployment benefits, cut back government regulations, resumed executions and allowed concealed handguns in bars and restaurants. It also repealed the Racial Justice Act, which allowed convicted killers to be spared the death penalty if they could prove racial bias.
“Meanwhile, North Carolina ended its earned-income tax credit, extended tax breaks for wealthy taxpayers and replaced its progressive income tax with a 5.75 percent flat tax. Low-income earners now pay at the same rate as multimillionaires.” 7
Several of the state governments, taken over by the Republicans, changed laws to take the power to determine how elections were held, or stripped Democratic Party members who won state-wide or local offices of the legal powers their offices previously exercised. Another tactic we see in the so-called Red States are moves by Republican Controlled legislatures to undermine the power of local governments. This is an increasingly important issue as the major cities and many of their suburbs are under control of Democratic Party administrations. In Jackson, Mississippi the State Government established a separate right-wing and white controlled judicial jurisdiction inside that majority African-American city. The Texas State Legislature in just the last couple of days passed a law that allows the State Government to seize control of elections in Harris County. Harris County, where Houston and several suburbs are located, is the largest population county in the state and is controlled by local Democratic Party officials. In North Carolina, the State Legislature passed a law that: “ …. banned Greensboro from changing council districts without the permission of the state legislature. All other North Carolina cities and towns don’t need such permission.”8 That law was overturned in court. There have been literally hundreds of such laws and other measures implemented by Republicans who control the Red States.
One example of this tactic is the Eight States that, as of mid August of 2021, had moved the administration of elections from non-partisan boards to partisan organizations controlled by the Republican dominated State Legislatures. These states are highlighted in Map 9 here below.
In a more recent article in Politico, from January 5, 2022, pointed out that:
“In the past year, the Republicans have used their control over state governments to gerrymander congressional districts in their favor, all but ensuring a GOP majority in the House in 2022. They have made it harder for citizens, disproportionately of color, to vote. They have made it easier for Republican officials to sabotage the administration and outcome of elections. Many fear that Donald Trump and his thugs could overturn the results of a free and fair election in 2024, as they failed to do in 2020.
“Meanwhile, despite controlling all of the elected branches of the federal government, the Democrats have not passed the Freedom to Vote Act, which would undo Republican restrictions on the right to vote, establish national rules and standards for access to the ballot, prevent the partisan drawing of congressional district lines, and ensure that state officials cannot undermine elections. (Emphasis added) ….
“Driving the initiatives of the Republicans and the inertia of the Democrats are two forces. The first is the right’s project, decades in the making, to legally limit the scope and reach of democracy. The second is the Constitution, which makes it difficult for the national majority to act and easy for local minorities to rule. What happened on Jan. 6 is far less significant than what happened before Jan. 6 — and what has and has not happened since then. ….
(The process of ensuring voting rights is made much more difficult to achieve by) “ …. anti-democratic actions of Republican politicians, who, in 12 states, control one or both branches of the state legislature despite having won only a minority of the ballots cast or who hold power with disproportionately sized majorities far in excess of the ballots cast for them.”8
The political struggles for control of state governments continue, with lavishly funded and ruthless efficiency and resolve among the Republicans; and a near-fatal slackness among the Democrats. Republicans, where they win control of the state legislatures, but might lose some other offices have not hesitated to change the laws to strip those offices, when held by their opponents, of their previous political power. The current situation of effective control of the various state governmental apparatuses, according to one source (Wise Voter) is shown in Map 10 below.
Of course the most blatant, and hopefully the most disastrous for the right-wing, are the hundreds of Forced-Birth laws passed by the many state legislatures of the Authoritarian controlled Heartland States. The Guttmacher Institute follows these developments closely and produces an interactive map that lists the main aspects of the abortion laws of the states.
In a way the Guttmacher Map understates the real threat to Reproductive Health Care in much of the U.S. Just a few examples of the ongoing attacks on reproductive rights are “ …. the new anti-abortion bill in Arkansas wouldn’t just criminalize women for abortion—but for miscarriages that the state deems that they ‘caused’.”9 In Kansas: “Sen. Chase Blasi, R-Wichita, introduced new abortion legislation (Senate Bill 65) that would allow cities and counties to implement their own abortion regulations, as long as they are stricter than state abortion law.”9, 10
In Texas: “ …. legislators there are trying to find even more ways to restrict abortion—despite the fact that the state has a total ban. (Republicans have been trying to find innovative ways, for example, to punish companies who offer travel reimbursements for employees who need to leave the state for care.)”9 “Rep. Jared Patterson, a Republican from Dallas, has filed a bill that would prevent those companies from receiving tax incentives from the state.
“Rep. Briscoe Cain, a Republican from Deer Park, has promised to file a bill that circumvents district attorneys who won’t bring abortion-related charges. Cain has not yet filed that bill; he did not respond to request for comment.”11
“The legislation would allow the AG to go after said district attorney for any costs incurred from taking over the cases, and would mandate civil penalties: $1,000 for the first case they refuse to prosecute, and $25,000 for each additional cases.” 9
In Florida horror stories abound of women suffering through life-threatening situations; easily avoided before DeSantis ostentatiously signed the State Law mandating a 15 week ban; later the more draconian 6-week ban was signed into law by Ron DeSantis in a sneaky secretive wee-hours ceremony. A ObGyn whose practice is in Tampa wrote, in an editorial, that:
“Six months ago, Florida implemented a ban on abortion after 15 weeks. Over the course of 180 days, we have seen patient after patient grapple with the aftermath that those in Tallahassee never cared to consider. The trauma patients go through to access the care they need is real, and that trauma could have been completely avoided.
“One painful example is the story of a patient …. she was pregnant with twins, and at 20 weeks, her water broke, with one of the twins partially delivering.
“There are significant risks to the fetus when the water breaks this early, including respiratory distress, intraventricular hemorrhage (brain bleeds) and necrotizing enterocolitis (inflammation of the gut that can lead to death). ….
(Unfortunately this patient could not travel to a more enlightened place for the needed medical care and) “Because of the 15-week ban, she was forced to come to the office every day, as she waited in agony for the cardiac activity to stop or for her to develop signs of infection before the hospital would agree to end her pregnancy. By the end of the week, neither fetus had a heartbeat and doctors were finally permitted to end her pregnancy and prevent her from going into deadly septic shock.
“All of this was avoidable before the implementation of the 15-week ban. Before the ban, abortion care was provided to patients experiencing such an excruciating loss to help protect the parent from extreme illness, further trauma, or death. That dignity in health care is no longer allowed in Florida. That potentially lifesaving care is no longer allowed in Florida.” 12
(Caption: Ron DeSantis, all smiles, holds up the 15-week abortion ban he signed into law in an ostentatious ceremony at some right-wing church in April of 2022.)
(Caption: One year, almost to the day, hiding his actions as much as possible from the General Public, DeSantis signs the 6-Week Abortion Ban into law {deceptively named The Heartbeat Protection Act}; signed in a sneaky wee-hours ceremony attended only by fawning employees and reactionary lobbyists.)
In addition to disenfranchising voters and working on passing and signing into law oppressive measures De Santis has also fired various officials who would not cooperate with his far-right agenda. Most notable was the firing of Andrew Warren, the ousted state attorney for Hillsborough County, who said publicly he would not prosecute women seeking abortions, abortion service providers, or parents or professionals providing gender-affirming care to trans-children. Warren took his firing to court, but the Federal District Judge who heard the case and while he agreed that Warren’s firing violated his first amendment rights he said as a Federal Judge he did not have jurisdiction over a state level event. 13
In Nebraska: “ .... Republicans (and one Democrat) are pushing a 6-week abortion ban, dozens of doctors gathered this weekend to speak out against the legislation—which they say would put physicians and their patients in danger. OBGYN Dr. Mary Kinyoun asked, “How close to death do we allow pregnant people to become before we perform a life-saving abortion?” Doctors also spoke about how the law would prevent the state from recruiting and retaining medical professionals. From medical student Tyne Tyson: “Why would I stay in a state that threatens to take that all away from me? All I want to do is my job. Providing my patients with the care they deserve.” 9 (Emphasis added). According to the Guttmacher Institute’s information Nebraska currently has a 12-week ban in effect, therefore all the horror stories from Florida are already even more severe in Nebraska, but that is not enough and reactionary fanatics are pushing for a 6-week ban.
In Idaho a woman: “ …. whose story went viral after she documented being denied miscarriage treatment in a series of videos on TikTok describes her 19-day ordeal and what if (it) {SIC} felt like to have a doctor explain that there was ‘trepidation’ to give her care because of state law: ….” 9
Abortion and Reproductive Health Care Rights and Access are just the most obvious and culturally charged issues where the far-right is constantly attacking the great majority of the population. The other big and widely followed issue is the gun violence situation in the U.S.
Carrying of Weapons
This is an extremely iimportant and prominent issue; the ownership and carrying of guns in public places. Until 2010 only Vermont and Alaska allowed their citizens to carry guns, concealed or openly, in public without a permit. The rapid pace of state legislatures passing open and concealed permitless carry laws, added to the intimidating atmosphere already in place after a previous wave of “Stand-your-ground laws”. “In 2021, Arizona, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and Utah enacted laws allowing permitless carry, and, last year, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana and Ohio did, too”14. “In April 2022, Georgia became the 21st state to do so (pass a permitless carry law) in the past seven years.”15 Now, in 2023 twenty-seven states now allow their citizens to do so, this includes 25 where it is already legal and 2 (Florida as of July 1, 2023 and Nebraska) that have already passed permitless carry laws.
A glance at Map 12, of the states that now have laws in place allowing permitless carrying of guns, shows that it closely mirrors the “Authoritarian Heartland” states I have already discussed here at The Class Struggle.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the American Gun Culture, that is championed by the U.S. Right with increasing support from the Republican Party, are the mass shootings and the most horrific of those are school shootings. The U.S. has an annual death toll from guns of from 45,000 - 50,000 per year; and of those only a couple of thousand are the result of “mass shootings” (defined as a shooting where at least 4 people are killed or injured). From the first major school mass shooting (except for the infamous Austin, Texas University of Texas Tower murder spree in 1962) at Columbine High School in April 20, of 1999 to the killing of 19 children and 2 teachers in Uvalde, Texas last May these events highlight the terrible consequences for average people and the unbelievable callousness of right-wing officials and other supporters of the Gun Culture. Uvalde was unique in that after a while nearly 400 police stood by, until 77 minutes after the incident began, time that was punctuated by different screams and gunfire when the disturbed 18 year old gunman, Salvador Ramos, was apparently still killing children, before they entered that classroom and shot Ramos dead. While Republican State Legislators, Governors, and other officials posture protecting school children from forbidden books and drag shows, a true and growing danger to those children’s very lives is ignored and ridiculed. Of the 200 local and state police, and the nearly 200 Border Patrol and other Federal police, only 3 or 4 have even lost their jobs. A couple of dozen have either been allowed to continue in the jobs they held at the time of the school massacre, or have found other law-enforcement employment. The response to the Uvalde Parents, almost all poor Hispanics, was condescending and bordered on completely and haughtily ignoring of their concerns.16 It is worth noting that several other major public school shootings in the U.S. have taken place at schools in prosperous communities.. The treatment of the parents at those schools did not markedly differ from what took place in Uvalde.
General Considerations
Guns and Reproductive Health Care access are the two most obvious issues in which the State Governments are involved in setting policy. However other issues include election fraud and voter suppression operations carried out by state governments; the stripping away of government protection of the environment including the looming Global Warming problems and issues like sea-level rise that is already affecting some coastal communities; the rights of workers to organize unions; police violence and the huge prison populations the U.S. has; financial access to higher education, severely eroded now by decades of decreased support for public higher education; the immense amounts of money spent on wars and armaments; the ongoing attacks on social programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; the outlandish expense, frequently poor quality, of healthcare in the U.S.; just to name a few issues. In these sorts of questions, much like in gun and reproductive health care access, the core states of the Confederacy, along with a number of plains states and mountain states, are the bedrock support for harsh authoritarian far-right rule.
This is all becoming more obvious as the U.S. Financial / Economic position in the world continues to weaken. In addition as a consequence of over 40 years of generally reactionary rule; the socioeconomic problems inside the U.S. are becoming more severe.
We could continue and look at any of a number of issues and see where the various states fall in their approach to controlling their populations. THere are always interesting exceptions to the general proposition that the states shown in Red in Map 13 make up the hard-core of The New Confederacy (as Collectivist Action has denoted them). But with the caveat that there are still political struggles going on, as highlighted by four states that are cross-hatched in Map 13, the main outline of The New Confederacy vs The Progressive States (shown in Blue in Map 13) has become pretty clear. The major urban areas in the New Confederacy are increasingly progressive islands, existing in the reactionary sea of the New Confederacy. This will be the site of much struggle in coming years.
Notes and References:
7). “One party system: What total Republican control of a state really means”, August 19, 2015, Herman Schwartz, Reuters, at < https://www.reuters.com/article/idUS176029136320150819 >
8). “Opinion | Republicans Are Moving Rapidly to Cement Minority Rule. Blame the Constitution: Democracy is in trouble, but a lawless coup isn’t the real threat”, May 1, 2022, Corey Robin, Politico, at <https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/05/democracy-january-6-coup-constitution-526512>
9). “In the states…”, Jan 23, 2023, Jessica Valenti, Abortion, Every Day (1.23.23), at < https://jessica.substack.com/p/abortion-every-day-12323#details >
10). “Proposed Kansas bill would turn abortion control over to cities, counties: Lawmakers laughed at the introduction of legislation to let local government impose stricter abortion laws”, January 23, 2023, Rachel Mipro, Kansas Reflector, at <https://kansasreflector.com/2023/01/23/proposed-kansas-abortion-bill-would-ban-condoms-iuds-at-the-county-and-city-level/ >
11). “In Texas’ first post-Roe legislative session, there’s a new political power dynamic on abortion: While Democrats and the far-right edge of the Republican Party remain focused on abortion, leaders in both chambers have not yet spent much time discussing the issue this session”, Jan. 23, 2023, Eleanor Klibanoff, Texas Tribune, at < https://www.texastribune.org/2023/01/23/texas-legislature-abortion/ >
12). “Here’s the harrowing story of one of my patients after Florida’s 15-week abortion ban | Column: She was pregnant with twins, and at 20 weeks, her water broke, with one of the twins partially delivering”, Jan 21, 2023, Rachel Rapkin, Tampa Bay Times, at <https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2023/01/21/heres-harrowing-story-one-my-patients-after-floridas-15-week-abortion-ban-column/>
13). “Judge criticizes DeSantis’ firing of Democratic prosecutor but declines to reinstate Andrew Warren”, January 20, 2023, Tierney Sneed & Steve Contorno, CNN, at <https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/20/politics/florida-ron-desantis-democratic-prosecutor-lawsuit/index.html>
14). “Carrying a concealed loaded gun without a permit may soon be legal in most states: Republican leaders in Florida intend to move legislation that would make it the 26th state to allow individuals to carry concealed loaded guns anywhere without permits”, Jan 13, 2023, Adam Edelman, NBC News, at < https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/permitless-concealed-carry-may-soon-legal-states-rcna64947 >
15). “Fact Sheet: Weakening Requirements to Carry a Concealed Firearm Increases Violent Crime: States weakening concealed carry requirements is an increasing trend resulting in rising violent crime”, Oct 4, 2022, Anon, Center for American Progress, at < https://www.americanprogress.org/article/fact-sheet-weakening-requirements-to-carry-a-concealed-firearm-increases-violent-crime/ >
16). “ 2 Deadly Plots, One Small Town. Uvalde Seeks Answers”, June 9, 2022, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Karen Zraick & Eduardo Medina, New York Times: “A year after Uvalde, officers who botched response face few consequences”, May 24, 2023, Joyce Sohyun Lee, Sarah Cahlan & Arelis R. Hernández, May 24, 2023, Washington Post: “Suspended in heartache, Uvalde searches for a way to move forward”, May 25, 2023, Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post.
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