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US state supreme courts were once dominated by Democrats. A concerted effort by right-wing groups has changed that - with massive implications for abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and elections.
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- Title
- How Republicans flipped America's state supreme courts
- Published
- Jul 24 2023
- Word count
- 5397 words
this shit infuriates me. at the federal level, Biden was urged to do some form of court reform of federal courts. he went the cop-out route and appointed a commission to study the problem and produce a report:
a big objection to court reform at the federal level, coming from moderate Democrats, was "what's to stop Republicans from doing their own version of court reform when they're in power?"
...when in fact, Republicans were already doing their own version of court reform. Democrats unilaterally disarmed.
I dont know why dem politicians act like anything ever stopped Republicans from doing what they want.
There's a certain symbiosis, no? A lot of Dems are in power by virtue of simply being not Republican. Now actually legislating, that's risky. That could alienate donors and voters. Instead you could sit back and do essentially nothing, at best makes some strongly-worded comments about your Republican peers, and have a seat in congress for decades.
Yet another in the long list of criminal incompetence of professional Democrats over the last 40+ years - thanks DNC!
As I like to say, "Democrats: Putting the Point-Two in America's 1.2-Party System!"
I always find it interesting when people blame the Democratic party for things which are the result of Republican party malfeasance.
Implicit in these types of message is the presumption that the actions of the Republican party are expected, and good, and justified. It is only the Democratic party that should be blamed for their inability to - I don't know what - to be as equally evil? to be even more righteously good so as to counter the evil?
Saying that Democrats are to blame for the results of the Republican party's nefarious actions is like saying that atheists are to blame for molestation in the catholic church.
A lot of the frustration appears to be with the fact that Democrats barely even talk the talk. They never start legislation from all idealist standpoint, instead only putting up minor watered down changes which are quickly stomped on by Republicans. No the Dems haven't had the numbers to just do what they want but neither do they even try to inspire. Hillary and Biden were both "change nothing" candidates in running. Similarly, we don't see local candidates doing much more than running as the "not Republican" choice.
So yeah, it's the Republicans fault that legislation gets blocked but the Democrats haven't really tried changing the political landscape either.
the general pattern I've observed is that Republicans, when they have access to the levers of political power, actually use that power.
as someone on the left, the things Republicans do with that power are almost always things I disagree with. but I have a tiny, begrudging bit of respect for them, nonetheless. they make promises on the campaign trail to do shitty things, then if they get elected and have a presidency or governorship or legislative majority, they actually follow through and try to do those shitty things.
meanwhile, one of my biggest frustrations with Democrats is that they seem almost afraid to exercise political power when they have it.
so it's not blaming Democrats for Republican malfeasance, as you put it, but rather asking Democrats "Republicans use their political power to do bad things, why are you so hesitant to use your political power to do good things?"