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Republicans are laying the groundwork to completely remake the U.S. Constitution through state legislatures, and theres a good chance they could succeed.

That makes it imperative for Democrats to focus their energies on strengthening the partys representation at the state level to stop this attack on our democracy.

According to recent reporting by Insider, GOP party leaders are making arrangements to amend the Constitution via Article V. In order to build a forever-conservative nation, Republican leaders want state legislators to start thinking long-term about what it takes to pass a constitutional amendmentand many GOP lawmakers from across the country met last month in Denver to discuss launching a constitutional convention.

American Students Barely Know Anything About Reconstruction

This plan, spearheaded by the group Convention of States Action (COS), has received millions from the Donors Capital Fund, as well as from numerous other high-profile Republican donors. COS is led by Mark Meckler, the interim president of the conservative-friendly social media site Parler, and Eric OKeefea longtime right-wing political operative. COS also has the support of high-profile conservatives and Republicans such as Sean Hannity, Ben Shapiro, Mark Meadows, and Ben Carson. Its even endorsed by prominent GOP elected officials, including Govs. Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, as well as Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.

Article V lays out two ways to add amendments to the Constitution.

The first is through the federal government, which requires two-thirds of Congress to pass a joint resolution. By design, this rarely happens (were only at 25 amendments, 235 years after the Constitution was ratified). And in todays highly polarized Senate, where Democrats hold the slimmest of majorities, a new amendment any time soon is all but unthinkable.

But the second option, a convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures in the nation, is a path Republicans are very close to making possible.

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Republicans already control 30 state legislaturestheyd only need three more to be able to call a constitutional convention. This means the upcoming November electionsespecially at the state levelmay be the deciding factor on whether the GOP has the power to radically remake the Constitution.

Sarah Palin waves to the crowd before speaking during the Tea Party of Americas Restoring America event at the Indianola Balloon Festival Grounds on Sept. 3, 2011, in Indianola, Iowa.

Justin Sullivan/Getty

And lest there be any doubt as to the motivation behind a state-driven constitutional convention, COS has stated that limiting the federal government's power is its main goal in a constitution amendment proposal.

Melissa Murray, a NYU Law professor and co-host of the Strict Scrutiny podcast, expressed serious concern over this idea. With amendments that only limit the power of the federal government, theres actually quite a lot Republicans could do, said Murray. Taking away power from the federal government could mean curbing some of the powers of the federal government to enforce the 14th Amendment, it could also mean expanding protections of the 2nd Amendment. This plan has been in the works for years, according to Murray.

With Republicans mounting egregious attacks in state legislatures on the right to vote and abortion accessas well as expanding partisan gerrymanderingit should not come as a surprise that a constitutional convention is now a part of the GOP playbook.

When we talk about these issues in silos, we fail to realize this is all joined together, said Melissa Murray. They (Republicans) are connecting everything under the same organizing principle: to consolidate Republican power in state legislatures. Its why we have gerrymandering and even why we have voter suppression laws.

This crisis has been over 10 years in the making. During the Obama administration, Democrats were singularly focused on advancing federal legislation, like the Affordable Care Act. Democrats assumed this would translate to similar victories in state legislatures. Ultimately, this strategy came with a cost, a major one: Democrats lost 13 governorships and 816 state legislative seats. Moreover, they didn't explain to their base of young, diverse, minority voters that the issues that played into local state elections were equally important as the election of the first Black president.

Republicans during this time launched effective organizing groups, such as the Tea Party, which vehemently advocated for a version of states rights that was in conflict with the American system of federalismthe idea that power should be shared between the federal government and the states. The GOP made sure its supporters understood that there was political power outside of Washingtonand that it existed in state and local government.

In the middle of Obamas first term, Republicans in 2010 were able to win control of the once-in-a-decade electoral map drawing process that defines competitive elections at the state level. This made the district maps easier for them to run candidates in races where it was nearly impossible for them to lose.

A group advocating for a convention of states to amend the Constitution participates at the Independence Day parade.

Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty

Democrats now have to change their strategy. Instead of simply telling voters to give them control of Congress and the Senate, Democrats must emphasize to voters that Republicans still control most state legislatures, and if they remain in power, they can drastically change the Constitution. Furthermore, Democrats running for the state house must drive home the oft-forgotten political maxim that all politics is local. The people in state houses and city halls often have a lot more to do with the policies that affect your day-to-day life and the health of your community than whoevers in charge in Washington.

Amanda Litman, a senior political strategist and co-founder of Run for Somethingan organization that recruits and supports young, diverse progressives running for down-ballot officehas been working to get more progressives elected in state legislatures. Republicans have a longstanding infrastructure even in blue states that give their candidates a leg up. They have been investing in the local races for much longer.

Election Workers Are Under Attack. We Need to Fight for Them.

When asked what Democrats can do to fight back against the threat of a constitutional convention, Litman replied, "Democrats should take the threat seriously. Republicans always tell us what they want to do. We should believe them and think broadly and in the long term of where we should be working to stop this from happening.

There should be no doubt that Republicans are launching an all-out attack on American institutions, whether its the conservative Supreme Court majority removing Americans constitutional right to an abortion or state legislatures passing hundreds of measures to limit voting rights. Democrats cannot afford to waste time. This November, they need to invest heavily in every single state legislature race. Every American needs to understand the GOPs constitutional plans threaten our way of life.

The Constitution has never been a perfect document. In its origin, it permitted the gross inhumanity of slavery and fell short in granting women and all ethnic minorities the right to participate in the political process. But the Founding Fathers, flawed though they were, had the wisdom to create parameters that would allow the Constitution to change with the times.

If Republicans are permitted to run wild with Article V of the Constitution, decades of progress to make our country more fair, equitable, and just could be undone.

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Democrats Need to Win State Elections to Stop Republicans From Rewriting the Constitution - Yahoo News

Republicans who support former President Trump more than they support the GOP climbed to 41 percent in August, up 7 points from May when 34 percent said they supported Trump more than the party, according to an NBC News poll released Sunday.

A slim majority of Republicans, or 50 percent, say they support the party more than they do Trump, the poll finds. But thats down from 58 percent in May.

The former president continues to wield immense influence over the Republican Party. He has heavily influenced the defeat of eight out of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, either by pressuring them to resign or backing primary challengers.

The most high-profile loss came last week, when Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), arguably his fiercest critic in the GOP, was defeated by more than 40 points from a Trump-endorsed challenger.

Trump saw Republicans rally behind him this month yet again after the FBI searched his home in connection to an investigation into whether he violated the Espionage Act, among other statutes, by taking classified documents home with him upon leaving the White House.

Republicans decried the unprecedented search of a former presidents home, calling it a politically motivated witch hunt.

Trump is also fending off a congressional investigation into the Capitol riot, which the panel of lawmakers has claimed was incited by the former president after he failed to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Most Americans, or 57 percent, say the investigations into Trump should continue, according to the NBC News poll.

Updated at 8:23 a.m.

Excerpt from:
Number of Republicans who say they support Trump over GOP rises: poll - The Hill

Though the red-hot ire among conservatives over New Jerseys educational curriculum seems to have somewhat died down since last spring, state Republicans reignited the issue this week, holding a hearing yesterday on state educational standards and releasing a spoof video mocking the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA).

Yesterdays virtual hearing, hosted by State Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-Montville) and several other Senate Republicans, focused on sex education in public schools. Sex ed has been a major source of contention since sample gender- and sexual orientation-focused lesson plans in Westfield, which were not intended for actual use, went viral last spring.

Under the guise of diversity, inclusion, and equality, we have seen what I view as a sexual indoctrination of our children as young as four and five years old, Pennacchio said at the beginning of the hearing. We would expect respect and tolerance for parents and their absolute rights, as parents, to determine what is in the best interests of their children.

Today, Republicans continued on that same tack with a video parodying a recent TV commercial from the NJEA, the states influential teachers union, that called those attacking the state standards extremists.

We should all agree that your kids belong to us, a robotic narrator intones in the GOP video. So stop resisting our agenda, and accept that you have no control over your childrens education. To all the radical extremist parents out there: back off. We are the NJEA.

Republican legislators have introduced a series of bills on the subject, including several limiting when and how sex education can be taught and another that symbolically opposes the state learning standards adopted in 2020. (The learning standards themselves contain little mention of the pornographic and age-inappropriate material Republicans cite, and there is already an option for parents to opt their children out of sex ed.)

Democrats have lambasted the Republican attacks as regressive and anti-LGBTQ, but some Democratic legislators have still taken steps to address parental concerns about transparency. A bill sponsored by State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch) and Assemblywoman Linda Carter (D-Plainfield) increasing transparency in the sex ed curriculum passed legislative committee last spring over the vociferous objection of conservatives who said it didnt go far enough.

See more here:
Republicans rag on state education standards in hearing, ad spoof - New Jersey Globe | New Jersey Politics

By M.D. Kittle

MADISON In arguably one of the most thinly veiled political moves in Wisconsin history, Gov. Tony Evers rolled out a working families tax relief package Tuesday, on the second anniversary of the Kenosha riots one of the Democrats worst failures as governor.

The package of liberal spending initiatives would grab $600 million a year from the states projected robust budget surplus for a 10 percent tax cut, picking winners and losers in tax relief.

Republicans blasted the proposal and its timing.

Tony Evers knows that today is the two-year anniversary of perhaps his largest failure, and hes trying to cloak it over, Tim Michels, Evers Republican challenger in Novembers election said.

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the devastating Kenosha riots which destroyed businesses, burned entire city blocks, and resulted in the loss of life, said Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) in a joint statement. Releasing a tax gimmick is simply a shiny object to distract voters from his failed leadership,

In a classic political CYA move, Evers has much ass to cover this week.

Scores of Kenosha businesses, government buildings, and residential properties were damaged or destroyed in the Black Lives Matter riots in August 2020, causing more than $50 million in damage. The chaos began after a Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man. Evers, without having the facts, fired off an incendiary statement incriminating police. Subsequent independent investigations cleared the officer of any wrongdoing and found that Blake, who was wanted on a warrant for domestic violence and sexual assault charges, had repeatedly resisted arrest, was in possession of a knife and tried to flee the scene with a child.

As has been well documented, the governor was slow to deploy the National Guard, and he failed to provide adequate support when he eventually consented. And Evers initially rejected federal law enforcement assistance from then-President Donald Trump in what clearly was an act of political pettiness.

Faced with all that bad press, declining job approval numbers and a dead heat race against Michels, Evers made a big show Tuesday of the working families package.

Undoubtedly his buddies at the state Department of Revenue have tipped him off that the budget surplus will come in at north of $5 billion, much higher than earlier projections. Much of that windfall of taxpayer cash is thanks to the trillions of dollars the Democrat-led federal government pushed out in COVID aid in an attempt to stave off a recession. The recession is here, and so is historically high inflation, driven by massive federal spending.

Evers has had sole power over some $5 billion in federal COVID aid, which he has used like a re-election campaign slush fund.

Wisconsin families have been through a lot over the past few years, and we know that while our state and economy continue to recover, folks are still worried about rising costs and making ends meet, Evers said. They are. Inflation is the most pressing concern of Wisconsinites, according to a recent Marquette University Law School Poll. That might have something to do with why so many Wisconsin voters (56%) believe the state is headed in the wrong direction, and only 35 percent think its on the right track.

Evers plan includes redistributing taxpayer money, providing a 10 percent tax cut for individual filers making $100,000 or less a year, and married-joint filers earning $150,000 or less a year. He calls it the Family and Individual Reinvestment, or FAIR, tax credit. It leaves some of Wisconsins most productive taxpayers out of the tax break.

This is the same governor who proposed some $2 billion in tax hikes in his two biennial budget plans. The Republican-controlled Legislature nixed those increases and Evers myriad liberal agenda wish list.

Its been fascinating to watch Tony Evers election-year conversion on taxes. He wanted to raise taxes by $1 billion in his budget. Now, he wants to cut taxes as the political winds change, LeMahieu said. If the governor is serious about providing financial relief to Wisconsinites, he could fund it immediately using federal ARPA dollars. Instead, hes using a state taxpayer surplus to create political division.

As the lawmakers note, the last report from the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau in June of 2022 showed Evers had $2.2 billion in unspent ARPA funds and $86 million in unspent CARES Act funds. Although originally meant for COVID relief, the U.S. Treasury has broadened the allowable uses of the funds.

Evers plan again would deliver tax relief tax dollars to Wisconsinites who pay little or no taxes, in the form of an expanded Homestead Credit.

He says his proposal includes other tax credits, for veterans, caregivers and others.

The Republican-controlled Legislature has delivered $22 billion in tax relief over the past decade-plus, including lasting lower rates through reforms to the states money-grabbing tax code. GOP leaders vow to push more sustained tax relief ahead.

Evers tax relief plan has the feel of his election-year plan in January to use surplus money to give every Wisconsin resident a $150 tax rebate. Republican lawmakers rejected that plan, too, calling it an election-year bribe. In campaigning for governor in 2018, Evers attacked a similar plan from then-Gov. Scott Walker.

Were not going to jeopardize future budgets in the midst of a recession to fund a tax gimmick, Vos said of Evers latest proposal. If the projected surplus materializes, we will cut taxes for everyone. We will not pick winners and losers like Tony Evers does with this vote-buying ploy.

Originally posted here:
Republicans rip Evers' election-year 'tax gimmick' - Empower Wisconsin

Dear Editor:

Yes, the title of the Inflation Reduction Act recently passed by Congress is mostly spin. No surprise there. But while the short term effect on inflation might be small, the legislation is a big win for average Americans both in the near term (with healthcare costs) and the long term (helping accelerate the shift to clean sources of energy). And it does that without increasing the deficit. Instead, the wealthiest corporations will pay more and the IRS will be given the resources to crack down on wealthy tax cheats.

All of these provisions have broad support in the general public. And yet not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted for the bill! In their view, denying President Biden a win (and protecting wealthy donors) was more important than helping ordinary Americans.

In the past, I voted for Republicans from time to time but I simply cant do it anymore. From my nonpartisan perch, I dont see Democrats as a whole as being the extremists. For that we need to look at what has happened to the Republican party. The best thing that can happen now is for Republicans to be soundly rejected in upcoming elections. Perhaps then they will regroup into something more honorable and we can move forward.

Sincerely,

Anne Marie HolenSalida, CO

Read more from the original source:
Letter to the Editor: Reject Republicans - by Community Contributor - The Ark Valley Voice