Machiavellian or Kafkaesque

In Colorado this week two Democratic state senators were recalled from office due to their votes in favor of sensible gun laws earlier this year. The senators, John Morse of Colorado Springs and Angela Giron of Pueblo, told Lawrence O’Donnell, host of the Last Word on NBCNews.com, that a court order which blocked voting by mail for the recall contributed to their loss. The court order concerned legal conflicts in two state laws, and the state’s constitution regarding the amount of  time that is allowed for submission of candidate petitions.  Increased turnout may have resulted had voting by mail been allowed.

 

Rachel Maddow on the recall of of two state senators in Colorado. 

The recall in the Centennial State underscores a dramatic transformation that has taken place in American politics and governance in the last two decades. Extreme polarization (particularly within the ranks of the GOP) has resulted in a peculiar intolerance for disagreement in all matters of public discussion. From Colorado to North Carolina, this peculiarity is being expressed in what can be viewed as either Machiavellian or Kafkaesque ways. In either instance it represents a radical and disturbing departure from the American ideal of democracy through representative government. In Colorado, both Senators Morse and Giron would have been up for reelection (provided that they were not subject to term limits) in 2014. Why the need to recall them now, in a costly special election? The recall did not and will undo the gun control laws that were passed, nor will the recalls cause a shift in the balance of power from Democrats to the GOP in the state senate. The recall then was but an expression of fanatical insularity that is at once perverting and corrupting to democracy.

 

In the state of North Carolina we have seen a similar disturbing trend that is, again, either Machiavellian or Kafkaesque. The Tar Heel state legislature is controlled by Republicans and that majority has passed laws designed to suppress the voting power of collective groupings of Americans including minorities, college students and senior citizens. The GOP majority in the North Carolina legislature voted (in a rather unChristian manner)  to end early voting on Sundays, a move ostensibly aimed at obstructing “souls to the polls” voter mobilization efforts of African American church goers. The Republican controlled North Carolina legislature also passed a law shortening the amount of time for voting by mail. And, in one very “Kafkaesque” example Republicans actually voted for a tax increase to penalize the parents of college students who have the gumption to vote where they go to school instead of where their parents live. 

Colorado and North Carolina illustrate the sweeping fanaticism that has engulfed the Republican Party. So called activists with long held abhorrent views and prejudices are being presented as thought leaders rather than the voices of rational Republicans. These GOP activists know nothing of give and take politics and have shown themselves to be incapable of operating within a fair system that allows all people to participate in representative government. The result is costly recalls, gross gerrymandering of legislative districts and changing laws (in unconstitutional ways) to disenfranchise whole groupings of American voters. But, how long can such a center hold before crashing in on itself? To quote The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, “How long? Not long.”  

The demographic shift from Babyboomers to Generation X and Millennials is not coming but - is already here. Gen X and Millennial voters have shown a clear aversion to GOP politics and policies. Yet, when it comes to the present/future make up of America, Republicans can’t seem to find enough ways to sow the seeds of undesirability and un-electability for themselves.  

 

Brent Scott
Executive Director
Vote By Mail America