Joshua Green posted an article in BloombergBusinessweek that briefly focused on a unique perspective following yesterday’s Voting Rights Act (VRA) decision by SCOTUS, (also known as the Supreme Court).
For those who are not familiar with any of this, let me provide an abridged background:
Congress passed the VRA in 1965. Until then, a considerable number of (mostly) Southern states required minority citizens (mostly African Americans) to pass literacy tests, pay a poll tax, or overcome other hurdles that were not required of white citizens, in order to vote in an election. Needless to say, those efforts by the Southern states severely dampened minority voter turnout.
The VRA prohibited the imposition of those hurdles, and created a national environment that encouraged voter participation among all races, classes and ethnicities. Congress renewed the VRA numerous times since 1965.
On June 25th, 2013, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the VRA, essentially (and cynically) gutting the act and tossing it to the side of the road. As a result, conservative state legislatures and attorneys general are already implementing new laws that will inhibit, impede or otherwise disenfranchise minority and poor voters throughout their states.
I accuse Roberts, Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas and Alito of callow cynicism because their decision was clearly pulled from the Nudge, Nudge barrel. These otherwise intelligent, conservative men fully understand the trickle down implications of their judicial evisceration.
Moreover, their majority opinion deliberately caroms off the heart of the matter — the continuing scourge of racism in America — and instead tosses the hollowed-out law back into the abyss — often mockingly referred to as Congress — where the wink, wink! justices know the legislation will founder like a disemboweled ship.
“Say no more, say no more!”
However . . .
Like Joshua Green and King Pyrrhus before him, I suspect the conservative triumph carries some unintended baggage in its victory train; a bit of blowback, you might say.
Let me quote something from Green’s article:
In order to expand its base of power beyond the House of Representatives, the GOP needs to expand its appeal to minority voters.
Bingo!
As I mentioned in a previous article, (Grandpa’s GOP), the Republican Party, in its current incarnation, hasn’t a clue about oh, so many things. And one of those things . . . no, make that TWO of those things . . . are first, recognizing it has a problem with its core message, and second, how to get to Point B from Point A. Numerous groups within and without the GOP have spent oodles of money searching for the answer to why they keep losing important elections, and they CONTINUE to come back with, “We need to focus more on how we get our message across!”
Jeez.
In other words, they don’t get it. They don’t seem to understand the basic problem, which is, THE MESSAGE! Look folks, the GOP platform is filled with nasty, hateful things that go bump in the night; things that are serious affronts or concerns to people who:
- Don’t have penises.
- Are not draped in white skin.
- Don’t possess large sums of money or vast amounts of property.
- Have more than a passing concern about our environment.
- Speak English as a second language.
- Are too young to join AARP.
- Don’t think the 2nd Amendment was written by Jesus.
- Believe marriage should be legal regardless of gender preference or orientation.
- Don’t believe our military is too small.
- Believe our intelligence gathering system may be too large.
- Don’t believe a flag lapel pin demonstrates patriotism.
- Think Fox News and most Talk Radio hosts are steaming heaps of ignorant poo-poo.
I could go on and on, especially about that last one.
Since the folks presently running the GOP don’t seem to understand the basic problem, they certainly can’t suss how to fix it. Apparently what’s needed — according to the GOP vanguard — is more effort tamping down the lunatic Republicans who carelessly blather unencodedly (my word) about things contained in the Party platform. That’s a no-no. Even though they, the Republican leadership, post the thing on their website, the stuff in the 62-page platform, (I dare you to read it), is essentially for “Members Only”, thus, anytime somebody says something from or about the platform to outsiders, it first has to be encoded. Otherwise you get headlines all around the country about VAGINAS! and HOMOSEXUALS! and EVERYBODY NEEDS A GUN, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN! and OBAMA’S A MUSLIM AND WAS BORN IN KENYA!
Yeah, that’s still out there.
Anyway, my simple point is, after yesterday’s jaundiced decision by SCOTUS, Conservatives (Big C) in America may be rubbing their hands together in gleeful anticipation, but if I were them, I’d put the banners and balloons back in the attic box.
Despite the attempt by our immovable objects — the very conservative justices — to hold back an irresistible force — progress — the browning of America has arrived, and along with it comes a younger, progressive and more gender-inclusive perspective about Rights and opportunities and national identity.
It is, clearly, something completely different.
