AUSTIN, Texas — House Speaker Dade Phelan late Tuesday signed 52 arrest warrants for Democrats who left the state for Washington D.C. in July and have yet to return to the House chamber for the second special legislative session of the year. (Yahoo News)
American political discourse is supposed to be about compromise, give and take, and a collegial spirit of doing what is best for the electorate.
On January 6, 2020, this went out the window, and as we have seen since, it continues to fall by the wayside.
In the latest bout of my way or the highway which has seen disgruntled GOP (and former) GOP lead states strip away powers from their Governor when they lost control (Wisconsinand North Carolina), or when they disagree with the Governor (Michigan, Minnesota, Kentucky) and other elected officials (Arizona).
Now Texas issues arrest warrants for the minority power (Democrats) who refuse to vote for what is clearly voter suppression laws. Their option, knowing they do not have the votes to override what is clearly a regressive bill, is to ensure quorum cannot be achieved and left the state.
State Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio highlighted the issue clearly:
Have we got to the point where we believe our own bull shizz so much that we arrest our own colleagues. Civil discourse took a nasty turn today.
Civil discourse is no longer civil. And what is happening in Texas around voting rights is the same level of GOP crap that we have seen in Georgia, and other Republican strongholds where following four years of mismanagement at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the American public said enough is enough. And those voices were loudest in the parts of the country where the GOP is now moving beyond gerrymandering and moving to outright vote restriction so this sort of radical politics never happens again.
Welcome to the new normal.