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The GOP keeps taking on democracy—and losing big


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A core feature of the modern GOP is the party’s open and obvious disdain for
democracy.

That’s not just meant to refer to how Republicans have tied themselves to the
crumbling semi-sentient heap of fascism that is Donald Trump. They also loathe
any uncertainty, and any situation where their objectively terrible,
unconstitutional ideas have to withstand the scrutiny of courts or voters.

But Tuesday’s ballot referenda in both Kansas and Missouri show that voters
are not buying anything conservatives are trying to sell. Voters in those
states overwhelmingly pushed back on right-wing attempts to put their big MAGA
thumbs on the scale.

In Kansas, the state GOP has been furious for years that the state supreme
court ruled there was a right to abortion under the state constitution back in
2019. They came up with the idea that if only they put abortion rights to a
direct vote, their anti-choice vision would prevail. But in 2022 Kansas voters,
in a triumph of direct democracy, decided they didn’t want to ”leave the issue
to the states.” They soundly rejected the GOP’s efforts to enshrine a
constitutional amendment saying there was no right to an abortion.

And I mean SOUNDLY—as in 59.2% of Kansas voters told the GOP to pound sand.

But the GOP doesn’t care what courts say. They don’t care what their voters
say. So their next move was to try to get rid of the state supreme court.





 

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Wait what?

Yes, Kansas currently has one of the best-structured judicial appointment
systems, in terms of insulating justices from political pressure. The governor
appoints people based on a list from a nine-member commission of lawyers from
across the state elected to the job by Kansas attorneys, and some non-lawyers
the governor gets to pick. Then, those justices have to stand for retention
elections every six years.

But that method has not let conservatives stuff the state’s highest court
with MAGA types, and they’re livid, so they came up with a new idea: force a
vote on an amendment radically changing the state’s judicial appointment system
and stuff it on the ballot in a midterm primary election, where people
generally pay far less attention than the presidential general election.

The proposal would switch the appointment system from a carefully selected,
nonpartisan process to dark-money mob rule, with billionaires pumping money
into elections where Kansans would directly elect the state justices.

This would turn Kansas into the sort of circus that Wisconsin has become in
terms of money spent on judicial races, and invite a veritable army of Elon
Musks buying the judiciary.

But Kansas voters gave the GOP a resounding “lol, nope” at this effort, with
a staggering 62% voting no on Tuesday. The Kansas Supreme Court lives to fight
another day, still independent.

In Missouri, the state GOP got very mad that when people directly vote on
initiatives, they do not vote in favor of what the GOP wants. How very dare
they.

Though conservatives have locked down big majorities in the state house and
senate, those elected officials don’t really represent the will of the people
and have no interest in being required to do so.

So instead, Missouri progressives have used the state’s referendum process to
advance abortion rights, expand Medicaid, and make weeeeeed legal, man.

Republicans hate this, of course, so they jammed through Missouri Amendment
4, a ballot measure that would require any citizen-led ballot initiatives to
win in each of the state’s eight congressional districts rather than just
winning a majority statewide.

In other words, it would replace the actual will of the majority with the
will of conservative voters scattered across the state who do not actually
represent the majority. Think of it as affirmative action, but for conservative
voters.

This tanked spectacularly, with 80.3% of Missouri voters laughing in the GOP’s
face at this transparent attempt to dilute their voting power.

Republicans hate their voters, and it really, really shows. But the voters
keep standing strong. You genuinely love to see it.




Click here to check out this story on DailyKos.com.
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