How Much Damage Have Republicans Done in the States?
The 2018 election marked at least a temporary end to Republicans rise to power in many states. With full control of 26 states, Republicans had built a sustained opportunity to transform American subnational government.
Liberals certainly feared the worst. Dark portraits of the Koch brothers network and the American Legislative Exchange Council (known as ALEC) suggested that Republicans were in a position to fundamentally reorient states to scale back public services, serve corporations and the rich, and impose a conservative social agenda. Democrats, from this perspective, would need years, if not decades, to reverse the trend.
The Republican Party still controls many more state governments and legislative chambers than Democrats nationwide. But the fact is, the Republican results at the state level have not been very impressive. Republican-controlled state governments largely failed to enact policies that advance conservative goals. They have been effective at staying in power but have not altered the reach of government or its socio-economic impact.
Democratic fears were, as my new research details, overblown. State expenditures have continued to rise, especially in areas Democrats prioritize like health and education. Republicans slowed the growth of new liberal policies in the states but failed to reverse liberal gains or overwhelm them with new conservative laws. Conservative policies like right-to-work and private-school vouchers did pass in some states, but so did liberal policies like gay rights and drug decriminalization.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/19/opinion/states-republicans.html
lapucelle
(18,245 posts)in VT. His record: he vetoed an increase in the minimum wage, the creation of a paid family leave program, and contracted with a for-profit prison to house some of Vermont's incarcerated in a Mississippi hell hole also won re-election in Vermont. (This is especially troubling considering that, while POC only make up 1% of VT's state population, they make up 11% of the prison population.)
Among the Democrats who lost their races last in November was the Democratic candidate in the Vermont gubernatorial race, Christine Hallquist, the nation's first transgender candidate for governor.
She ran on a platform that included a $15 an hour minimum wage, the creation of a paid family medical leave program, working with like-minded states to implement universal healthcare cooperatives, and protecting collective bargaining and workers rights.
https://www.christineforvermont.com/
This was a missed opportunity.
CrispyQ
(36,457 posts)We should challenge the GOPs claim of the word conservative; their claim of the party of small government; their claim of fiscal responsibility; their claim of the party of God; their claim of right to life, their claim of personal responsibility.
We should dust off that old Joe Conservative essay & come up with some good one-liners for each issue mentioned. Truthful one-liners, not GOP falsehoods like No Child Left Behind, & Clean Skies, Healthy Forests, & the king of them all, Trickle Down Economics. But people remember those one-liners. People remember Make America Great Again. What was the dem slogan? Who knows? We suck at slogans.
For 40 years we've let the right control the political narrative. To this day we don't challenge right wing hate radio. Tom Steyer should team up with the DNC & other dem orgs & buy a radio station or two in the heartland. Pay for top notch writing talent & challenge the right wing message of hate that blankets rural America, with a message of humor & facts, & run the damned station at a loss if you have to.
Mersky
(4,980 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Make it two hundred!
Gooood morning Omaha! Welcome to hate-free radio! New format today! Get out your Q-tips because we're going to clean a lot of disgusting ooze out of your brain today!
appalachiablue
(41,123 posts)BigDemVoter
(4,149 posts)He has fucked EVERYBODY, and the repigs have aided and abetted every rape that motherfucker has committed.
Eugene
(61,865 posts)though not for lack of effort.