If Virginians want a glimpse of what a Cuccinelli/Jackson/Obenshain administration would look like - especially with the GOP controlling the House of Delegates - they need only look across the border to North Carolina where the North Carolina GOP is busy implementing a Christofascist/Tea Party agenda which is a wet dream for the extremists in today's Virginia GOP. Programs for the poor and unemployed are being slashed, voter disenfranchisement and extreme restrictions on all abortions are the rule of the day. The Daily Beast looks at how some North Carolinians are waking up to the nightmare that has swept North Carolina and taking to the streets in weekly protests. I hope Virginians are watching and will not make the mistake of trusting the Virginia GOP with Virginia's future. Here are story highlights:
The protests are called Moral Mondays, and are staged by a coalition led by the NAACP and other progressive groups to speak out against the Republican legislature that they say is working behind closed doors to push an extreme agenda.
But Moral Mondays have also attracted a grassroots collection of teachers and students, retirees, stay-at-home moms, and blue collar workers from across the political spectrum who told me Monday the same thing I heard from Tea Party protesters in 2009-- that they did not recognize the government representing them and that they were tired of doing nothing about it.
In a state that had come to be known as a swing state in the Deep South, which Barack Obama won in 2008 but lost narrowly in 2012, the first Republican legislature in more than 100 years has moved to cut funding for public education, unemployment and Medicaid; added new requirements and funding for voter-ID laws; eliminated the earned income tax credit and worked to loosen laws limiting fracking in the state. Earlier this year, the legislature added major new restrictions to abortion services, first as a rider on a bill outlawing Sharia, and then as a clause on a motorcycle safety bill.
"We may not all agree on the issues, but the fact remains (the legislators) did not ask us. It's like we don't matter," she said. "I guess they think we're all stupid and we're not seeing them and we're just going to sit back and not do anything, but I'm not sitting back."
Before the protests, the women went to Christian Faith Baptist Church, where the Rev. William Barber, the president of the North Carolina NAACP, led a training session on civil disobedience and instructed protestors on the finer points of getting arrested. But he also put the agenda of the North Carolina legislature, especially the new voter-ID laws, in what he saw as the context of history for his audience, which was mostly white.
"We know we are in a war for the ballot," he said."Raleigh is our Selma.The general assembly is our Edmond Pettus Bridge."
There's more that deserves a read. What is happening is ugly, but then ugliness and greed and heartlessness are the norm in the GOP today. Virginia soccer moms need to stop worrying about PTA meetings and childrens' sports teams and get out an vote against the GOP ticket here in Virginia if they want their children's schools to have future funding.
No comments:
Post a Comment