Voters Rebel Against Effort By Missouri GOP To Kill Voter Rights
By Jim Hightower Photos: YouTube Screenshots It’s no secret that voters are increasingly disgusted by today’s extremist, right-wing Republican lawmakers. But less known is the fact that extremist GOP lawmakers are even more disgusted by you voters! They’re so disgusted that a top legislative priority of Republican leaders in the White House, Congress, and state legislatures is to rig election rules, literally to rule-out issues and voters they don’t like. For example, Republicans in Missouri (the “Show Me” State) showed us what they’re made of by attempting to kill the people’s right to amend their state’s constitution. Missouri and 25 other states have long provided a citizen-led initiative process so the people can propose and pass their own laws, rather than always depending on politicians to “do what’s right.” Yes – it’s direct democracy! But the people (damn them!) have been passing things like providing health care for the poor and raising the minimum wage. So, “No-no!” screeched Republican leaders and corporate lobbyists, who otherwise control the entire state government. In a perversion of people power, they wrote a ballot initiative that, effectively, would leave direct democracy “dead” in Missouri. Clever, huh? Use the initiative process to kill the initiative process. But the people rallied, exposed the fraud, and in a massive turnout of voters in last week’s elections 80 percent – 80 percent! – rejected the establishment’s anti-democracy ploy. Missourians showed ‘em – but anti-democracy elites are now pushing direct-voter bans in 15 other states, including Arizona, Florida, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Utah. To keep track and shove back against these plutocratic power grabs, connect with the nationwide monitoring and grassroots campaigns of the Fairness Project: thefairnessproject.org. Jim Hightower’s Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Black News 
Photos: YouTube Screenshots
It’s no secret that voters are increasingly disgusted by today’s extremist, right-wing Republican lawmakers. But less known is the fact that extremist GOP lawmakers are even more disgusted by you voters!
They’re so disgusted that a top legislative priority of Republican leaders in the White House, Congress, and state legislatures is to rig election rules, literally to rule-out issues and voters they don’t like. For example, Republicans in Missouri (the “Show Me” State) showed us what they’re made of by attempting to kill the people’s right to amend their state’s constitution. Missouri and 25 other states have long provided a citizen-led initiative process so the people can propose and pass their own laws, rather than always depending on politicians to “do what’s right.” Yes – it’s direct democracy!
But the people (damn them!) have been passing things like providing health care for the poor and raising the minimum wage. So, “No-no!” screeched Republican leaders and corporate lobbyists, who otherwise control the entire state government. In a perversion of people power, they wrote a ballot initiative that, effectively, would leave direct democracy “dead” in Missouri.
Clever, huh? Use the initiative process to kill the initiative process.
But the people rallied, exposed the fraud, and in a massive turnout of voters in last week’s elections 80 percent – 80 percent! – rejected the establishment’s anti-democracy ploy.
Missourians showed ‘em – but anti-democracy elites are now pushing direct-voter bans in 15 other states, including Arizona, Florida, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Utah. To keep track and shove back against these plutocratic power grabs, connect with the nationwide monitoring and grassroots campaigns of the Fairness Project: thefairnessproject.org.
Jim Hightower’s Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
