Most people work just hard enough to not get fired, and get paid just enough not to quit George Carlin
You know, there are times when the arrogance of Republicans with power is terrifying, and then there are times when it is just hysterical. And what we have brewing in Iowa right now definitely fits into the hysterical category.
If there is one thing that most political creatures learn when they’re still wandering in Pampers knocking on doors in the precinct to pay their dues is, that there actually is one political absolute. And that absolute is that once you give the voters something, especially something that makes their lives easier, or profits them personally, you take it away again at your own peril.
This is why the Democrats fight like hell to pass or increase the benefits in social safety net programs when they hold the power, and why the GOP are on their hind legs every single time to oppose it. Just look at history. The GOP has spent 50 years ginning up their base by promising to cut social security and Medicare benefits if they win, without actually ever daring to touch social security and Medicare. The last GOP President to tinker with Medicare was George W. Bush, who went from trying to privatize it to trying to fix the doughnut hole in prescription drug coverage. Yeah he actually expanded something his party wanted to erase.
Here’s why this matters. Yesterday the state of Iowa held their primaries, Better known for their bulky, inefficient, and comical caucus process to pick presidential candidates, when it comes to all the rest of them sanity reigns. So, yesterday they held their primaries.
And it turned out to be a blockbuster of a primary. The state blew through their previous high for primary turnout, and participation was at a record level. It went so smoothly that when it was over, the Iowa Secretary of State sent out a celebratory tweet, with fireworks exploding, and the words good job!
What made this primary such a rousing success story? The GOP Secretary of State had their GOP head out of their ass for once. Having learned from the nightmare GOP performance in Wisconsin, and having a robust coronavirus outbreak of their own right now, well in advance the Secretary mailed out mail in ballot applications, and sent out ballots to everyone who responded. Obviously, a shit load of people responded.
And what was the reaction of the GOP dominated Iowa legislature to this small “D” democratic experiment? Totally predictable. They immediately went back into session to start rafting legislation that will bar the Secretary of State from trying to pull a similar stunt come November. Yeah, they want to drive people back out to the polls, because Wisconsin worked out so well.
Christ Jesus, I hope the lousy buggers pull this off. Because if they do, then I believe that they will have just legislated themselves out of a job. Obviously with the approval of the GOP Governor, the GOP Secretary of State gave the people a quick, easy, safe, efficient way to vote, and apparently everybody loves it, not just the idea, but the reality of it. And the GOP legislature wants to take it away because they fear for their phony-baloney jobs. Which they may lose anyway for being such a bunch of Scrooges.
Look, as opposed to some other subjects, on this issue, I know of what I speak. For the first 48 years of my life I grew up as a neighbor of Iowa, living in Chicago, Illinois. And even if you take the coronavirus off of the table for the moment, this is still an incredibly dangerous thing for the Iowa state GOP to try to do.
After all, we’re not talking about Las Vegas, Phoenix, or Miami here. We’re talking about freakin’ Iowa here! In places like Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, by the time Halloween rolls around they’ve all already had their first hard freeze. And since Mother Nature is a fickle lover, why not throw in a bone chilling hours long rain, or even sleet, just for the hell of it. Voting in the Midwest and Great Plains states is often more of an act of civic devotion that it is in more temperate climes.
And the Governor and Secretary of State in Iowa just gave people an easy out from all of that. And the test drive was nothing short of a rousing success. OK, now go ahead and throw the threat of a resurgent coronavirus back into the mix. And now the GOP dominated legislature wants to shitcan the whole thing, and send people back to business as usual.
Iowa’s Governor is already under increasing pressure for her politically dyslexic response to the coronavirus. If the legislature gets this done, I can see a huge backlash vote from normally faithful GOP voters who want to throw the bums out, and get their vote by mail system back. And if they vote Democratic down ballot in revenge, what do you think that the odds are that at least some of them will vote Democratic up ballot to complete their payback?
If the GOP legislature in Iowa succeeds, what they’ll ultimately succeed at is making this a single issue election in Iowa. All every Democratic challenger has to do is to lead off every speech or event with a promise to restore vote by mail if elected. Then you can move onto other issues, like the coronavirus response, but start with the milk and honey.
The funny thing is that the Democrats had nothing to do with giving away this particular little goody, the GOP did it themselves. And now the moire rock headed of them want to take it away again. And that one simple gesture could run an important general election state blue, and just in time for redistricting next year. I love it when they eat their young!
To know the future, look to the past.before the insanity of the 2020 election, relive the insanity of the 2016 GOP primary campaign, and the general election, to see how we got to where we are. Copies of President Evil, and the sequel, President Evil II, A Clodwork Orange are available as e-books on Amazon, at the links above. Catch up before the upcoming release of the third book in the trilogy, President Evil III: All The Presidents Fen
Follow me on Twitter at RealMurfster35
This is all so grossly unfair to writers of ‘The Onion’.
I know, but while you can’t make this shit up, you sure can have fun with it…lolo
I really don’t understand why the GOP-T hates vote-by-mail – given how much of their base is rural, or older, it should be a natural for their support.
The same thinking applies to them perennially wanting to slash social security and medicare. Makes no sense, but they talk it.
The reason is simple. The easier it is to vote, the more likely the right will lose. Gerryymandering, voter suppression/exclusion, opposition to drive-through registration etc, are all beneficial to democracy and not the authoritarianism of an sort.
After all my 74 years in Iowa, I have NEVER experienced the effect of a president that is dead from the neck up … no time to be a real president too busy being the ME only counts dink he is …
There have been ups and downs before, but absolutely nothing so screamingly stupid as Trump …
This STUPID DANGEROUS dumb ass has and IS STILL killing thousands of US citizens, but low and behold, here comes more stupid from the Republicans, our vote by mail has been SO smooth and enjoyed by all the baby boomers who find it more difficult to get to the voting sites … we have been a star example of how the system works so well, AND then there is this, absolutely no screwing with the votes, machines scan the paper ballots and totals the results, and the paper trail is automatic for recounts and scans – DONE, clean and neat … once filled in and mailed in, the post offices handle them carefully, after the counting ballots are received, the outer envelope with your name on it is checked off the received vote list and the outer envelope is destroyed and your name is put on the vote received list and the secret inside vote envelope is opened and scanned as if you handed it over to the scanners yourself, then the filled in ballot goes into the counted ballot boxes, all the scanning and counting votes is supervised by members of both parties, like those that supervise the voting places themselves.
NOBODY ever knows how you voted personally, just summarizes the total votes which are hard wired to the backbone circuits no possibility of Trumpers’ screwing that up … beautiful system and with Every registered voter getting a copy of the application for vote by mail, all mail prepaid, no cost to vote … the county office, loads your request for a ballot, marks your name as a need for a ballot, their computer records sending the ballot to you so you can check to see if they mailed it, so there is check and follow up system that could find ANY messing around with ballots before or after you vote, real tight and smooth, no record of anyone losing their right to vote in Iowa, so far ….
The Republicans want the public to write in a request for a ballot by a certain time, adding another parameter to the vote process all these registered voters would NOT receive the returnable request for a ballot like now, so stupidly another tripper to keep us older folks from voting again … stupid
Agree wholeheartedly, but if anyone can find a way to f*** this up, rethugs will. Just look at the 2018 congresional race in NC, where a rethug operative had absentee (mail-in) ballots sent to him, and he sorted them and threw out those against his candidate. As a result, after he was found out, a new election had to be called, and I HOPE he either went, or will go to jail. And they say DEMS cheat??