General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Rachel gets it - no panic, no freak out, no hand wringing over election [View all]Mike 03
(16,616 posts)I was happy that she confronted the media talking points, but she knows better (we all do or at least should).
It used to be no big deal if a state switched Republican and Dem governors once in a while (California did that a lot) because there were certain acceptable parameters you could expect them to govern within. It used to be a governor was restricted to some degree by conventions, norms and standards.
Right now, though, its self-evident that the consequences of such a change are entirely more severe. There's a playbook that Republican governors share, follow and test with the Courts, that is intentionally designed to rapidly de-democractize the state. You roll back any new laws that make it easier to vote then impose new laws that make it more difficult to vote. He'll probably try to restrict women's reproductive freedoms. If he can do so, I guess he'll relax gun restrictions. Since it seems like he has the legislature, he can begin to sabotage the election boards and districts so that it's increasingly unlikely Democrats will win. He's already expressed his desire to remake education, which is really a shame because Virginia had come so far compared to what it was years ago. What used to be ebb and flow is actually veering towards generational changes where red states share playbooks on how to unmake democracy. Expect to see more culture wars, of course. Another test I expect him to fail is the next COVID variant spike, which will also have dire consequences. It will be interesting to see which governors he emulates.
I'm kind of disappointed, reading the comments, how even people here just swallowed that up without much critical thinking or taking into account the vast difference between fifteen years ago and today.