The Meth Lab of Democracy

666 Texas laws went into effect today.

- Voting restrictions
- $10k bounties on abortion patients
- Permitless carry
- Whitewashing history

What’s not included?

Fixing the power grid or the COVID crisis.

Republican priorities are clear.
Texans will suffer.

— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) September 1, 2021

Texas Republicans are demonstrating the kind of government Republicans elsewhere might very much like to implement--culture war signifying, not actual, you know, governing. States do pass laws to see what they can get away with, and the Supreme Court, by not acting on the effective date of the Texas abortion ban, has more or less sent a message that a state government can get away with a hell of a lot.

Maybe they are waiting on an actual suit against a provider or other person indicated under the "bounty" part of the law to be referred to them to act, but--fuck. The time that elapses, when pregnant people have not actually six weeks, but days to possibly get reproductive care. The hoops they have to go through. The damage done. 

 Here's where I can't fake my frustration anymore--you can say: vote in every fucking election, all the time, know your local legislators, from the city council to the state assembly/senate, and pay attention to whether your US Congresscritter is a fucking stiff or not. Don't blow off midterms, don't think presidential elections are the end-all of your absolute responsibility. 

But voting rights are absolutely already impaired. Yes, organization is great, and registration drives, and all of it. But living with shitty legislation, aimed at ruining healthcare providers or teachers, or imposing forced birth on female-bodied people, causes so much damage in the interim. 

The leanly-held Democratic US Congress needs to pull a Hail Mary here. End the filibuster, pass voting rights legislation, fuck up the game plan. Put a law on the books that stops this kind of fuckery, and legislate in favor of a woman's right to choose while we are at it. Because if this erosion of abortion rights continues, birth control could be next. And by the same shitheads saying "my body my choice" over wearing a mask or taking a vaccine.

UPDATE: This blog is well aware of which Senator once referred to her own state as a "meth lab of democracy" following on The Daily Show's similar description, and would very much hope that being well aware of the problem, she becomes amenable to this part of the solution.