They have rescinded the rights of many union workers -- especially public workers who have unionized. They have passed laws restricting the right of Americans to vote (in spite of the fact that voter fraud is almost nonexistent). They have passed new laws chipping away at the right of women to control their own bodies (anti-choice laws). They have passed racist anti-immigrant laws that exceed any state's authority under the Constitution. And they have given tax breaks to corporations while cutting programs for the poor, the unemployed, children, and the elderly.
The Republicans were put back in office to fix the economy and create jobs, but they have done everything they can to avoid doing either. Their actions have benefitted only two groups -- the rich and themselves. The laws they passed were designed either to benefit the rich (and corporations) through new tax breaks or to help insure Republicans could win future elections. In other words, instead of acting on the mandate they were given by voters they acted only to help themselves and their rich buddies.
I don't know if the Republicans misunderstood the mandate they were given or just didn't care what the voters wanted. But whichever it was, the voters registered their disapproval of those actions last Tuesday night. Here is some of what the voters did Tuesday night:
MAINE -- This state has a longstanding policy of allowing voters to register on election day, and this policy has worked well for that state. But the new Republican governor and legislature passed a new law making same-day registration illegal. On Tuesday night the voters overturned the restrictive Republican law (in spite of hundreds of thousands of dollars from secret donors spent to campaign for the law).
OHIO -- The Republicans in Ohio, led by Governor John Kasich, passed a law that stripped public workers (like teachers, police, firefighters, and veterans) of collective bargaining rights. On Tuesday, the voters handed Kasich and his cohorts a resounding defeat by overturning the anti-union law they had passed.
MISSISSIPPI -- The Mississippi Republicans tried to outlaw choice in their state by proposing a "personhood" amendment to the state's constitution. This would have defined a fertilized egg as a person, with all the rights of a person in that state. It would have made it a crime to get an abortion or even to use many types of contraception. The voters recognized this was an unconstitutional and vastly overreaching amendment, and they defeated it by a significant margin in Tuesday's election (with 58% voting no on it).
KENTUCKY -- The voters of Kentucky soundly defeated the Republican teabagger running for governor by re-electing current governor Steven Beshear (a Democrat) by a large margin. They also elected Democrats to the statewide offices of Attorney General, Secretary of State, Auditor, and Treasurer.
ARIZONA -- For the first time in the history of Arizona, a state senator has been recalled by the voters. The senator was Russell Pearce, who was also president of the Arizona State Senate. He was also the author of Arizona's draconian anti-immigrant law (SB 1070), and played a significant role in other right-wing moves like "pushing business tax cuts, abortion limits, and union restrictions". On Tuesday, the voters rejected his fringe right-wing views.
Last Tuesday the voters gave the Republican Party a sharp reprimand. They expressed their displeasure with the Republicans ignoring the economy and job creation while giving the rich new tax breaks and cutting programs that help ordinary Americans. It is unlikely that the Republicans will change their policies before next year's election. Too many of them have been bought and paid for with corporate money. Hopefully the voters will, in next year's election, take them behind the metaphorical woodshed and give them the whipping they so richly deserve.
so glad..
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