In states where Republicans control the legislature, American life is rapidly changing

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/06/republican-state-legislatures-changes/619086/

It’s not just voting rights.

Though this year’s proliferation of bills restricting ballot access in red states has commanded national attention, it represents just one stream in a torrent of conservative legislation poised to remake the country. GOP-controlled states—including Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Iowa, and Montana—have advanced their most conservative agenda in years, and one that reflects Donald Trump’s present stamp on the Republican Party.

Across these states and others, Republican legislators and governors have operated as if they were programming a prime-time lineup at Fox News. They have focused far less on the small-government, limited-spending, and anti-tax policies that once defined the GOP than on an array of hot-button social issues, such as abortion, guns, and limits on public protest, that reflect the cultural and racial priorities of Trump’s base.

In part, this sharp right turn reflects a conscious backlash against unified Democratic control of Congress and the White House. Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action for America, one of the country’s foremost grassroots conservative groups, told me that right-leaning voters have shifted more of their effort toward red states because they realize that they currently have no chance of advancing their causes at the national level. But the push, she added, also reflects a determination to elevate social and cultural issues that Trump stressed, after the GOP’s congressional leadership had generally downplayed them in favor of economic priorities such as cutting taxes and regulation. “You can make the argument that the work at the state level is a rebuttal or a critique of too much of the GOP leaving this stuff behind,” she said. “Trump said it matters.”

*snip*

[andym]

1. The Right is only interested in social issues and ignores its supposed economic principles

forget the Tea Party it's almost totally focused on abortion, "cancel culture" and denying people of color voting rights and affirmative action etc.

[CrispyQ]

2. And guns. You forgot their precious guns. -nt

[andym]

3. Oh yes-- you are correct-- can't forget they are obsessed with guns. NT.

[CrispyQ]

4. In 2018, a woman Trumper I know wore a "GOD & GUNS" tee shirt to an Easter celebration,

along with an attitude that was just daring anyone to say anything.

[lagomorph777]

6. There are two "The Rights": The Greedy Right and the Gullible Right.

The Greedy Right (billionaires) are gaming the system to grab all the cash they can. They trick the Gullible Right into voting for them, by promoting fake issues such as anti-abortion/anti-woman policies, racist agenda, massive private arms race, etc.

[andym]

7. I think that is a reasonable distinction-- I guess I would call the greedy Right the selfish Right

and it's not only billionaires-- plenty of middle class folks, including some that I know personally, only care that the government is taxing them to them to the minimum level possible.

[Midnight Writer]

5. If Heritage Action For America is a "grassroots conservative" group,

than I have misunderstood that word all along.

Heritage is invented by billionaires, paid for by billionaires, and does the bidding of billionaires.

Kind of like "of, by and for", except not relating to The People.