Tennessee, Chaos, and Democracy

The first of three Democratic Reps to be expelled

The second update, Representative Justin J Pearson, was also expelled. I will let you figure this out. One is a white woman who survived the vote. The other two are two young, extremely well-spoken, black men.

They are not trying to hide it any longer. This is hardly about democracy but teaching a lesson to people they do not want to share power with.

Update: Representative Gloria Johnson was not expelled. The vote failed by one vote.

Let me turn attention from the Russian Federation to Tennessee and the expulsion of three lawmakers for engaging in protected speech activities. This is exactly how autocrats who do not believe in democratic norms take over democratic societies.

Republicans don’t believe in democracy, and at this point, they want to destroy democracy. This is because, at this point, democracy includes people they think are lesser humans and need to be contained. These people, in their view of the world, are not worthy of exercising power in any shape or form.

This from the Guardian is very relevant right now:

Making sense of the present political conflict requires a more precise understanding of the past and present of US democracy beyond simplistic ideas of “democracy v authoritarianism.” We should start by acknowledging what “democracy” meant in…