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Wednesday, January 25th, 2023

This Is How Red States Silence Blue Cities. And Democracy.

Author:     Margaret Renkl
Source:     The New York Times
Publication Date:     Jan. 16, 2023
 Link: This Is How Red States Silence Blue Cities. And Democracy.
Stephan:  

All over the Red states their big urban areas are Blue, and the Republican-controlled state legislatures in those states passionately are destroying democracy in order to control those urban areas. This report lays out the issues. The question for me is: Do rural Americans really care about preserving democracy in the United States. I'm not sure.

Tennessee State Capitol circa 1940.Credit…Illustration by The New York Times; photograph by Alamy Stock

NASHVILLE, TENNESSE — January in Nashville ushers in two forces for chaos: erratic weather and irrational legislators. Both are hugely disruptive. Neither is surprising anymore.

In the age of climate change, the old joke about New England — if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes — is true all over the country. But even erratic weather, sometimes careening between thunderstorms and snow in a single day, is easier to cope with than the G.O.P. Unlike human beings, weather isn’t supposed to be rational.

Neither, it seems, are Republicans, at least not anymore, and a blue city that serves as the capital of a red state had better brace itself when the legislature arrives in town. Nothing good ever comes when the Tennessee General Assembly reconvenes, but any Nashvillian paying attention understood that this time the usual assaults would be unusually bad.

Last year, when Nashville’s Metro Council voted not to support the state’s bid for the city to host […]

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