The 2010 elections were not only a disaster on the federal level. The Republicans gained supermajorities on the state level in places like Alabama and Texas. Republican-majority governments in states like Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Kansas, Arizona, and Florida have been passing radical legislation, much of it unconstitutional on its face. The assault on abortion rights has been unprecedented, as has been the efforts to destroy public-sector unions, and to disenfranchise Democratic constituencies like racial minorities, college students, and the elderly who survive on fixed-incomes. In many cases, the courts have done what the Democrats were too weak to accomplish, and have blocked or overturned Republican legislation. But there is no guarantee that this dam will hold. The judiciary, on the state level, is growing more conservative, and the Supreme Court still has a conservative majority. The takeover of the judiciary is nearing completion, and the effort to starve the federal treasury of funds is making Grover Norquist’s dream of shrinking the government enough to drown it in a bathtub a real possibility.
I think the Republicans have pushed the ball far enough down the field that they will be in position to radically change this country if they win the White House next year. They’ll almost certainly be able to attain a majority on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe, which will then allow all these extreme abortion laws in the states
to go into effect. They’ll probably be allowed to get away with severely limiting voting rights without any challenge from the Department of Justice. Public-sector unions will be gone. The EPA will be rendered toothless. Entitlements will be gutted. Everything that isn’t tied down will be privatized and corrupted.
There won’t be anything compassionate about the triumph of conservatism. And it will be really hard to fix.
I don’t think this is hyperbole. Do you?
