The newly elected Senator from Georgia has been killing the GOP (with words) lately. For the people he is talking to and about, words are ineffective, since their whole idea of power is about the pure exercise of it without consequence, and that power in the south and in the rural areas is always, always aimed at non-whites and non-christians, or anyone who opposes their shared delusions, even if those people are in the majority. Senator Warnock had this to say about the filibuster, which is currently standing in the way of most major federal legislation: “The filibuster, at the end of the day, is about minority rights in the Senate. How are you going to insist on protecting minority rights in the Senate, while refusing to protect minority rights in the society?” And on the topic of guns in Georgia after a brutal killing spree: “This shooter was able to kill all of these folks the same day he purchased a firearm but right now what is our legislature doing? … [Preventing] people from being able to vote the same day they register.” He is finding a truth that is unassailable, and then lambasting them with it, with no defense available.
Governor Kemp, who likely stole the governorship through similar underhanded tactics, signed the latest voting “rights” bill in Georgia, which criminalizes handing out water to people waiting in line to vote, amongst other penalties and barriers for people simply trying to exercise one of their most basic constitutional rights–the right to vote. The beauty of how evil this is is that the GOP is the one causing the long voting lines in the first place. And their voters, who cannot see the danger that these fascist tactics pose, continue to vote for the GOP for one of two reasons…guns or abortion or both. I cannot see another reason people would support their party, except for the white supremacy thing that their party is unable to purge. The Republicans are so lost now that they can’t even vote for popular legislation at the national level, which is why they all voted against the COVID stimulus bill.
And Senator Warnock is correct–no other issue will be important if Republicans are successfully able to steal democracy away from the majority. If they’re willing to do something this blatant, citing a vague non-reason of “election security” while failing to adequately define what that is and why it is necessary, then it will be hard to imagine what they would do when their fascistic takeover of democracy is finished.