Democrats' biggest problem isn't in Congress. It's in your state capitol.

[brooklynite]

Washington Post

If you pay a lot of attention to politics, just about every day you’ll see news of some outrageous thing that a Republican like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said or did. But David Pepper, the former chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, wants you to be aware of something more frightening.

“For every Marjorie Taylor Greene, there are hundreds of statehouse members” just like her, Pepper told me. “They’re on the inside, drawing the lines and setting the rules.”

Pepper has written a book titled “Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind the Lines,” which persuasively argues that the site of the most pernicious corruption and assaults on democracy is not where congressional Republicans roam. It’s in the statehouses, which Pepper calls “the most corrosive danger America faces.”

All the battles we observe at the national level — over abortion, tax policy, the environment, health care and the fate of American democracy itself — are playing out in state capitols. Some years ago — while Democrats were essentially sleeping — Republicans figured out that it would be relatively easy to take over at the state level, then use that power to make it almost impossible for Democrats to win, locking in their control and creating a playground for special interests.

[2naSalit]

1. That's what...

Has happened in Montana.

[GemDigger]

16. The early bird gets the worm!

I was going to comment on Governor Body Slammer and his gang of trouble but you beat me to it.

[marble falls]

2. Let's face it, Democrats don't vote as strongly in non-Preisidential elections and that's ...

... how we get gerrymanded by non-representative Republican legislatures who dilute our vote.

[gab13by13]

3. Yes, and winning back those state Houses,

is next to impossible. I live in Pa. and every election more people vote Democratic than Republican and every year we lose seats because of gerrymandering. In 2022 we may once again get many more votes than Republicans, but this is a redistricting year in America so I expect that Democrats will lose even more seats in Pa. in 2022. Pa. is not unique in America.

Republicans got to gerrymander in 2011 and they get to do it again 2021. Minority rule.

[stopdiggin]

4. +1. no question about it.

and the next 'stolen election' will be brought to you by - people in the statehouse.

[ancianita]

5. "It's the statehouses, stupid." Definitely worth buying and reading.

[East-A-Squared]

6. Outside of liberals moving into conservative districts, how

else do we defeat gerrymandering?

[Lonestarblue]

11. Federal law requiring nonpartisan redistricting.

Being held up by those who think the filibuster is more important than fair elections.

[malthaussen]

7. And the school districts.

All politics is local, but the national media's focus is elsewhere. The majority of state legislatures are controlled by the GOP, in many cases with veto-proof majorities.

But if you go down to the school board level, the dominance is even greater nationwide. And schools are where we pass on our culture to the rising generation. This is why school board chaos is making the news more often. The lunatics on the Right are trying to define the narrative that will take the country into the next generation.

-- Mal

[Sympthsical]

8. We saw one of the largest losses of state legislatures in history during President Obama

https://ballotpedia.org/Changes_in_state_legislative_seats_during_the_Obama_presidency

In 83 of the 99 state legislative chambers, the Republican Party held more seats following the 2016 general election than it did after the general election in 2008.

During President Barack Obama's (D) presidency, Democrats lost a net 948 state legislative seats, the largest loss of Democratic seats during any presidency since at least 1921. Twenty-nine state legislative chambers in 19 states flipped from Democratic to Republican control compared to the start of Obama's presidency. In ten states these flips resulted in the creation of Republican trifectas, where Republicans controlled both chambers as well as the governorship. Democrats did not gain total control of any chambers by the end of Obama's presidency that they did not already control at its start, however, the Alaska House of Representatives flipped from Republican control to a bipartisan coalition following the 2016 elections.

The loss of 948 Democrat-held state legislative seats was the largest loss of the president's party's state legislative seats since the Herbert Hoover (R) administration, which saw a loss of a net 1,662 Republican state legislative seats from 1929 to 1933. Obama's and Hoover's administrations saw the largest loss of Democratic and Republican state legislative seats, respectively.

A lot of people on our side weren't paying any attention to this.

[childfreebychoice]

9. I have been posting, for years,

about rethugs recruiting fr college campuses, training them to run for local office... school boards, etc. Rethugs have shown us the way, for yrs. Now, because of citizens united, it take gobs of money just to run for local office. I think Emily's List trains women to run for office...but we r so far behind

[certainot]

10. unlike fox, rw radio stations can be LOCALLY coordinated. so there are 50 or 60 stations in

big states like michigan, florida, texas, penn, etc all hyping up 'illegal immigrants voting for dems', 'critical race theory', covid is greatly exaggerated, mask mandates are fascism, BLM are terrorists not protestors, and so on

and republican candidates are highly dependent on local blowhard support who even if they think the candidate is a freak they will always attack the dem and her positions. they are the real political correctness cops in their counties and states and are louder and more sustained than any protests. and they all had to echo limbaugh on national level.

giving talk radio a free speech free ride is still the biggest political mistake in history

until americans figure that out good luck, forget real democracy, or real progress on any major issue

[lastlib]

13. "...still the biggest political mistake in history."

It wasn't a mistake--it was a deliberate, CALCULATED move to loose the dogs on liberals. It happened when that basturd Ronald Reagan abolished the Fairness Doctrine, thus allowing those with the money to control the narrative.

The mistake was that Democrats didn't reverse it when they had the power. And we will pay for that mistake for decades.

[certainot]

15. i meant the mistake is ignoring rw radio - still ignoring it - especially considering how vulnerable

it is and how devastating it would be for dems to finally destroy it. a new fairness doctrine isn't needed now but would help in the future - a lot easier after the ad industry is forced to deatroy the rw radio monopoly

1 with limbaugh's death they have lost the messaging guide/'leader' for 1500 radio stations,
2 and now AI allows easy cheap transcription and analysis of ALL of it
3 all helping to convince 87 universities to stop broadcasting sports on 260+ x limbaugh stations
4 alll forcing adverttisers off
5 all forcing the ad industry to break up the monopoly

[zentrum]

12. Yup.

[Rebl2]

14. I seem to

remember Howard Dean (VT) warning us many years ago we need to focus more of our attention on local and state house elections because if republicans take over most state houses we will have what we see today. I guess he was right.