Politics & Government
VOX Reporter Correctly Captures Oregon's Enemies Of Democracy
Oregon Republicans are no different in values and behavior than their Trumpian coconspirators in Washington D.C.
Hi Elected officials, Press, Oregonians Et. Al.:
Vox Reporter, David Roberts, has Insightfully and correctly captured Oregon's Enemies Of Democracy behavior. He also has made the connection, as I have many times, that elected Oregon Republicans are no different in values and behavior than their Trumpian coconspirators in Washington D.C. I strongly urge all of you to read David Roberts’ entire article. It will be worth your time. Thank you.
Good luck and good health.
Find out what's happening in Portlandfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Richard Ellmyer
North Portland - NAV, Non-Aligned Voter
Find out what's happening in Portlandfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Occasionally distributed to more than a quarter of million readers in Oregon and beyond. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus . Opinion contributor to Patch.com news.
If you find the the sample below edifying then read the whole article.
Oregon Republicans are subverting democracy by running away. Again.
The latest escalation mirrors growing anti-democratic sentiment in the national GOP.
Feb. 29, 2020 By David Roberts david@vox.com
In Oregon right now, a handful of white people from the far right are holding the state government hostage.
No, it’s not another armed occupation of government buildings, like in 2016. This time it’s a handful of Oregon lawmakers who refuse to enter government buildings, thereby holding the business of the legislature hostage.
It ought to be getting more national attention, if for no other reason than it perfectly encapsulates larger national political trends. It is like a snow globe, a perfect miniature representation of what the Republican Party is becoming.
In a nutshell, Oregon Republicans are exploiting an arcane constitutional provision in order to exert veto power over legislation developed by the Democratic majority, on behalf of an almost entirely white, rural minority. Five times in the last ten months, they have simply refused to show up for work, preventing the legislature from passing bills on guns, forestry, health care, and budgeting. The fifth walkout, over a climate change bill, is ongoing.
It is an extraordinary escalation of anti-democratic behavior from the right, gone almost completely unnoticed by the national political media. Nevertheless, it is a big deal, worth pausing to consider, not only because it is preventing Oregon from addressing climate change, but because it shows in stark terms where the national GOP is headed.
Oregon Republicans are national Republicans in miniature
The situation facing the Oregon GOP mirrors the one facing the GOP at the national level; every chapter of the story above mirrors a national chapter.
In national US politics, as in Oregon, it’s increasingly clear that the population is urbanizing and diversifying and there simply aren’t enough rural and suburban white Christians to constitute a majority any more. If that demographic — which has now become an intense, all-encompassing political identity — is to maintain its traditional hold on power, it can only do so through increasingly anti-democratic means.
In Oregon, that means exploiting the quorum rule and unlimited corporate money. At the national level, it means exploiting rural overrepresentation in the Senate, the electoral college, voter suppression, the filibuster ... and unlimited corporate money.
In national politics, as in Oregon, anti-democratic tactics and rhetoric are escalating on the right, but there is little pushback or accountability. They pay no penalty for lying, violating norms, or taking legislative hostages, so they keep doing it, keep escalating. The institutions around them seem unwilling or unable to draw lines in the sand, and when they do, as when Democrats impeached Trump, they find those lines blown aside by partisan unity.
Republicans learn again and again that if they stick together, they can get away with anything — stolen elections, misbegotten wars, botched disaster responses, recessions, and now an openly criminal president. As long as they are a unified “side,” media and other institutions will treat them as a legitimate side, no matter what they do.
FYI
The following three emails have been sent to thousands of my readers.
From: Richard <richard@goodgrowthnw.org>
Subject: Democratic Legislators - Speak Up And Take ACTION
Date: February 27, 2020 at 12:07:32 PM PST
To: Tina Kotek <Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov>, Peter Courtney <sen.petercourtney@oregonlegislature.gov>
Cc: Interested Parties <interested@macsolve.com>
GOP walkout Day 3: Both sides dig in
https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/453700-370105-gop-walkout-day-3-both-sides-dig-in
[This is NOT business as usual. This is an opportunity for Democrats to expose the death of the Republican party and the rise of the personality cult of Donald Trump. A failure to act will impress an indelible stain up Democrats which cannot be hidden and very difficult to remove. Carpe Diem.]
Posted Comment
Speaker Kotek, Senate President Peter Courtney and all the other elected Democrats in our legislature MUST NOT cave to the Trumpian cultists who have, once again, demonstrated that they are ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY. Like their beloved leader, Donald Trump, they believe that bullying, lying and disrespect for the law are governing principles.
Elected Oregon Democrats in our legislature should tell Oregon’s Trumpian party legislative walkouts that they will negotiate with them on any and all bills just a soon as their coconspirator in Washington D.C., Senate Republican Majority leader, Moscow Mitch McConnell, allows the senate to vote on the giant pile of bills passed and sent over from the House of Representatives currently locked away in his office.
Oregon’s Trumpian party legislative walkouts are Trump’s Accomplices. They disingenuously, indeed, fearfully, continue to deny that their values and morals are directly connected and in sync with their Trumpian brethren in our nation’s capitol. They ignore facts, despise science and welcome Russian interference in our Oregon elections. These dishonorable Oregon Trumpian Acolytes have earned the disrespect they deserve.
Richard Ellmyer
North Portland - NAV, Non-Aligned Voter
Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Occasionally distributed to more than a quarter of million readers in Oregon and beyond. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus . Opinion contributor to Patch.com news.
Date: February 24, 2020 at 4:57:05 PM PST
To: Tina Kotek <Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov>, Peter Courtney <sen.petercourtney@oregonlegislature.gov>
Cc: Interested Parties <interested@macsolve.com>
Oregon Senate GOP: Climate bill walkout begins
https://pamplinmedia.com/pt/9-news/453223-369683-oregon-senate-gop-climate-bill-walkout-begins
Posted Comment
"These Oregon Senate Republicans are denying their constituents the representation they deserve and shutting down our democratic institution." Democrats, Please Stop Saying This.
These Republican Enemies of Democracy are denying the representation that every Oregonian represented by a Democrat deserves.
Representative Tina Kotek and senator Lew Frederick are supposed to represent me and tens of thousands of my fellow citizens in North Portland. We want to know what the hell are they going to do to provide US, THEIR CONSTITUENTS with the representation WE DESERVE? Letting Republicans get away with disrupting OUR GOVERNMENT WITHOUT SEVERE CONSEQUENCES IS UNACCEPTABLE.
Remember, these Republicans support the behavior and values of the Bundys and the Trumps. Don’t become their UNWITTING ACCOMPLICES.
If not now, WHEN?
Richard Ellmyer
North Portland
Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Occasionally distributed to more than a quarter of million readers in Oregon and beyond. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus . Opinion contributor to Patch.com news.
From: Richard <richard@goodgrowthnw.org>
Subject: There MUST Be CONSEQUENCES For NO SHOW Republicans
Date: February 22, 2020 at 12:41:38 PM PST
To: Tina Kotek <Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov>, Peter Courtney <sen.petercourtney@oregonlegislature.gov>
Cc: Interested Parties <interested@macsolve.com>, Nik Blosser <nik.blosser@state.or.us>
With Oregon Republicans Ready To Walk Out, Gov. Brown Tries To Bargain
Feb. 21, 2020 By Lauren Dake and Dirk VanderHart
https://www.facebook.com/oregonpublicbroadcasting
Governor Brown, respectfully, stay out of this. This is a time of testing for elected Oregon Democrats in our legislature. An apt metaphor: Politics is a contact sport, often a blood sport. If you are not prepared to bleed and draw blood then you must get off the field.
Are Oregon Democrats in our legislature professional political players or a Kumbaya chorus of bystanders. Let’s find out.
Posted Comment
Republican Senate Majority Leader, Moscow Mitch McConnell, stops legislation passed by the House of Representatives by locking them in his safe. In Oregon Republicans stop legislation by walking out of the legislative chambers. Oregon Democrats should have been PREPARED for this.
Speaker Kotek and Senate President Courtney MUST:
1. NOT negotiate with walkout Republicans.
2. DENY Republicans positions on committees where possible.
3. DENY Republicans perks wherever possible.
4. DENY any kind of FUNDING to Republican districts where possible.
5. ARREST any walkout Republicans IMMEDIATELY and bring them in handcuffs back to the House and Senate floor.
6. Until there are sufficient Republicans to make a quorum LET THEM SHUT THE SESSION DOWN.
7. Until there are sufficient Republicans to make a quorum hold daily, hourly, press conferences announcing to the Oregon public that elected Republican legislators are REFUSING TO DO THEIR JOBS.
8. Until there are sufficient Republicans to make a quorum hold daily, hourly, press conferences announcing to the Oregon public that elected Republican legislators are ALL TRUMP ACCOMPLICES supporting his authoritarian behavior. THEY ARE ENEMIES OF DEMOCRACY.
This is NOT business as usual. If not now, WHEN?
Richard Ellmyer
North Portland
NAV, Non-Aligned Voter
Author of more stories on the politics, players and policies of Public Housing in Oregon over the last nineteen years than all other journalists and elected officials combined.
Author of The Ellmyer Report, a newsletter that informs, educates and influences on public policy. Occasionally distributed to more than a quarter of million readers in Oregon and beyond. Facebook, Portland Politics Plus . Opinion contributor to Patch.com news.