Grabbing Power

While I regularly use this blog to deride, decry and diminish Republicans and their policies, at the same time I harbor a secret and perverse admiration for them.

While I steadfastly believe Republicans couldn't lead a flock of kindergartners to the bathroom, they possess a devious and cunning ability to seize power that I only wish was shared by my political party of choice.

They market and manipulate with a precision that is the envy of every ad agency on Madison Avenue.

Not so long ago, Republican policy-makers looked into their crystal ball and saw the future. With the steady erosion of America's white majority and knowing their policies would never appeal to anyone outside of that majority, Republicans sought alternate ways of holding on to power.

Naturally, option number-one was to shrink the power of the vote. And the best way to do this is to restrict its availability. To create obstacles that make the voting booth a difficult place to reach. Instead of pursuing the democratic ideal which holds that voting booths should be as available as tap water, access is placed high on a hard to reach shelf.

By enacting legislation which acts as a filter, Republicans can make it difficult for voters likely to be unreceptive to their policies to see the inside of a polling place. Which is why in states like Texas a handgun permit is an acceptable form of voter ID while a student ID is not.

Georgia has an exact match policy, which demands that information contained on voter registration rolls is identical to information held by the state's issuer of driver's licenses—even if that information is wrong. A hyphenated last name or the absence of a middle initial is enough to keep you from exercising your constitutional right.

If only buying an assault weapon at a gun show were as difficult.

Even the highly-respected League of Women Voters had its once-unassailable mission impacted by Republicans. Thanks to restrictive legislation passed by the state legislature in 2011, Florida chapters and their volunteer staffers were unable to register new voters without being subjected to fines and felony charges.

The message is clear: if they won't vote for you, don't let them vote.

When simple voter suppression doesn't work, Republicans diminish votes through their artful use of gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering is the manipulation of a district's borders which allow one party to dilute another party's advantage in a specific geographical area, either by dividing that population into two districts or packing it into a single one. While it is conceivable both parties do this, one has only to look at vote totals versus seated representation to know which party is the major player.

In fact, a 2014 study by the Washington Post concluded that eight of the ten most heavily gerrymandered districts in the United States were crafted by Republicans. 

So are Republicans more-likely to gerrymander or just better at it?

Yes.

With gerrymandering embedded in the political landscape, the average margin of victory in 2016 congressional races was over 37%. With such margins (not to mention re-election) practically guaranteed, there is little incentive to acknowledge the opposition. Or compromise. 

Needless to say, it entrenches our bipartisan divide.

Using 2016 House campaigns as an example, just eight incumbents were defeated out of the four-hundred thirty-five up for re-election. Eight. That works out to a microscopic 1.8%.

How much would you enjoy a casino where you stood just a 1.8% chance of losing?

The corrosive effects on voter participation shouldn't be ignored. What sentient person isn't disinclined to vote when the result has all but been assured, even with election day still weeks away?

Left unchecked, gerrymandering is the pancreatic cancer of democracy.

But it doesn't end there. No sir. The Republican toolbox is brimming with toxicity and malevolence.

It was ten years-ago that James Bopp, a Republican lawyer, filed the suit that eventually gave Republicans their greatest hit. So thorough and profound was its influence, I remain gobsmacked that we don't today refer to Republicans as Boppublicans.

The Citizens United decision was the product of a longstanding obsession of Bopp's to free-up Republican's biggest political advantage—money. Let's face it. When it comes to big, giant stacks of money, Republicans have it all over Democrats.

When we accumulate great gobs of money, it frequently changes us. Like a chimpanzee with a shiny new piece of glass, we want to protect it. Save it. Wall it off. We want to ensure that no one else can touch it, because it is ours.

Such selfishness is the antithesis of democracy, which is why Republicans so often find themselves in opposition to it. Turn on the TV, open your mail or log-on to Facebook and you will be inundated with Republican attack ads. And every one says precisely the same thing: Democrats will raise your taxes.

Translated, this means Democrats will steal your shiny new piece of glass. Er, money. It is a remarkably effective strategy, and one that has endured seemingly forever. It plays upon some very primal fears and creates anxiety and unease. The effects of having your shard of glass forcibly removed from your possession cannot be underestimated.

Despite any number of studies that show Republicans and Democrats raise taxes with equal vigor, Republicans have successfully pinned the raise-your-taxes tail on the Democratic donkey.

See what I mean about marketing?

But I digress.

So. Republicans—as a group—have a lot of money. And they want to make it an even bigger advantage than it already is. Since their political agenda runs counter to that of the electorate, they must buy power as opposed to winning it.

And Citizens United is the appliance that allows them to do so. Citizens United tears the roof off of the donor ceilings which existed before the decision by creating a kind of middleman called Super PACs.

Super PACs can collect unlimited amounts of money from anywhere and distribute it as they see fit—as long as the money doesn't go directly to a candidate. Super PACs create their own advertisements, reportedly without input from the candidate or their campaign. However, the source of donations must be shared with the Federal Election Commission.

The real game-changer is the formation of non-profit entities which can collect campaign money virtually anywhere and in any amount from donors who are able to remain anonymous. This is the source of the “dark money” we hear so frequently about. 

If you're Vladimir Putin and feel threatened by Hillary Clinton, you can slide a cool twenty-million dollars across the table—no questions asked. 

Of the Six-hundred million dollars spent by such organizations in federal elections between 2010 and 2015, five-hundred million (or 83%) originated from conservative organizations.

This torrent of dark money not only raises the cost of running for office exponentially, but in so doing further consolidates power in the hands of the (very) wealthy. And only a Republican would think that's a good idea.

Obviously, not everyone can be wealthy. With that in mind, how do you get house painters and construction workers to march lockstep with hedge fund managers and CEOs?

Social issues.

Republicans are expert button-pushers. As I have written before in this blog, Republicans could turn a group of Buddhist monks into a howling mob. Being masters at manipulation, Republicans know how to burrow into your psyche and exploit your deepest and most primordial fears. Death. Poverty. Violent crime. Foreigners. Homosexuals. Liberals.

Yes, Republicans pour this into a gigantic shaker and concoct the toxic martini that'll have you voting a straight ticket before you can question what became of your free will.

When you're marching in Charlottesville and sending explosives to Barrack Obama, the Clintons and George Soros and baiting gays, Jews and minorities on social media and seeking to charge women who don't wish to bear their rapist's baby with murder, it's expecting an awful lot that you also keep an eye on the never-ending stream of Republican giveaways to corporate America and the one percent.

If you're a basketball fan, this is the the equivalent of the player who stays behind to argue a call with a referee while the opposition enjoys a five-on-four advantage downcourt. Which is exactly what Republican leadership is counting on. While you're foaming at the mouth and chanting “Lock her up!”, the Republican elite are eating your lunch. And mine.

Republicans have succeeded in divide and conquer beyond Roger Ailes' and Karl Rove's and Rupert Murdoch's wildest dreams.

What do you suppose the rest of us can do?