{"id":187272,"date":"2021-06-01T17:28:06","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T17:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=44bb98d923833423b72f03e43842d6ba"},"modified":"2021-06-01T17:28:06","modified_gmt":"2021-06-01T17:28:06","slug":"republicans-are-vocally-opposed-to-democracy-from-texas-to-myanmar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/06\/01\/republicans-are-vocally-opposed-to-democracy-from-texas-to-myanmar\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans Are Vocally Opposed to Democracy, From Texas to Myanmar"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Trump<\/a>

A vicious military coup d\u2019\u00e9tat took place on February 1 of this year in the nation of Myanmar. Parliament was preparing to convene after a November election that saw Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s National League for Democracy win 83 percent of the available seats. The military refused to accept the results of the election — and started killing. More than 600 people have been murdered in the violence, and thousands have been injured. \u201cMany of those killed have been young protesters,\u201d reports<\/a> The New York Times<\/em>, \u201ctheir lives ended with a single gunshot to the head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Flynn, Donald Trump\u2019s disgraced former national security adviser, attended a QAnon-heavy event<\/a> in Dallas, Texas, over the weekend. The main topic of the event, called \u201cFor God & Country Patriot Roundup,\u201d was the ongoing gibberish belief that Trump won the election.<\/p>\n

One attendee asked Flynn, \u201cI want to know why what happened in Myanmar can\u2019t happen here?\u201d The audience cheered the question loudly. When they quieted, Flynn replied<\/a>, \u201cNo reason. I mean, it should happen here. No reason.\u201d When confronted with his own words, Flynn scrambled to claim<\/a> that he didn\u2019t actually say what he actually said into a recording camera, calling it \u201ca boldface fabrication based on twisted reporting.\u201d The camera did not lie, however: A former military general and high-ranking official in a Republican administration appeared to endorse the military overthrow of the United States government before a rapturously cheering Republican crowd. <\/p>\n

Flynn is no wild-eyed outrider. A vast majority of the Republican Party has become loudly and vigorously anti-democratic in the aftermath of the Trump administration and the election that ended it. Trump himself has been going around telling people he expects to be reinstated as president by August<\/a>, while giving no explanation for how this might come about. As there is no democratic mechanism for reinstalling a defeated president, he can only be speaking of one thing: another coup d\u2019\u00e9tat, but here, and at the highest level.<\/p>\n

State-level Republican officeholders are not waiting for August, but are laboring to affect their own slow-rolling coup in the upcoming elections. In more than a dozen states, brutally repressive anti-voter laws are being put in place in an attempt to make it impossible for non-Republican voters to cast a ballot. Seemingly convinced after 2020 that it is no longer possible for Republicans to actually win national elections, and stoutly incapable of making changes needed to alter that fate because Trump still commands the party, Republicans in these states have chosen to attack the underpinnings of democracy itself.<\/p>\n

Nowhere has this been more evident than in Texas, where the Republican-controlled legislature this weekend attempted to pass the most draconian anti-voter laws in the nation. The bill, known as SB 7, is a terrifying raft of undiluted anti-democratic racism<\/a> that has no business becoming law:<\/p>\n

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The legislation would make it a felony for an election official to offer a voter an unsolicited absentee ballot application. It would further restrict which people qualify to vote absentee, even though Texas already has irrationally restrictive standards. It would eliminate safeguards meant to prevent election officials from mistakenly tossing absentee ballots based on dubious signature-matching issues. It would crimp Sunday voting in a way that would make it difficult for Black churches to run \u201cSouls to the Polls\u201d events. It would crack down on anyone transporting more than two non-relatives to a polling place. It would ban drive-through voting, temporary voting sites and 24-hour early voting. It would make it dangerously easy for state judges to overturn election results. And it would empower partisan poll watchers, encouraging them to hassle election officials and voters.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is well worth noting that had SB 7 passed, it would have become law the same week as a new Texas law that is on the verge of going into effect which allows people to carry concealed weapons without a permit. This means these \u201cpoll watchers\u201d could all be packing heat as they try to intimidate and harass Democratic voters. If you think that\u2019s a coincidence, I invite you to think again, hard.<\/p>\n

The GOP effort was temporarily stymied by Democrats, who walked out of the chamber en masse on Sunday night, preventing a final vote. The walkout represented a significant setback for Gov. Greg Abbott, who loudly supports the measures in the bill, but not a permanent one. Abbott has announced his intention to call a special session<\/a> at some point in the future, where Republicans can again bring SB 7 to a vote. In retribution, Abbott has threatened to cut the funding for the legislature itself. \u201cNo pay for those who abandon their responsibilities,\u201d he tweeted<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n