Last month, Tennessee Republicans also cut the size of the Nashville City Council after the city said it didn’t want to host the 2024 Republican National Convention. The trend of stripping Democrats of power whenever they challenge GOP extremism is growing across the country, with Republicans in the Oklahoma legislature censuring state Rep. Mauree Turner for letting a trans rights protester into their office.
As Daily Kos staff writer Laura Clawson writes, “Once Republicans lower the bar enough to convince themselves it’s reasonable to expel people for chanting out of order, or to swoop in and redo a city’s government for rebuffing a Republican event, what other excuses do you think they’re going to suddenly start finding to strip power from more and more Democrats?”
Those are just the more recent examples of right-wing extremist state legislatures flirting with fascism. Alarmingly, this trend has been fast growing in the past two years.
Since 2020, the wave of voter suppression laws enacted by Republican-controlled state legislatures under the guise of “election security” disproportionately target minority communities. These laws make it harder for them to vote and directly contradict the fundamental principles of our democracy. By targeting marginalized groups, these state governments are engaging in a modern form of Jim Crow, using the machinery of the state to further entrench their own power.
State governments are also targeting education, attempting to control the narrative and suppress opposing viewpoints. States like Texas and Florida have enacted laws that limit teaching topics such as critical race theory and impose strict book bans in schools. These actions are reminiscent of historical fascist regimes that sought to control information and brainwash the public to maintain their grip on power. Our educational system should foster critical thinking and expose students to various perspectives, not serve as a breeding ground for state-sanctioned propaganda.
Another example is the targeting and vilification of transgender individuals, with several states passing legislation that denies them access to appropriate health care and limits their participation in sports. By scapegoating a vulnerable population, these state governments are using a classic fascist tactic to consolidate power, maintain control, and deflect from issues they don’t want to focus on.
Florida, in particular, has focused on education and oppressing gay rights, even following in the footsteps of authoritarian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Several Florida bills attacking the First Amendment were molded after Hungarian policies: “About the Don’t Say Gay law, it was in fact modeled in part on what Hungary did last summer,” Rod Dreher, a senior editor at the American Conservative magazine, admitted in an interview. “I was told this by a conservative reporter who … said he talked to the press secretary of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and she said, ‘Oh yeah, we were watching the Hungarians, so yay Hungary.”’
The American experiment is fragile, dependent on its citizens’ constant vigilance and active participation. We cannot afford to sit idly by while the specter of fascism threatens to undermine our democracy. Our collective responsibility is to recognize this growing threat and take action to ensure that the United States remains a democracy.
Sign the petition: Denounce fascism in state governments.
