An Unholy Trinity of Legislation in Texas

Preamble

Three pieces of legislation have passed into law at the Texas state capitol that are at least damaging to the health and well-being of almost everyone in this state, even those who think they may not be affected but any of these bills, at all.

Like many in the Lone Star State, I am livid and have expressed my not always polite or measured views of the governing representatives and their approach to governance repeatedly.  The passage of all three pieces is why. However, the issue transcends borders.

With the successful passage of three of the worst bills in Texas, if not U.S., history, a clear signal has gone out to other states to follow suit. Additionally, to no one’s surprise, the Supreme Court of the United States has supported the anti-abortion bill. 

The sorriest aspect of the legacy of the four years of the previous administration is the stacking of courts at all levels with movement conservatives with an agenda to turn the clock back to the 1920s. Everything else, all the theater, all the executive orders, the lamely written and frequently defeated legislation, pales in comparison to the success of the long game the G.O.P. has been playing. 

This is the most tragic because it didn’t have to be this way. McConnell should never have been able to block Obama’s candidate for the Supreme Court. Merrick Garland should have been appointed and the senator from Kentucky brow-beaten for his bullshit obstructionism. The tragedy isn’t only that McConnell and the Republican Party have been successful in their project; it’s that the Democrats have fallen apart repeatedly over the past forty years in the face of the opposition. 

There should never been a moment when the grandstanding likes of Gingrich, Cruz, and others had the transformative effect on the polity that they have had and continue to have. Having said that, it’s important to zoom out for a bit. 

As dark as it all is right now, and will continue to be more than likely, course corrections do happen over time. We think that if we only attained this or that level of stability and equality in our society that everything would be fine, once and for all. But that’s not how history works, it’s not how societies work. Stability is variable and change is constant and any homeostasis in the body politic is owing to more or less equable tension between the two. 

I don’t completely go with the Hegelian or Marxist idea that history is dialectical or for that matter, much less, that it “progresses”. Not at a global level nor at a state or even municipal level. The events that comprise any given moment are granular and how one movement gains precedence over others is either owing to luck or to maintaining an initial advantage and exercising corporate and economic power over the opposition. 

The Republican Party does not have numbers. Most people in the U.S. are not Republicans, most in the U.S. oppose much of the legislation that get passed by local Republican legislators. What they do have is power and an undeniable grasp of the “long game”, a term I return to because of its applicability. Even if the G.O.P. is a fractious and internally divided entity, for the most part, it has kept its eye on obtaining power over the laws of the country and more importantly, its citizenry. 

Let us be clear; the three laws that have passed in Texas are emblematic of three major aspects of what has driven the party since at least 1950. Maybe these are the three principle motivators of the party. 

The Legislation

Abortion Rights: passage of SB8 signals more than just the anti-abortionists’ triumph. It is a major blow to women’s rights to their own healthcare, and particularly affects communities of color and the poor. Additionally, it weaponizes citizens to act against each other, directly out of the old Soviet playbook. By including the ability of citizens to sue others for aiding and abetting a woman in securing an abortion after six weeks, the government absolves itself of any direct involvement of trying any specific suit or its appeal. Even if the defendant wins the case, they walk away burdened by court and legal costs.

Gun Rights: Chris McNutt declared that Texas is “finally” a pro-gun state. I don’t know where he’s been living; but he must have missed the safe haven Texas granted the beleaguered NRA and hasn’t taken a close look at our gun laws currently on the books. Anyone can now carry a gun without a permit as long as they have not been convicted of a felony or domestic violence. House Bill 1927 is problematic, to say the least, and I’m not looking forward to seeing how it plays out as “good guys with guns” attempt to carry out “justice” based on their own judgement. We already have lax conceal carry laws in this state; the addition of permitless ownership or just carrying - this infers you don’t even have to own the gun you’re carrying - sets the stage for several nasty scenarios, not the least of which is vigilante justice without due process and the repercussions that will stem from that. Again, the working assumption is that this will probably benefit white men who feel oppressed more than any other demographic and in this state, as in most run by like-minded legislators, that’s the only demographic that matters.

Voter Suppression: Finally, SB 1, the linchpin for the other two bills addressed here. If the people who are most negatively affected by, SB 8 and HB 1927 can’t make it to the polls and are harassed and intimidated by people now protected by SB 1, then you can possibly extrapolate the effect this will have on the most basic right and the bedrock of the democratic process. 

While the other two pieces of legislation are extreme and dangerous, SB 1 all but guarantees that for the foreseeable future, the fix is in. 

The Long Game: A Decades Long Project

The Long Game as carried out in Texas is not simply another example of “oh, look how crazy Texas is!”; it is very much the proof of concept for the G.O.P. that their tactics work. It is very much indicative of what can be accomplished by aggressively pursuing hegemony over your opposition even though you are not the majority.  

The Republican Party fears the increasing diversity of the U.S. population; it fears the federal activism behind the current administration’s legislation; it fears any and all who are different from a 1950s idea of adequacy, if not, what…excellence? That said, it is utter hubris and stupidity to continue its current trajectory. 

Eventually, the shift in demographics is going to happen. With diversity comes more and broader ideas and ideas may be the thing that the G.O.P. fears the most. To be sure, the wealthy white conservative elite will continue to destabilize efforts to resist its rule and fight for its position but there is a striking lack of understanding that drives its ideology, a rigidity that will eventually marginalize it in the greater scheme of social and political discourse.

The important point to remember, too, is that many of these Republicans are purported Christians of a specific strain of “prosperity gospel” and very much of the mind that their success is foreordained. This is often overlooked, if not mocked, but to Democrats and others on the Left; mockery is unwise when what you are belittling is the reason why the people you are making fun of remain powerful enough to stymie you.

Many will say that these representatives are not “true Christians” or point out the contradictions in what their texts espouse as opposed to their cruel actions, but this misses the point. Such argumentation always has. The fundamentalist gospel Republican who can now carry his (or her) gun (or someone else’s) without a permit, sees the new abortion legislation as God’s will, and is more than likely breathing a sigh of relief that BIPOC people, that the poor and disenfranchised will not be able to vote as easily because they’re not really people to them. They haven’t accepted the fundamentalist’s Jesus into their hearts and therefore, have expelled themselves from the Republican Garden of Eden. Of course, none of them would ever admit to that; it’s all about ensuring safer elections and preventing voter fraud.

The point is not whether these people are or are not “true Christians” or that much of what they espouse and even feel is nonsense (if dangerous to others); it’s that they are possessed of a sense of rightness that transcends reason. It has always been this way, whether it manifested as McCarthyism in the 50s, seeing a Communist under every rock or Reagan’s refusal to acknowledge that AIDS was a problem in the 80s or the push to impeach a president for having extramarital sex. 

NOTE: the impeachment of Bill Clinton strikes me as the first litmus test to how well the Republicans could play the game of meritless legal actions to both distract from the success of an oppositional administration and at the same time, advance their position through performative moralizing. The playing to the cheap seats works every time. Kudos to Gingrich for doing such an astute job. 

Repeatedly, the G.O.P. has leveraged its shrewdness and considerable powers of manipulation of language and the press to advance its agenda across decades. 

It is important to realize, too, that the media has failed to retard many of these movements when it could have. Yes, conglomerates make money by sales and clicks and advertising and the driving force behind much broadcast news has been to gin up outrage and emotional upset more than reasonable analysis or discussion among viewers. This is as true for CNN as for Fox News. Okay, maybe not as true, but in large part, corporate news outlets are not interested in deep analysis and Fox/OAN/Breitbart aside, most outlets indulge in “objective reporting” to the full extreme of bothsidesism beyond necessity.

Do I think that a more activist media countering the Fox/Republican media machinery would be effective against disinformation and the promotion of a better informed electorate? I’d like to think so, but given our current inability as a country to focus on what matters for long enough to rationally distinguish fact from fiction and the utter inability for so many to engage critical thinking enough to do more than stop at one or two sources online before declaring themselves experts, I really don’t know.

I do know that the media has failed many times to mitigate the advance of narratives that have driven the support for legislation such as we have just seen passed in Texas.Of course, there are other factors as well (education, classism, lack of access to tools for critical thinking and assessment, etc.), but I remember a time when the power of the press was able to inform and mobilize significant societal change and meaningfully hold political figures accountable for their crimes.

I have to mention the media because it is reflective of how people receive and interpret data. Reportage is one thing; I know a couple of journalists who are outstanding in keeping themselves out of the story and since they are reporting, keep their reporting free of their own biases. However, that does not ensure that people are a) interested in the objectivity of the reporting and b) would rather be entertained and get some kind of validation for their biases via editorial.

To repeat, the Republicans understand this and have capitalized on viewers’ susceptibility to emotional and emotive news reportage and editorializing (as opposed to analysis; there is a difference). 

The Realm of the Possible

A number of folks who know me know that I’m not overjoyed by the recent turn of events and if you’re familiar with what I write, at all, you know that I’m not in the brightest and sun-shiny of states. However, I’m not given to despair as much as some might think.

There is plenty to despair of. I remind myself that there is a larger existential threat constantly at hand: if the climate continues to ramp up with all the economic, social, and life-altering changes that are expected, then it may well be moot if the demographic changes in - say - Texas, Arizona, etc. shift dramatically because the states become unlivable. Given the condition of the grid in Texas, that’s a likelihood.

For the moment, though, let’s entertain possibilities. There are plenty of people who have organized and continue to do so to address what I’ve written about here. Mostly, the organizing has focused on voter suppression and access to abortion care. What follows is a short list of individuals running for office and organizations to support, if not sign up to volunteer for or work with.

How successful any counter movement will be depends on several factors; the main thing is finding out where one can be effective and to what degree of engagement can be fostered. 

For friends in other states that may trend more on the blue side of the spectrum, if you can, lend your support and voices to those in areas with more restrictive regimes. Let us be clear, it’s not hyperbole to say that the approaches to governance by governors like Abbott and DeSantis are costing lives and will continue to do so. It’s not a matter of party politics at a certain point: it’s a matter of survival.

The callousness in these governors’ responses to the pandemic is indicative of their broader approach to governance and reflects very much how abortive their sense of humanity is.

As I write this, there has been little movement or noise regarding HB 1927. It isn’t grabbing news the way the attack on abortion rights and voter suppression are. My immediate feeling is that is as it should be. HR 1927 is just performance art for the pro-gun crowd and their Rambo fantasies. It is stupid and dangerous, make no mistake about it; but it is more of a litmus test to see how far the go-it-alone vigilante mindset can accomplish in tandem with the other bills. 

Currently, the U.S. Justice Department has filed a suit against the state’s abortion ban. It is patently unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade and despite the ridiculous rhetoric Abbott and his cronies employ to tout SB8, the law fosters vigilantism, violation of the constitutional right to privacy, and is frankly unlikely to do squat toward “eliminating rape” to use Abbott’s verbal posturing.

I had mentioned above that the linchpin to both HR1927 and SB8 is SB1, one of the most restrictive laws in the United States to suppress access to casting a vote. Regardless of what the Republicans in this state (or any other) would say, there has never been any evidence of wide-spread voter fraud in any election in the U.S. (except the 2000 U.S. general election; that’s a whole other dimension that cemented the G.O.P.’s ascendancy). Nevertheless, they have thrown their weight behind the Trumpist claim that voter fraud is widespread and that the way to counter that is by restricting access to voting. 

No one with a brain seriously believes this. Indeed, you’d have to be a fool not to ask why, if there’s so much fraud, does the Republican Party have so many representatives in office? Right. Gerrymandering. I forgot. In any case, SB1 and the Abbott administration are potentially going to run afoul of the U.S. government (again) if the Freedom to Vote Act passes the House. It seems ludicrous, but it’s not been unforeseen that this country would come to this. 

We have had decades of a corporatist-capitalist oligarchy growing in power since (at least) 1980. It has its roots further back by a century when the business class were deemed best fit for governing despite all evidence to the contrary. It began its genuine hold on the nation, though, when the idea was floated in in the 1980s that government should be run like a business. This was bullshit then, it is bullshit now. 

“Business” doesn’t care about the well-being of humanity. Let’s just leave it there for a minute. The humans who run corporations rarely genuinely care about the people who work for them, much less the broader society of which any given company is supposed to be a part but which that company would rather not have anything to do with, except net profits. But here’s what the corporatists don’t realize or seem unwilling to recognize: the health of your company depends on the people who support you by buying your product/service(1). Unfortunately, the average consumer is too tied into a toxic relationship with corporations, either through employment or through marketing.

I know some will say, but what about those corporations who “give back”? Well, what about them? Should they get a cookie for providing t-shirts and checks to non-profits while they continue to exploit their workforce and provide minimal benefits (honestly, look at U.S. benefits compared to the E.U. and tell me who’s getting the better deal)? Corporations are neither benign nor are they your buddy. Sure, individuals within a corporation may have good hearts and a desire to help out, but the raison d'être for their existence is quite simply, profit.

It is the idea that the more effectively a business is run, so too, should the government be and therefore, managing a business is the perfect template for running a government. Except, of course, that the two have completely different aims. The one exists solely for maximizing profits; the other is to provide (hopefully) a healthy environment for its citizens. Additionally, the stated proviso of the United States itself runs counter to a corporatist teleology. 

A government of, by, and for the people is not going to fly as a business model in corporate America. There are co-ops and small communities of people who have come together and operate with a non-competitive/consensus-based or worker-owned model, and while these are more in tune with the stated Declaration of Independence, most corporations are not. But the idea that a successful business is a model for a successful government gained traction and while you don’t hear many people saying that so much these days, it has remained in the forethought of many Republicans and Libertarians. 

It is this idea that has brought us to where we are today. “You can’t tell me how to run my business” is an oft-spoken refrain. I don’t need your regulations, I don’t need you to tell me that my product is harmful or useless; let the people vote with their wallets. Unfortunately, the numb-nuts who subscribe to these views also don’t believe that if they’re polluting the environment to produce their product and having a negative impact on communities and families, also feel that it is not their responsibility to address those concerns and cry foul when a community bands together to censure their company. 

This corporatist mindset has infected a number of Americans, obviously. You can’t tell me to wear a mask. I don’t need a permit to carry a weapon. My wife/daughter/sister shouldn’t be allowed to get an abortion. Wait. What?

And there we run into the typical logical fallacies/false equivalencies bundled together in the conservative mind. I want to know how many people feel good about the idea that a family member who was raped or simply is not in an economic or psychological place to have a child doesn’t have the ability to claim her body as her own to make a decision to care for her body and is then at risk (as well as other family members, clergy who may have supported her, doctors and clinics who have provided for her) when she goes through with terminating a life-altering, if not threatening, pregnancy. Show of hands? You feel good about it? My guess then, is that you’re a guy. If you’re a woman, talk to other women. 

But if you can’t get to the polls to vote to overturn legislation or to vote out people who support legislation like this, then you and everyone else is effective silenced. No one in a brown shirt needs to show up at your door (though there are allowances for voter intimidation at polling locations); if you can’t get time off to vote or you’ll lose your job if you do or if the only polling location is miles from where you are and you can’t get a sitter, don’t have a car, or are simply subject to any of the number of hurdles that no few representatives (who are supposed to be working for you) put in your way, then you are simply rendered silent. 

You have no place or voice in the matter. This is what these politicians want. Nothing more, nothing less. They are big children who don’t want to be told what they can or cannot do. They don’t want to be told to think about others, to care for others. Because they simply don’t. Oh, sure, they may care about their families and friends, but that’s easy. It’s very easy when you live in a gated community. It’s very easy when you come from the same social class and have the same skin color. It’s very easy when you’re already just fine and everything’s okay. 

Well, things aren’t okay and everything is not okay. At least, not where society is concerned. Certainly not here in the Lone Star State and really, across the United States. Biden may have won, but there’s so much more to be done and if the Republicans want to sit it out and throw shade at the Democrats for going it alone (surprise, coming from the “cowboy up” mentality of the G.O.P.), then fine. Get out of the way, and let’s see if we can’t get our infrastructure rebuilt, provide more jobs, and try to address some of the imbalances in the country. 

Footnote:

1. Of course, corporations do pay attention to what’s going on in the country and they are aware of popular mandates. Some companies are, if not refusing to do business in Texas owing to the abortion restriction bill, are speaking out against it. Others are concerned about voter suppression, not blind to the longer economic trends that could result from such legislation.

As usual, there’s stuff to be done that we all can do. Besides voting, which maybe we won’t all be able to do, there is a list of resources following. While I have linked to different articles throughout this post, I didn’t link to everything at hand and it’s important to have access to the actual legislation under discussion as written. 

For further reading/resources:

ACLU Texas. Abortion in Texas. https://www.aclutx.org/en/know-your-rights/abortion-in-texas. ACLU.org. September 14, 2021 (updated).

Balsoma, Michael and Weber, Michael. Justice Dept. sues Texas over state’s new abortion law. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-justice-department-lawsuit-851b4ef55da816bda704be491bfc032c. September 9, 2021.

The Brennan Center for Justice. Fact Sheet: The Freedom to Vote Act. https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/2021-09/2021_09_FreedomToVote_V5.pdf

Brennan Center for Justice. Voting Laws Roundup: July 2021. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/voting-laws-roundup-july-2021.

Corasaniti, Nick. G.O.P. Seeks to Empower Poll Watchers, Raising Intimidation Worries. NY Times. May 1, 2021. 

Buttle, Rhett. Five Ways Businesses Can Help Fight Voter Suppression And Build Trust In Our Democracy. https://www.forbes.com/sites/rhettbuttle/2021/06/19/five-ways-businesses-can-help-fight-voter-suppression-and-build-trust-in-our-democracy/?sh=22d226042e52. Forbes. July 19, 2021.

Democracy Docket. The Freedom to Vote Act Unpacked. September 16, 2021. https://www.democracydocket.com/news/the-freedom-to-vote-act-unpacked/.

Durkee, Alison. More Than 50 Companies — Including Yelp, Lyft, Ben & Jerry’s — Speak Out Against Texas Abortion Law. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/09/21/more-than-50-companies---including-yelp-lyft-ben--jerrys---speak-out-against-texas-abortion-law/?sh=5ba09a338ec3. September 21, 2021. 

Goodman, J. David; Corasaniti, Nick; Epstein, Reid J. Texas G.O.P. Passes Election Bill, Raising Voting Barriers Even Higher. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/us/politics/texas-voting-rights-bill.html. August 31, 2021.

H.R. 1 - For the People Act of 2021 (https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/1/text)

The Leadership Education Conference Fund. Democracy Diverted: Polling Place Closures and the Right to Vote. http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/reports/Democracy-Diverted.pdf. September 2019.

Planned Parenthood. Roe v. Wade: The Constitutional Right to Access Safe, Legal Abortion. https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion/roe-v-wade.

S. 27 - Freedom to Vote Act. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2747/text. Introduced September 14, 2021.

Voting Rights Lab. A Threat to Our Democracy: Election Subversion in the  2021 Legislative Session. https://votingrightslab.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/20210924-VRL-Election-Subversion-Report-.pdf. September 29, 2021.

Weber, Paul J. Nation’s most restrictive abortion law back in Texas court. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-law-court-a7961b629e913e1008f8e929c99fb310. October 1, 2021.

Actions:

There is a variety of actions you can take in the resources listed below. It’s a short list, but effective. As usual, the most effective is to call or email your elected representatives and let them know how you feel. Also, look around for local groups to work with. Contacts for local reps are found in many of the resources here, but I’m listing two ways to find yours in the U.S. and Texas.

ACLU: Defend Abortion Access for All: https://action.aclu.org/send-message/defend-abortion-access-all.

League of Woman Voters: https://www.lwv.org/voting-rights/fighting-voter-suppression.

NARAL Pro-Choice America: https://www.prochoiceamerica.org. 

Planned Parenthood: https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/issues/abortion.

Rock the Vote: https://www.rockthevote.org/freedomtovote/. 

When We All Vote: https://whenweallvote.org/action/freedom-to-vote-a

How to find your U.S. representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.

How to find your Texas representatives: https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home.

Op-Eds with Additional Resources:

Lowenkron, Hadriana. Here’s How Activists Are Challenging Voter Restrictions. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-13/how-activists-are-challenge-new-voter-laws. Bloomberg. July 13, 2021.