By John Q. Hosedrinker 
The Republican Party’s historical pattern of cheating when they can’t win continues, as evidenced by their efforts to suppress votes and manipulate election outcomes. These tactics include aggressive voter purges, gerrymandering, and the weaponization of the Department of Justice to undermine voting rights. The goal is to discourage, intimidate, and prevent eligible voters from participating, thereby tilting the electoral landscape in their favor, despite their unpopular policies. This systematic assault on democracy is a quiet, technical, and destructive campaign that threatens the foundation of American self-governance and makes the ballot box meaningless.
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It’s Bigger Than Texas: Beware the Republican War on Fair Elections
The writing’s on the wall, isn’t it? We knew this was coming. With a less-than-beloved figurehead and an economy that’s struggling, the Republicans are resorting to their tried-and-true tactic: stacking the deck. This isn’t some new phenomenon, either. It’s been happening for a long time, dating back to, arguably, the contested election of 2000, if not before. The reality is, the GOP is often far less popular than its share of government would suggest. The MAGA movement, in particular, seems utterly uninterested in the principles of democracy. They don’t care about fairness, they brush aside hypocrisy, and they certainly don’t engage in good-faith debate. Facts and rationality? Those are just obstacles to be overcome. Their singular focus is on gaining and retaining power, and silencing any voices that dare to dissent.
For many MAGA politicians, power is the only currency that matters. Yet, they know their voters truly believe in a Republican party ordained by a higher power. Consequently, these voters believe the party’s actions are inherently righteous. At the same time, the “demoncrats” are portrayed as the embodiment of evil, constantly plotting corruption and wickedness. The reason this isn’t known to the masses, they claim, is simply because they are so powerful and can hide everything. This Republican war on fair elections, in essence, is nothing short of tyranny. It’s time to stop treating MAGA as something separate from the historical goals of the conservative movement, particularly since Reconstruction.
We see the echoes of the past in today’s tactics. From the era of Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Movement, the Party Switch to the Southern Strategy, the goal has remained consistent: the disenfranchisement of anyone who would oppose conservative ideology. The Heritage Foundation co-founder, Paul Weyrich, laid it bare years ago. The ultimate aim is subverting democracy itself.
It’s a strategy that’s been honed over decades. Beginning in the 80s, when evangelical groups began to infiltrate the Republican party, and then later morphing into technocratic fascist groypers, the ultimate goal remains the same. A country dominated by a single party, no matter how unpopular their agenda or the politicians themselves might be. We’ve witnessed the systematic erosion of civil governance for over forty years. Every law, every amendment, every protection is vulnerable to being slowly chipped away.
This didn’t start with Trump, and these ideas are far from unique to him. Conservative groups, buoyed by Trump’s popularity, are utilizing his base to push their agenda. These are goals that were set long before he decided to become a Republican. It’s the culmination of decades of special interest groups, fueled by billionaire money, with the tacit endorsement of the Republican party pushing forward with its goals. They’ve made it clear, as seen with people like Russ Vought and Kevin Roberts and his “Second American Revolution” quote, that they’re willing to crush anyone who stands in their way. Courts, laws, and even people be damned.
The finish line appears to be in sight. Democrats, on the other hand, don’t seem to be running the same race. In a hundred years, if there are any young kids told about this era, the story will be the Republicans shooting for the destruction of democracy to keep elites happy and abuse workers. And North Carolina voters saw right through it as they rejected Republicans in every 2024 state race except for the State Auditor.
The GOP controlled Legislature, as a result, swooped in to change the rules, of course, in their favor. The state election authority was stripped from the Governor and then given to the State Auditor.
And now, they’re demanding that the partisan hacks they’ve appointed to the Board of Elections be exempted from Ethics requirements. The sad part is, they’ll probably get away with it. From gerrymandering to voter suppression, Trump and his MAGA team are diligently working their strategy to reduce our Democratic Republic down to a dictatorship. How is it that Raffensperger can cancel voter registrations in Georgia? Targeted, naturally, are the young, people of color, and those with low-incomes. In the name of election integrity, of course. It’s a lie, a scam, some call it gaslighting. We fought a similar war during the Confederacy. We need to be proactive and do everything we can to avoid that conflict. We have to demand action from our elected officials. What else can you expect from the fascists? This was the plan all along. They literally said before the election: ”Vote this once and you won’t have to worry about voting ever again.” That is LITERALLY what Orange Pedo said. Republicans are anti-democracy. It’s pretty clear. The plan includes purging thousands from the voter rolls for upcoming elections. This is the ONGOING war on voting. The VRA was needed for a reason, and the war never stopped. I lived in Missouri early this century and the polling place changed, was very, very, very hard to find the new one, and it closed early so presumably thousands didn’t vote. It made the news, and then it disappeared. We’ve let them get away with vote suppression shenanigans like that for decades, so of course, they will keep upping their game.
Even Russia has elections, but it is notable that Putin wins them by improbable numbers. Analysis shows at least a third of the votes are utterly fake. Imagine needing to be told this. Dear leader rapes and traffics little girls. Culture war can be even more utilized, as they can even cut taxes even more for the rich and raise taxes even more for the poor. We knew this was coming because in 2021 the GOP literally staged a coup on January 6th to attempt to overturn the 2020 election result and install Trump as dictator. The electoral theft in 2000 changed the entire world for the worse.
That event also taught the GOP that there will never be consequences, even for the most brazen evil. And Democrats have been spineless jellyfish the whole time, moving further to the right and espousing “Vote Blue No Matter Who” but they never really meant that.
One political party is evil. One political party is useless. Both are right-wing. Conservatism has always been about one thing: conserving the power of straight white rich Christian men over everyone else. Humans won’t be here in a hundred years. P’sOS And I assume that was a precinct with majority Black/Dem voters–is that right? So far it isn’t hurting his base. Makes me wonder how many of them have access to children. Not to mention that Gore actually CARES about addressing climate change? Not that it’s too late for us to do the same (apathy is what will truly spell our doom), but man it would have been nice to get a head start on addressing ocean acidification as a whole country. Nonsense. There will be a collection of fifty underground silos with 10,000 residents in each. People have literally been saying that as long as humanity has existed yet we’re still here.
It’s insanely narcissistic to assume you are part of the final generation that will be here to witness the end of the world. Kind of indicates that someone can’t imagine the world existing without them in it. Bridged a slightly impoverished district, one where lots of medical students and young doctors lived, and a hip cool bit of town so yeah, this one has always had voting acres issues, and the gated community mcmansion suburbs, do not. Just look at r/notadragqueen if you can stomach it. Almost exclusively “anti groomers”, church youth group leaders, and (sadly) teachers.
It’s fucking terrifying. Don’t look up Extinction is locked in with climate change and there is nothing we can do to stop what is coming.
The technology needed to reverse the damage we’ve already done does not exist and we’re still breaking emission records every single year. If we stopped emitting CO2 today it still wouldn’t matter. The damage we have already done is locked in.
It is narcissistic to view the climate data available to us today and assume humans will still be around in a hundred years. It is clear that if we continue on this path without a miraculous technological revolution we will collapse as a species. It’s not gonna be that quick. Do you follow climate data closely? I’d like to know what makes you so optimistic.
Are you aware of the tipping points we’re on the verge of breaking and the multiple feedback loops that are mostly not accounted for in climate models?
The burning of the boreal forest is happening NOW. It has the potential to release roughly double the amount of CO2 that is in the Amazon. Yeah, env engineer. Not saying it’s not the end but it’s going to take longer than 100 years lol. Humans will stick around in some form in that time Global crop failures hit at 1.5- 2°C. Billions die at 3°C. Most humans dead at 4°C. Earth uninhabitable at 6°C.
We’re heading for 1.5°C by 2025.
We’re heading for 2°C by 2035.
We’re heading for 4- 6°C by 2075.