Before the election Republicans all across the state lambasted most every Democrat as a ‘socialist’ or ‘communist.’ New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders got more ink in Missouri campaign literature than they probably did in their home states.
Ironic since in the Show Me State the party of socialism and communism is the Republican Party.
To cite a few recent examples…
Central Control of Government Missouri GOPers always claim to be for local control, except they’re not. Senator Andrew Koenig [R – St. Louis Co.], Representative Jim Murphy [R – Mehlville] and others, for example, filed legislation to usurp the ability of local governments to respond to local health issues. Senate Bill 21, House Bill 75 and the several similar measures would severely time limit a reasoned, professional approach a county might make to, say, COVID-19.
Murphy also proposes – again – to allow the Attorney General to run rough shod over any elected county prosecutor just because those people feel the local prosecutor isn’t mean enough. [HB77]
The Will Of The People Is Meaningless Despite voters overturning Right To Work, a bill to enact it again [HB 87] has been pre-filed. In a similar vein, a bunch of bills making it much, much harder to get initiative petitions (especially Constitutional Amendments) on the ballot are now in line. (Remember too that CLEAN Missouri got gutted by a legislature-sponsored “alternative” this fall.)
Missourians voted against concealed carry. This next session several measures propose to allow concealed guns of public transportation [HB 52] and in some of the few other places hidden guns are still prohibited. Plus, The Second Amendment Preservation Act [HB 85] enshrines Missouri’s ‘official view’ that God pretty much wants everyone to own a machine gun.
Government Officials Need Not Follow Their Own Rules This happened to me, today. I went to renew my driver license, wanting a Real I.D. They rejected my Social Security card [circa 1970] because the signature of a high school freshman doesn’t match that of a retiree, and, the card was very legible because it had been laminated. I had to go home for a tax-related 1099 form with my entire nine digit SSN. Well, for several years all 1099’s show just the last four digits of the Social – including the 1099G forms issued by the Missouri Department of Revenue.
In other words, the forms sent out by the state aren’t accepted by the state.
Now, this gets scary: watching the second special (extraordinary) session of the legislature this fall it was readily apparent that social distancing and mask wearing don’t apply to Republican legislators. Of course, legislators are the only state paid folks who can smoke or have alcohol in their office (and drink on the job if they like).
That stuff carved into the wall of the Missouri House chamber about the welfare of the people being the supreme law is so 19th Century. In the top-down government enforced by the majority party, a more appropriate saying would be “Do what we tell you is good for you.” Missouri Republicans practice top-down socialism. Too bad they won’t admit it.
Glenn