Anne Applebaum
In which I ask: is Tennessee a democracy? https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/tennessee-republican-partisanship-one-party-state/674732/
Is Tennessee a Democracy?

What happened when a Republican supermajority gained control—and wasn’t satisfied

The Atlantic
Jul 18, 2023 at 10:49amWeb
Show threadAnne ApplebaumJul 18, 2023
Tennessee is, in effect, a one party state. But that doesn't satisfy the ruling party:
"As in Hungary or Poland or as in Venezuela, the experience of radicalism can make people more radical. Total control of a political system can make the victors not more magnanimous, but more frustrated, not least because they learn that total control still doesn’t deliver what they think it should...
Show threadAnne ApplebaumJul 18, 2023
...No county commission or state legislature can possibly meet the demands of a quasi-religious movement that believes it has God on its side and that its opponents herald the apocalypse. But that doesn’t mean they give up. It just means they keep trying, using any tool available. Eventually they arrive at the point described by Tom Lee, the lawyer for the Sumner County Election Commission: “It’s not enough to get your majority and get your way—they have to make the minority lose their voice.”
Show threadLaurie SJul 18, 2023
@anneapplebaum separation of church and state is where it’s at! We have to keep pushing back against religious fundamentalism 🇺🇸💙🇺🇸 vote blue!
Show threadAlexander Portnoy 🌊 🏳️‍🌈Jul 18, 2023
@anneapplebaum
The question I want to ask all these bible thumping politicians is how much is enough? How much suffering of their constituents? How much failure on their part?
Show threadEdelruth, PBS Passport HolderJul 20, 2023

@anneapplebaum

And they still won't be happy if/when they achieve that. They'll find someone new to persecute.

Show threadcmeierJul 18, 2023

@anneapplebaum I grew up in TN Dem party politics in the 70s listening to stories from the politicians who had thrown out the Crump machine that had ruled TN in the 1920s. TN finally tired of bad gov't after WWII and threw the Crumps out although it didn't happen in my home county (Roane) until 1970.

Sooner or later these current idiots have to deliver on services or they will be tossed like the Crumps. Unfortunately in the meantime they will do a lot of damage.

Show threadcmeierJul 18, 2023
@anneapplebaum Classic background reading: _Southern Politics_ by V.O. Key, Jr. Published 1949, but still quite fascinating history.
Show threadLaureJul 18, 2023
@anneapplebaum and in Tennessee it’s about deep and likely dirty (drugs etc) corruption.
Show threadEdelruth, PBS Passport HolderJul 19, 2023

@anneapplebaum

"We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Show threadStargeezer SmithJul 20, 2023
@anneapplebaum
I'm thinking that to have such a one party system requires having many dishonest politicians. That being said, at some point they find they can't trust one another.
Show threadLeslie 🇺🇸🌻🌈 🌊Jul 21, 2023
@anneapplebaum I keep wondering if the 2A absolutists know that if they got their desired authoritarian state it's goodbye 🔫 for everyone 🙄
Show threadMark MasonJul 24, 2023
@anneapplebaum I read where somebody said something like ‘when the government is founded on a lie it has to implement more and more extreme measures to try to make the lie true until it eventually it has to kill its own people.’ True in Nazi Germany, true in Stalinist Russia and coming true in Florida.
Show threadjanetateJul 18, 2023
@anneapplebaum In my experience over the past 8 years, the answer is no. Especially this year after the Republican supermajority in the legislature overrode ballot initiatives voted on my citizens in Democratic cities. They continue to target Memphis & Nashville especially taking away municipal power. Then there’s their racially motivated expulsion of 2 young, dynamic, duly elected Democratic representatives for defending kids over guns while ignoring a multitude of Republican Rep “sins”
Show threadklausfiend has movedJul 18, 2023
@anneapplebaum if Marsha Blackburn -- "defender of freedom" and the greatest ally America's telecom oligopoly ever had -- is what Tennessee democracy delivers, it might be time to go back to first principles.
Show threadCoach Pāṇini ®Jul 18, 2023
@klausfiend @anneapplebaum it’s been that time https://open.substack.com/pub/paninid/p/cybergrunge-first-principles?r=4hxgy&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Cybergrunge First Principles

The United States of America is a hard-forked product

Daily Bread
Show threadMxhradJul 18, 2023

@anneapplebaum

No, and neither are most other red states. They've gerrymandered themselves into unbreakable supermajorities... look at Wisconsin where Democrats have to win 20% statewide to break even in the state legislature.

Show threadKen FarinskyJul 18, 2023
@anneapplebaum
Republicans would answer that they're not a democracy, they're a republic. But, I think they're closer to a fascist state.
Show threadSolarbird Jul 18, 2023
@anneapplebaum have you looked into Wisconsin lately? Check 2018 legislative elections in particular. It’s not.
Show threadBodhipaksaJul 19, 2023
@anneapplebaum I worry deeply about intolerance so strong that it has to silence any opposition. It's not a far step from where they are now to provoking murders. They'll do it mob-boss style, of course, like Trump does — with indirect calls hinting violence, and letting stochastic terrorism do the rest.
Show threadJanan BroadbentJul 19, 2023
@anneapplebaum Paywall
Show threadDale, The CornflowerJul 20, 2023
@anneapplebaum This is a very powerful read, Anne . Thank you.
Show threadT.WllmsJul 20, 2023

@anneapplebaum

No, Tennessee is not a democracy and neither is Alabama or any number of other red states.... the question is.... what to do about it and how far does one need to go to get back to a civil discussion.

Show threadJohn GordonJul 20, 2023
@anneapplebaum “following a general election in which only 15 percent of eligible voters cast ballots”