As you can see from my note below, I’m extremely interested in this House Republican rule change which appears aimed at triggering a manufactured crisis in Social Security financing – and laying the groundwork for cuts in the program. We’re going to follow up on this story aggressively today and going forwar and try to find out and share with you as much as we can about what’s behind it, what’s likely to emerge from it and more. Stay tuned. I’m also very interested – over the next couple years – in finding out what is going in the states.
There are many interesting debates to be had over why Republicans have racked up such impressive victories at the state level in the Obama era – first in 2010, holding their own in 2012 and then extending their gains in 2014. Is it a fundamental trend? Is it tied to the dynamics of off-year elections, lesser known issue sets and pivoting against the malaise of the late Obama era? Interesting questions. But none of that changes the fact that the scope of GOP dominance is simply overwhelming. Republicans hold 31 governorships. More importantly, there are 24 states where they hold the governor and majorities in the legislature. In other words, where they control everything and can do anything.
By comparison, Democrats enjoy similar control in only seven states.
Certain gender and culture war bills tend to reach the level of national news – stuff like the “transvaginal ultrasound” bills of the last couple years, restrictions on abortion. That legislation is critically important, particularly the way that reproductive rights have been slowly eroded by myriad state laws in recent years. But they are not the only important bills. And most of the stuff that happens on the state level is less politicized in policy terms – by which I mean, simply less well-known or well-understood, less resonant with the culture war dynamics that gets news kicked up into the national news ecosystem. Even when the policies are well-known there are still 50 states and – aside from concerned constituencies – there just aren’t that many people paying attention.
How much attention is there going to be at the national level or even in the state if Republicans make major changes to labor laws in Nevada? Not much. And more or less if the same thing is happening in 10 different states – with different flavors of legislation – across the country? I’m not saying no one will be paying attention. Certainly Labor will be paying close attention and fighting it hard. But these things routinely fall beneath the national political conversation. And that is critically important for final outcomes.
So over the next two years we’re going to make a particular effort to monitor and report on what is happening in these state legislatures. And not only what’s happening in the legislatures themselves but what’s being moved by the various outside pressure groups which create model bills to push through these legislatures. For now I’m just letting you know what we’re going to be focusing on. But I also want to let you know because in cases like this we always rely on our readers to be our eyes and ears at the state and local level of government. Once we know something is up we can marshal ample resources to pursue the story. But we’re a small organization and there are a lot of places to look. So we rely a lot on you to let us know when something important is afoot.
