HAVE THE PEOPLE REALLY SPOKEN?

     Republicans repeatedly cough up the phrase, "the people have spoken", to defend their policies. It is not hard to ask, "what people are they listening to". I know, you aren't supposed to place an article at the end of the sentence, but I am talking about Republicans. Too often they confuse their and there. When we include their president, whom they think is flawless,  well, there is no there there. We could also ask with some justification who he is listening to. Again, that article at the end of the sentence. Twice in three Republican presidential victories the electoral college had to decide the winner, in spite of a plurality of votes for the Democratic nominee. Republicans strenuously deny it, but the electoral college has been structured to favor Republican candidates for years. Additionally, many, if not all red states have made the voting process, or voter registration difficult for people in minority or poor precincts. In Alabama, a person from a black majority precinct could have to drive fifty miles to obtain voting documents. In North Carolina and other states, voters at HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities), which have long been precincts, now find themselves having to take a bus from their college to a distant location where bus service is not frequent and parking is difficult, to cast their vote. In Texas, a college ID cannot be used as proof of residency, while a gun carry permit is just fine. In the most recent election, a black man waited seven hours in line at his precinct to vote, and then had to go to work. It is fair to assume that there is a pattern here of voter selection, which has gotten worse following the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Shelby County v Holder, in 2013. Some states, like Georgia and Florida, conveniently lose ballots or registration documents from Democrats, and have since the Jim Crow era. It should surprise no one that those Democrats have a darker skin pigmentation than is common in the Republican party. 

     It is fair to say that both party's listen closely to the powerful plutocrats and oligarchs that own them. It is uniquely the Republican party that has listened closely to the white racists and religious zealots who have had a strong influence in legislation since the 1970s. Prior to the Tea-party movement those messages were recieved in quiet corners. Donald Trump has openly courted these people. We can speculate what form that courtship has taken. In spite of his sputtering pomposity, Trump has spent a lifetime appealing to autocrats to take a chance on his ever riskier investments, Vladimir Putin chief among them. Their sponsorship is not given out of a sense of altruism.

     So you will forgive me if my gag reflex kicks in when I hear a Republican speak about the people speaking to them.