Thread by @wilsonhartgrove

It’s outrageous that GA’s voter suppression bill makes it illegal to give food & water to voters waiting in line. But read on, b/c it gets much worse...

Folks in Atlanta will bring their own water bottles & vote en masse in response to this assault on democracy. But if this law stands, a state board can override their county board & throw out their ballots if they don’t like the results.

This is the state-level control of local elections that ALEC began lobbying for last spring, long before false claims of “widespread fraud” & a “stolen election” in Nov. See @anelsona’s reporting on this: billmoyers.com/story/the-shad…

Is this Jim Crow dressed up as James Crow, Esq? Yes, but don’t pretend it’s just a Southern thing. There’s already a bill in AZ that aims to do the same. It’s sponsor? A former ALEC legislator of the month.

Look for more of the same to come in MI, WI, FL, NC, OH, PA & anywhere else the GOP controls state legislatures. This isn’t just about the South. It’s about the GOP’s willingness to subvert democracy in order to hold onto power.

40 yrs ago, the man who started ALEC, Paul Weyrich, told Republicans that American government was structured w/ deference toward states, so that white conservatives could control US politics if they controlled state legislatures.

But he also knew that Jim Crow was over & you couldn’t keep power if you appealed directly to racism. Weyrich created the “culture wars” by giving Jerry Falwell the idea for a “moral majority.”

So the religious right taught white Christians to think they were standing up for traditional values when they voted for Republicans. They could even co-opt Dr King & the moral language of the civil rights movement toward this end.

But the changing demographics of states like GA & AZ forced Republicans to embrace a birther in Trump & now back voter suppression as the last ditch effort to cling to power. It’s clear this isn’t a culture war. It’s been unveiled as a pure power struggle.

So white Christians in particular will have to decide which side they’re on—voter suppression or equal access to democracy? #ChristianNationalism or a multi-ethnic democracy?

Want to cover this history w/ your Bible study at church & learn to read Scripture’s case FOR voting rights? Chapter 3 of #RevolutionOfValues is right here waiting for you. ivpress.com/revolution-of-…