Thread by @mattsheffield

Thread: How the California recall scheme is part of a broader conservative effort to make democracy obsolete.

This is a summary of my latest for @DiscoverFlux: flux.community/matthew-sheffi…

A lot of people think that the effort by California Republicans to recall Gavin Newsom is just a ridiculous joke. It's anything but.

In fact, it's part of a decades-long conservative tradition of using legal trickery to shape the electorate so that they can with w/a minority.

This idea was stated explicitly in 1980 by Paul Weyrich, a Christian nationalist activist who started the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and the predecessor to the Christian Coalition.

The Christian nationalist movement had not yet gained total control over the GOP at that time. Their goal would not be reached for several more decades, in fact.

But Weyrich had learned that it doesn't matter what the public thinks. It matters what the voters think.

In Georgia, Florida, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania & other states controlled by Republican legislators, they are using laws to shape the electorate by making it harder for groups that are likely to vote Democratic, such as poor people and college students (lots of overlap there, sadly)

But the far-right has no such ability in my home state of CA. Because the white Christianism that national conservatives champion is unpopular here. No GOPer has held statewide office since 2010.

Instead of becoming more moderate though, the GOP decided to shape the electorate.

CA is especially vulnerable in this regard because its laws allow a governor to be recalled and replaced in the same election. Typically, recall elections have low turnout. Which is exactly what the GOP here wants. Their tiny minority of Christianists can win w/o a majority

But guess what? California is far from the only state where laws like this are on the books. Right now, the swing states of Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Colorado have recall laws in place that are similar to California’s. No doubt if Newsom is recalled other states will too.

So if you know someone in CA who has not voted in the #CARecall, please tell them to do so. The far right will do anything avoid become more moderate. The only way this happens is if they keep losing big.

You don't have to like Newsom. This is so much bigger than him. /end

Lots of great CA particular info here from @brooklynmarie

https://twitter.com/brooklynmarie/status/1364802671501144065?s=19

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