The hypocrisy, disingenuity and ignorance of Republican lawmakers continues to astonish me. No one should be surprised, but we should also refuse to get used to it.
On July 24, the Supreme Court ended the constitutional guarantee of the right to privacy and bodily freedom for women and transgendered men in the United States. Utah has a 2020 trigger law that all but bans any abortion as a result. Women and families, most especially low income and of color, will suffer and be thrust deeper into economic disadvantage. However, when asked about Utah’s position on women who need abortions travelling to nearby states (CO, NV, NM) where services are legally and safely provided, white professional homemaker Karianne Lisonbee (R-Davis County) replied, “Certainly, if someone wants to do that, it’s a free country and we wouldn’t be the type of authoritarian government that would prevent that.”
How nice to have options only 400 miles away. Are you proposing public health care for all children and families, and guaranteed paid family and sick leave and free daycare for all workers? If so, we might share some common ground.
Sorry, Karianne, you’re wrong. The United States is officially no longer a free country, as of Friday June 24, 2022. Republican Utah legislators, including Lisonbee, proactively expressed their authoritarian intentions in 2020 (the moment the Supreme Court was sufficiently stacked), after blatantly dismissing our voter-authorized independent redistricting commission, among so many other things.
Utah is the picture-perfect authoritarian single-party system that Republicans, led by Utah’s Orrin Hatch and by Mitch McConnell, have been creeping along with during most of our lifetimes, like foxtail seeds in a dog’s hindquarters. It’s no wonder that people like Vladimir Putin are poisoning our public discourse with lies about the legitimate electoral loss of an openly authoritarian Republican.
Loren Carle, Salt Lake City
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/7OfZHMX
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