Fascism Comes to Texas

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines fascism as: a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. 77 years ago today American troops, perhaps your father or uncle, or grandfather among them, were fighting fascist forces not far from the Normandy beaches where they’d landed June 6^th. Today we’re still fighting against fascism.

One of the tactics of fascists the world over is claiming that something or someone is to blame and getting people angry about it, usually it’s a lie. Here in the US fascists are trying to persuade Americans to support them is through claiming that the 2020 election was fraught with massive voter fraud causing the 2 time popular vote loser and reality TV star to lose the election, it’s nothing more than “The Big Lie”. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick offered a $1 million reward and they still can’t provide proof of fraud 8 months later. A.G. Ken Paxton spent $1 million on staff salaries investigating voter fraud in the last year alone yet no one has been jailed. Those failures aren’t stopping them from taking actions to suppress voting rights under the guise of preventing that non-existent fraud. It’s all just Jim Crow 2.0.

Saturday morning the legislature held committee hearings on SB 1 and HB 3, both are highly complex, 40+ page bills which were only filed Thursday with over 200 other bills. Republicans are trying to give partisan poll watchers access to disrupt voting despite their notorious track record of intimidating voters of color. They’re also spreading fear to voters, election officials, and good samaritans to discourage their participation by further criminalizing Texas’s electoral process, targeting election officials in particular for minor mistakes. Republicans are gutting the ability of election officials to communicate with Texans about voting by mail. They’re making it substantially harder for Texans to access vote by mail applications and add new requirements for voter ID on a Vote by Mail ballot. Targeting voters with disabilities and forces those voters to disclose private medical information about one’s disability to access vote by mail.

The Republican written bills also eliminate pro voter policies that made voting safe and secure during the pandemic such as extended voting hours for shift workers and drive thru voting. The bills also authorize new lawsuits that can be brought by disgruntled losing candidates, in which a voter could be forced to disclose who they voted for - violating the very basic right to a private and secret ballot.

While the Republican authors have dropped provisions from the regular session that eliminated access to Souls to the Polls by restricting Sunday voting hours to the afternoon, a direct attack on traditional GOTV efforts in Black communities, that doesn’t mean they won’t try to add it back in the dark of night.

The courageous men who stormed the beaches at Normandy, fought through the bitter winter at the Battle of the Bulge, and marched into Germany and Italy to put an end to the fascist aggressors would be deeply disappointed if we roll over and let fascism take over the United States without even putting up a fight. Call Representative John Kuempel’s office, at 512-463-0602, and let him know what you think of these voter suppression bills HB 3 and SB 1.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - July 14, 2021