Inside the Looking glass: A quick guide on why you start taking the crimson states seriously.

Where should I go?" -Alice. "That depends on where you want to end up." - The Cheshire Cat. (Lewis Carroll) We can say a lot about living in MAGA-controlled states. In fact, there's so much going on in these states I could write a whole dystopian book series based on real-life events. But a lot of folks that live outside of these states don't have an in-depth look at the way these states are operating--They only see the parts that make the national headlines. So let's get a little further into the "looking glass" of the MAGA-controlled states and why folks need to really start watching their the shenanigans of their own state houses because they too can become the next victim of MAGA. Yes, it's true any political party can go to the extreme side of the political spectrum when there is an unchecked imbalance of power involved. But for all purposes of this piece, we're talking about MAGA or what we know as the former party of the Republicans. Now, we do have a few Republicans in Mo Leg (Missouri Legislation) in the Senate that are slowly trying to take back their party, and edge to shut down some of the insanity that plagues our legislative bodies. Sadly though, that breed of "Eisenhower" Republicans are starting to go the "way of the dinosaur" as this fascist movement makes some headway to the national stage. So, here we go into the waters of why these states are going full-on fascist. Despite the general perception that "folks in these states keep voting against their best interest". Or my personal favorite misconception that "rural folks are to blame for all the woes that the GOP brings." The reality is so much worse than just those perceptions in and of themselves. What folks do not understand is that this wave of fascist frenzies didn't pop up overnight and automatically reach the "Fourth Reich" level. No, it's taken years to get to this point through gerrymandering, isolation, disconnection, the appointment of partisan activist judges, deprivation of voting choice, and building a monster of a propaganda machine that would make Himmler blush. In fact, a lot of these states were purple, but with unadulterated corruption at the helm left the purple to be gerrymandered out of existence. Of course, these folks fully took advantage of the sensational distractive politics created by the national politics in order to set the stage for the hostile takeover of the state houses by 2016. I mean that all the nation saw were endless images of ridiculous jack upped pickup trucks donning Trump, Nazi, and "Stars and Bars" that revival with the images we saw from Afghanistan of the Taliban. Naturally, this left a lasting impression on folks looking in on these "rogue" states. The biggest issue that folks in "blue" states don't understand is that these states also don't really have much of a "Democratic" party presence at the state level, and there hasn't been for a really long time. They too forgot about folks in rural America or looks like that anyways. And no, this isn't a swipe at the Democratic party as a whole, but that party abandonment didn't help with the good fight against the "Crimson Waves" that flooded the state houses. To give an example, if one was to pull up any rural ballot from the last election cycle, you would see that 95% of the seats that wasn't on a federal level ticket went uncontested. Even the "Independents" were MAGA lite. So the literal choice was the "garden variety lesser of evil" who is going to do the least amount of damage or "Super Villian evil" with nothing in between the two. As you can see, the lack of voting options is super problematic in a system designed to be a pluralist in nature or a two-party system. Leaving one party to just dominate an area. And as much as I would like this to be an overexaggeration of the reality of the folks in the GOP states, it's not. In fact, 23% of the state houses went uncontested in Missouri the last election cycle. So, this in and of itself creates the ultimate power grab for any political party that has the supermajority. But for the GOP states, it's the MAGA that has that control and allows them to do whatever without any checks and balances in place. To sum it up, folks don't actually have a political infrastructure that allows representation or even a voice in their own government on a state level that makes it that much easier for fascism to take root in state government. And that brings up a much larger problem that people really need to understand--And that's how the GOP governs. The GOP in "Red" states do not govern. Rarely do they follow the wishes of their constituents. You might be thinking "Well that's politicians for ya"? Well, that is true, it is, but at the same time, it's not. State GOPers get their legislation from DC conservative think tanks-- Like ALEC or Project Blitz. These think tanks only offer their lobbyist services to billion-dollar corporations and the ultra-wealthy that more times than not have more nefarious ambitions at heart rather than the collective whole of the American people--All in the name of "Conservativism". Most of the extreme and unconstitutional pieces of legislation from these states came from these kinds of "Brain trust" that the state-level reps have tried to pass off as their own. You know the all the push to destroy public education through voucher programs? Or all the Anti-DEI bills or "think tanks" are where they originated from and piped to GOP state houses everywhere. They attempt to pass those bills in the US Congressional level, but if they fail, they scale them down and push them through state houses to be passed and gain influence on the national stage. Sure, some of it is distractive politics or to create outrage to cause division among folks, and be a waste of time and taxpayers' money on it, because it's going to be in find itself in court. But it's the real nasty pieces of legislation that are solely designed to cause deliberate chaos that are being on the floor to be passed. Today, a bill is on the Missouri house floor that will allow guns in places of worship and on public transportation. Because that's a good idea, right? Or a bill yesterday that not only allows toddlers to carry a gun in the open but also allows people on a "No fly" list due to being a suspect terrorist to carry guns and buy firearms. Or trying to pass Anti-DEI legislation that would ultimately wreck the economy, because no company wants to set up shop in a place that doesn't allow all kinds of different people to thrive to promote their brand. You might be thinking "Why would they do this and how is it even a thing "? Well, it's a super simple answer--the GOP tries to apply a radical legal theory that would allow states to do whatever they want to do with no federal government interference. This theory is called ISL ( Independent State Legislator) theory. In a short run down, it's unrecognized legal (and typically gets laughed out of court) theory that removes the separation of powers and would allow states to completely ignore the US Constitution without any real repercussions from the Federal government. This insane theory emboldens states to act like they're sovereign states and causes them to go rogue. So naturally, they just stick that theory to everything that comes across their desks despite that the theory itself doesn't have a leg to stand on in any level of court. But also done purposely as well, to attack and gum up the court system with the hopes they can get it recognized to gain more power to unleash hell with. Like Missouri Senator Mike Moon (Yes, that public menace in a suit again!) has a couple of bills that push the limits and definitely would cause a national crisis. One being SB 358 -It nullifies all federal laws in the state of Missouri and it actually made its way to a committee. Then his latest to go to committee is SB 356 -It's a dressed up forced birth bill full stop. Not only is this abortion bill just flat out wrong on so many levels, but its literally an international crime defined by the United Nations... As Sir Issac Newton said "I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people." And the GOP has an endless supply of true madness with the hopes of taking it to the National stage for all the world to see. It can be said that most folks don't fully comprehend that it's the state houses that influence the national policies. Most think it's the federal that pushes stuff to the state, but really it's the other way around. So you can see why the GOP wants full control of the state house- so they can push all of their crazy to the US Congressional level. Making it everyone's problem. Even the strongest "Blue" stronghold vulnerable to the fascists, because that's how fascism works as we seen in Florida with their state house celebrating a bipartisan act they just passed. Despite the fact, Florida is leading the charge in the rise of fascism. Absolutionism is like a nasty virus infects and corrupts every place it goes, and the "Blue" states are not exempt from the rule. At the end of the day, folks that are looking in from the "Looking glass" of the red states or in a Democratic party "stronghold" need to grasp the horrifying conditions of the state we're facing, including the insane legislation that circulates on social media. Please start taking these folks in "Crimson" states (espeically rural America) seriously and start listening.. They're are not being hyperbolic, they're not overreacting, or even exaggrating the cirumstances. Most of these folks have witnessed the rise of fascism and lived under these policies for the past 20 years. From the growing voting suppression to watching the states gut the very mechanism that allows public percipation in the state democracy. This is our reality in a MAGA controlled state- all it's missing is the goose step. It's the only way to keep from going down the road to the abolutionism of the MAGA movement. As always take care, and of one another, much love, Jojo