"Status quo, you know, is Latin for 'the mess we're in."- Ronald Reagan It's the start of a new Congressional session for both the state of Missouri and the Federal congress, and it can be said that it has started off like a massive dumpster fire rolling down the main street. Between the prefiles from state legislators, gaudy cowboy boots from our newly elected senator, and day 3 of the election of the Speaker of the House-gives everyone a pretty good sign on what is to come from our politics the next two years. Needless to say, nothing about this start that looks like the "status quo" or even normal in the 247 years of traditions that everyone has become accustomed to. [1]. To quote Sean Hannity "It's turning into a clown show", and a person knows when they start agreeing with Hannity that things are bad. And while folks seem to be in shock at the 118th Congressional soap opera happening in real-time--What they don't realize is that's the kind of nonsense that Missourians have seen the GOP super-majority for the past 20 years. They also don't seem to realize that the last time congress was in this much chaos that the Civil War was triggered with Missouri's politics being the main catalyst to that bloody event. [2] So, let's dig into the backstory of how Missouri became the contributing factor for the current circus for the US.
It's no secret that Missouri's political climate always spills over into the national stage. Be it the Dred Scott decision to more recent events involving threats to National Security. So, the minority taking the majority hostage for the Speaker of the House is nothing that Missourians haven't seen before. The inner fighting among Missouri's GOP got so bad that there's no longer a Republic Caucus for the state due to how extreme the MAGA is getting. To put it bluntly, this hostage-taking has led to extreme legislation that's passed like the "Trigger Ban" on abortion and anti-federal gun laws under SAPA (Second Amendment Preservation Act). To prefiled bills like SB 356. A bill to legalize forced birth, outlaw birth control, and charge women with murder for having a miscarriage. The entire bill is considered a war crime and against international law. Then SB 358 goes on to say that "Any and all Federal laws" are invalid in Missouri unless approved by the Missouri Legislative body. That entire bill again is unconstitutional due to the Supremacy Clause in the US Constitutional. [4]. Make no mistake that the same tactic is being used to achieve their end goal of control of the Speaker of the House and gaining absolute control of the House with no compromise. Missouri particularly Congressional District 8 is a prime example of how these clowns govern. It's not a pretty picture either when you look at the stats and rankings nationally. So, let's dive into the backstory of how Missouri became the picture of what MAGA truly is- And how extreme it really is. The one thing that folks really need to understand is that what they're bearing witness to now has been going on since the 2000s with the GOP. These jokers didn't really start to show their true colors until 2016-2020. In fact, our former Attorney General John Ashcroft told the FBI not to investigate Al Qaida threats back in 2004 and brushed off 9/11 warnings of one of the most brutal acts of terror that took 2,996 American lives. [3] Exactly 12 years later his son became Secretary of state for Missouri with the same kind of appetite for religious zealotry and need for absolute power. yes, Ashcroft jr. started his gubernatorial campaign for 2024 through culture wars and less than constitutional rules on public libraries and schools to fit the agenda of the homegrown extremists' agenda. But the Ashcrofts are not the anomaly in Missouri politics. In fact, most folks have probably seen how the GOP and Josh Hawley start screeching about land being sold to China and other foreign investors as this was something new and strictly "Democrats doing". The reality is Missouri started selling farmland to China in 2013 while our newly elected Senator Eric Schmitt was in the Missouri Legislative branch that voted to allow the law to be changed and then worked to pass it again when Jay Nixon vetoed it. It goes without saying that China now owns over 146,000 acres of Missouri's farmland. In the same spirit, Governor Parson sharply turned his horizons to the Middle East (UAE and Israel) for more trading opportunities. [5]. To his credit, Parson was simply following the way of the "battle-hardened culture warriors" of the "Ultra MAGA" created by Trumpism. For those of you playing at home, the Trump administration had all kinds of ties to both China and his son-in-law Jared Kushner marched off with Billions of dollars from Saudi. It could be argued that foreign investors are a popular thing to do when "Ultra MAGA", and Hawley is merely trying to pretend to care about national security to pull the attention away from his own misdeeds with his involvement in MAGA. Of course, Hawley didn't start his chicken screech until Dan Crenshaw raised the question on national security and had a moment of clarity. As folks can see, Missouri has a bigger impact on the national stage including foreign policy than folks care to admit to, and probably should start paying attention to the flyover country. Missouri is the shining example of what GOP governing looks like and what their status quo is-- As Missouri is the "ground zero" for the Republican failed social experiment. In short, what everyone is seeing with the Speaker of the House business is the mess that the GOP leaves in their wake and their attempt at trying to govern. If anything, this nonsense is foretelling a story of how long the next two years are going to be and the possible loss of even more deranged legislation to come from both Congress and the state of Missouri. So buckle up folks, it's bound to get even stranger and crazier now that the minority has taken the majority as hostages. Lots of love and Peace out, Jojo Citations : 1. https://www.axios.com/2023/01/04/house-speaker-vote-kevin-mccarthy
2.https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/The-most-infamous-floor-brawl-in-the-history-of-the-U-S--House-of-Representatives/
https://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/HallOfFame/dred-scott.htm#:~:text=It%20said%20the%20Scotts%20were,for%20the%20American%20Civil%20War.
3. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5271234
https://www.ozarksfirst.com/news/regional-news/stlouisnews/missouri-library-system-accuses-ashcroft-of-book-banning-over-proposed-rule-change/#:~:text=Ashcroft%2C%20a%20Republican%20considering%20running,will%20be%20available%20to%20minors.
4.https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IOR5327112020ENGLISH.pdf
https://www.senate.mo.gov/23info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=44730
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/supremacy_clause#
https://www.senate.mo.gov/23info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=44735
5. https://www.kmbc.com/article/ad-check-eric-schmitt-allowed-foreign-businesses-to-buy-missouri-farmland/41522145
https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/pair-of-bills-would-ban-foreign-ownership-of-agricultural-land/article_c2c7fa3c-2552-11e8-9ffe-f72aed96ee0e.html
https://www.columbiamissourian.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/letter-to-the-editor-parson-pushes-foreign-ownership-of-missouri-farmland/article_27167a5c-13b9-11eb-a77f-7b43ab98ee51.html
https://thecounter.org/land-access-farmland-missouri-foreign-ownership/
https://apnews.com/article/health-middle-east-business-israel-greece-44463efe671cb4402a4c1680a3aa6f68
Comments