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On her MSNBC show last night, Rachel Maddow took an in-depth look at the stark contrast between Republicans’ campaign rhetoric about limited government and what they actually do when they gain power, which is to use the government to curtail the rights of the citizenry.
The prime example of this today is union-busting:
MADDOW: Your freedom to associate in this country is guaranteed by the Constitution, your freedom to join a union if you want to. But to the extent that the government can be used to limit that right of yours, Republicans in Wisconsin and in Ohio and in Indiana and in New Hampshire and in Florida and in Tennessee and in Oklahoma and in Nebraska, Republican governors and legislators in all these states all over the country are stretching the power of government to try to end that right of yours.
Beyond union-busting, the current crop of Republican governors have put their states on a forced march toward authoritarianism:
- Florida Gov. Rick Scott has, by fiat, ordered forcible quarterly drug tests for all state employees. It’s likely that the contract for administering these tests — hundreds of thousands of them every year — will go to a private company owned by Gov. Scott’s wife. Maddow asks, “Is that small, leave-me-alone government, or is that big, intrusive government?”
- Michigan Gov. Rick Synder has passed legislation establishing “fiscal martial law” in the state. Under this “emergency” law, a finance czar appointed by the governor has the power to dissolve municipalities that can’t pay their bills, whether voters in those towns like it or not. The bean-counter czar has the unilateral power to fire all the elected officials in the town and, on his order, the town itself will cease to exist. Again: is this small government in action or big authoritarian government intruding on voters’ rights?
- In Wisconsin, Republicans were upset about an academic paper written by University of Wisconsin Professor William Cronon, a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and the incoming-president of the American History Association. Now they are using open-records laws to search up information about the professor simply because his analysis did not favor their position. Sounds more like “Big Brother” government than government small enough to drown in a sink, to me.
- Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell won election in 2009 on this campaign platform: “Every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators.” Does that sound like small, unintrusive government?
Countering this dangerous trend, however, recent polling appears to show that voters are catching on, which is good news for the future viability of the American Republic:
MADDOW: Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker won in November by six points. The latest polls say if the election were held today, he would lose to that same Democrat by seven points.
Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich won in November by two points.
Today, he would lose to that same Democrat by 15 points.
Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott won in November by one point.
Today, he would lose to that same Democrat by 19 points.
Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder won in November by a whopping 18 points. Today, he has swung 20 points in the other direction, and he would lose by two.
Let’s hope that these numbers really do mean that voters, especially independent swing voters, are waking up to the reality of the GOP tea party agenda.
Transcript:
But we start tonight with conservatism, with what the word conservative means in America now. The choice the conservative movement and the Republican Party has to make between being authoritarian conservatives or libertarian conservatives.
Do American conservatives favor big, intrusive government, or do they favor small, “leave-me-alone” government? If you ask them, if you ask just about anybody that identifies as a conservative, nobody ever says they are on this side [authoritarian], right? Nobody calls themselves an authoritarian anything, let alone an authoritarian conservative.
Nobody says, “I‘m for big, intrusive government, vote for me.” They always say they are on this side, right? They are all on the libertarian side, according to them.
No matter what kind of policies they actually like, they all say they are for smaller government, limited government, personal freedom. That is the conservative brand, right?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MITCH DANIELS (R), INDIANA: The commitment to limited government and individual liberty and freedom in this country.
FORMER SEN. RICK SANTORUM (R) PENNSYLVANIA: Strong on conservative, limited government.
REP. BOBBY SCHILLING (R), ILLINOIS: Do I believe in smaller limited government giving power back to the people? Yes.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: The importance of limited government and with the blessing of self government. But the pursuit of happiness depends on individual liberty, and individual liberty requires limited government. Renewed commitment to limited government. We need to reclaim our American system of limited government.
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R), WISCONSIN: Their vision of limited government is what has made America the greatest nation in the history of mankind.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: Because of my upbringing, I believe in things like limited government.
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Limited government.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: We stand firm. We stand for limited government.
RYAN: We cannot take for granted the case for limited government and individual freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
MADDOW: Pretty clear, right? Limited government, restrained government, humble government — tiny, tiny, tiny government. That is what they are selling. American conservatives –government that leaves you alone. That‘s the brand.
The new Republican governor of Florida is a man named Rick Scott. Rick Scott just issued an executive order that will mandate forced drug testing of public sector workers in that state at least quarterly, at least quarterly. When Governor Scott became governor, he transferred to his wife his controlling shares in a for-profit company that does drug testing. He says that has nothing to do with this executive order, he just likes the idea of the government forcing drug tests on people it can force drug tests on.
There is a Fourth Amendment protection we have in this country against unreasonable search and seizures, and that has generally banned blanket invasive drug testing like this. You‘re supposed to only be able to do it if, for example, there are grounds for suspicion, or in the case of very specific kinds of jobs. But Rick Scott, despite those legal restrictions on doing what he wants to do, he‘s going for it anyway. He‘s at least going to try. The state will pay the cost of defending his mandatory drug testing policy in court.
The state, of course, will pay what is expected to be the spectacular cost of drug testing, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people quarterly, at least, and Florida already has a really bad budget deficit. But, you know, any cost is apparently worth it, because under Rick Scott, his state government wants mass forcible drug tests, and so, it shall have them.
Is that small, leave-me-alone government, or is that big, intrusive government?
In the great state of Michigan, the new Republican governor there is a man named Rick Snyder. Rick Snyder‘s signature legislation since he has been governor is to establish what‘s being called “financial martial law,” or “fiscal martial law.” His administration will decide if your town is in a financial emergency.
If the Snyder administration so declares, if they declare a financial emergency in your town, a financial emergency czar will be appointed, not elected by you, but appointed, sent to your town, given the power to abolish your town. The town can be dissolved on the say so of the governor‘s financial emergency person. Anyone you elected locally to represent you can be dismissed. All contracts, all unions, all rights of people who worked for that town can be dissolved on one person‘s say so if Governor Rick Snyder gives the nod. He is taking that much power.
Is that small, leave-me-alone government or is that big, intrusive government?
In “The Interview” tonight, we will be talking with the secretary of state of the great state of Wisconsin, where there has been national attention to Wisconsin Republicans stripping peoples‘ rights and ability to join unions. Your freedom to associate in this country is guaranteed by the Constitution, your freedom to join a union if you want to. But to the extent that the government can be used to limit that right of yours, Republicans in Wisconsin and in Ohio and in Indiana and in New Hampshire and in Florida and in Tennessee and in Oklahoma and in Nebraska, Republican governors and legislators in all these states all over the country are stretching the power of government to try to end that right of yours.
A history professor at the University of Wisconsin published a long study guide online earlier this month, looking at what might explain this policy push not just in Wisconsin but in all these other states, all at once. The professor‘s name is William Cronon.
And he is not only not a liberal activist, he‘s also really no shlub. He is president-elect of the American Historical Association. He‘s a MacArthur Genius Award winner. He‘s one of the most distinguished history professors in the United States of America.
But after Professor Cronon wrote this academic piece online about conservative groups using model legislation to push certain policies in the state, the Republican Party of the state of Wisconsin filed an open records request demanding to read Professor Cronon‘s e-mails, taking a law designed to make law transparent to the public and instead using it to force into the public e-mails written by a university professor whose academic writings put him on the wrong side of the Republican Party on an issue they feel quite sensitive about.
You speak out, the government will use all the leverage it can muster over you to pry open your life.
Small, leave-me-alone government or the other kind?
We probably should have seen this thing coming. After the big Democratic wins in elections in 2006 and 2008, the pendulum swinging back to the Republican Party ever since has really been a swing back to a specific kind of conservatism — a specific kind that is all about government that is as big and intrusive as possible.
One of the first statewide elections after the big Democratic win in 2008 was the Virginia governor‘s race, right? In November, 2009, Virginians elected a man who has said that, quote, “Every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators.” Not only is that not leave-me-alone, small conservatism, that is “big government crusade against the fornicators” conservatism.
And the administration of the man they elected, Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, has been sort of like that. As with that professor in Wisconsin having the Republican Party demand his e-mails, in Virginia, it has been Governor McDonnell‘s attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, who has demanded to search e-mails of a Virginia science professor, a professor whose research on climate issues that apparently did not meet with government approval.
Can‘t you just smell the freedom, the liberty, the humble, restrained government leaving people free to go about their business?
The latest incarnation of this breed of conservatism weirdly involves this show or at least my last name.
Evan McMorris-Santoro at “Talking Points Memo” turned up a new demand by the conservative movement, new demand by the right, to obtain the private e-mails of people to whom it is busy selling the idea that conservatives really want to just leave people alone. The labor studies faculty at the University of Michigan, at Wayne State University, and at Michigan State have all just had their e-mails demanded by a right wing think tank, specifically demanding to see any e-mail from any professor at the labor faculty at any of these schools, any e-mail that includes the words: Scott Walker, Wisconsin, Madison, or Maddow.
It is possible they think that Maddow is just a common misspelling of Madison, but if that‘s not the case — they mean me, this show.
The right wing group that is demanding any e-mails that include references to me or the show is called the Mackinac Center. They are a conservative group. They are funded mostly by secret donations, in that they do not disclose names of individuals or corporations who give them money. But they are well-funded and we know through tax records about donations to them by the charitable foundations of a lot of billionaires and corporations, frankly.
“Mother Jones” did a nice piece explaining who these guys are, what we know about their funding from foundations like the one run by Charles Koch, of Koch brothers fame. Also, the Walton Foundation, that‘s the Walton family that runs Walmart. Also, the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation … Edgar and Elsa Prince, I believe, are the mom and dad of Eric Prince, who you remember from Blackwater fame. All of those foundations fund the Mackinac Center.
The Mackinac Center wrote what looks to be the basis of that financial martial law policy in Michigan, Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder. This show was the first national news outlet to report in detail on that policy. And now, the Mackinac Center is demanding the e-mails of anybody who could be an expert on that subject in Michigan that might have the that temerity to type the word Maddow in any context in an e-mail.
How‘s that leave-me-alone personal liberty thing working out for you?
Americans like this idea. Americans like the idea of small-c, small government, leave-me-alone conservatism. This is — this is good political branding. This is a good sales pitch for any politician.
The conservative movement and Republican Party have done very well for themselves selling this idea, small, leave-me-alone government, selling this idea to America.
But, now, the country is figuring out that even though this is what they bought, this is not what they got when they took it home and unwrapped it.
Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker won in November by six points. The latest polls say if the election were held today, he would lose to that same Democrat by seven points.
Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich won in November by two points.
Today, he would lose to that same Democrat by 15 points.
Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott won in November by one point.
Today, he would lose to that same Democrat by 19 points.
Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder won in November by a whopping 18 points. Today, he has swung 20 points in the other direction, and he would lose by two.
Yes. But you say the big, intrusive government Republicans, they aren‘t up for re-election right now. Democrats can‘t capitalize on the Republican big government overreach, can they?
Check out ALEC watch. These are the large corporations funding these right wing reactionary policies. Bank of America, State Farm, Geico, Citibank, big oil, the Koch brothers. See the list and boycott these businesses. Go to a credit union or small local bank. Pull your assets out of these too big to fail banks. The streets and the boycott are all that is left to us. It is obvious they want it all. No Unions, no collective bargaining, no social security, no minimum wage. Citizens United upheld by the fascist supreme court. The list is endless as to the wants of the rich and powerful.