Republicans are always droning on about the importance of local control, but their dedication to the cause always seems to waver as soon the locals start doing something they don't like:
Most government authorities in Texas will soon be prohibited from requiring people to wear masks, Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Tuesday....The executive order Mr. Abbott announced on Tuesday would prevent counties, cities, public health authorities and local government officials from requiring people to wear masks beginning on Friday. Violators could be fined $1,000.
So much for local governments being closer to their people and understanding their needs better than the one-size-fits-all bureaucrats back in the capital. But that was all just a sham from the beginning anyway, wasn't it?
Tyrannyyyyyyy!
Except when we like being tyrannical.
It sure as hell is a sham. Republicans (like most of us) want an outcome. They'll justify it with whichever argument works best for the immediate situation.
"They'll justify it with whichever argument works best for the immediate situation."
Absolutely. Just like 2016, when Mitch McConnell said that the Senate couldn't confirm a Supreme Court justice during an election year and then saying it's just fine in 2020.
They don't even try to conceal their hypocrisy; in fact, they flaunt it because they think it's a way to "own the libs."
Yep.
But... but... same party control of presidency & Senate in 2020.
Also want to know what Mitch the Bitch's excuse would have been had Scalia died two months earlier.
Can't nominate a successor while deceased jurist's family is having a chilly Christmas after Grandpa got run over by a reindeer?
TBH I always read "local" as states' rights, not city/county. (Unless it's a Democratic run state and the city/county are run by the GOP. But that's just standard GOP hypocrisy.)
“Local” often meant sub-state units of government when it came to integration resistance. Often times states would turn a blind eye to localities using the term “local control” as an excuse to thumb their noses at the feds on that issue.
“Local” often meant sub-state units of government when it came to integration resistance. Often times states would turn a blind eye to localities using the term “local control” as an excuse to thumb their noses at the feds on that issue.
“Oh is Lower Racisttown refusing to follow Brown v Board of Ed, Mr./Ms. Federal Judge? Well, there’s nothing we can do at the state level to make them integrate...”
"Republicans are always droning on about the importance of local control, but their dedication to the cause always seems to waver as soon the locals start doing something they don't like:"
Of course it's a scam. It's like "small government," or "balanced budget." It's a phrase politicians of either party will throw around when they think it will lead to a result they want. But it's not anything that anyone really believes in. It's just a principled-sounding slogan to trot out when it's convenient.
Bothsides!
... Drink.
As Henry Steele Commager (I think) said, "Show me a man who believes in federalism, and I'll show you a man who has a local majority but a national minority." No one truly believes in those procedural rules about the right level for particular decision; it's always a matter of where your allies have the most power.
If you're gonna make up quotes, try to make up a good one.
“When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that's the way it's got to be. It's total. It’s total. And the governors know that.”
You forgot the "/s"
If you're gonna post, try to write a good one.
Blink. Oh, you're saying "That's different", are you?
How precious.
Episode 1,926 in the ongoing "Republicans Are Hypocrites" saga.
Gee, I remember way back, oh, to the summer of 2020, when local pols in Oregon and Washington were telling the Feds the couldn't even protect their own, Federal, buildings.
So much for the love of the central government that the Left claims.
That never happened.
Ted Wheeler should sue you for libel.
Everyone knows Shillary issued stand down orders.
Amen!
old abbott is really an absolute bonehead.
Don't forget the "heartbeat law" which Abbott just signed into law. It even rewards abortion "bounty hunters" with $10,000 and up to anyone who catches someone in violation of the law. It's Gilead in Texas, y'all, yee hah!
True Grit 2 writes itself.
In spirit a lot of this seems modeled on the 1850 Fugitive Slave law, which paid adjudicators more if they decided that somebody who was fingered as an escaped slave got adjudicated as a slave, regardless of actual status. Nothing like a little financial incentive.
Oh, and slave hunters could deputize anybody in earshot to help capture a likely prospect. You couldn't legally refuse.
Elephants in Texas, long memories, etc.
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Yeah, just like the Civil War was all about States Rights...except when they wanted the feds to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act on free states.
Exactly!
Say whatever it takes to seal the deal. Dealing with Republicans is like shopping at the Caveat Emptorium.
Your last sentence pretty much sums up the last 50 years of the Republican Party.
Does a governor's power through executive orders actually extend this far? It seems a pretty arbitrary exercise of authority, absent some supporting legislation.