editor’s Note: Dean Obaidallah, a former lawyer, is the host of SiriusXM Radio’s daily program “The Dean Obaidallah Show” and a columnist for The Daily Beast. follow him @DeanObeidallah, The views expressed in this commentary are his own. See more opinions on Nation World News.
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Some in today’s Republican Party are trying to ban abortion, books they find objectionable, from teaching black history altogether, transgender teens from playing sports, and discussions of sexual orientation in schools, And now they’re going after Mickey Mouse too.
Yet Democrats say they plan to make the 2022 election about “kitchen table issues.” At this rate, Republicans may try to ban kitchen tables—or at least punish the companies that make them if they call the GOP an awakening.
The party of the incumbent president has traditionally lost congressional seats in midterm elections. But 2022 is unique. Some in the GOP are making a coordinated effort to impose their radical, right-wing beliefs on Americans. Democrats should make the 2022 election a referendum on GOP extremism.
On Friday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law to punish Disney for daring to speak out against the GOP’s recently enacted anti-LGBT law, which critics dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law. DeSantis has taken a page from the playbook of people like Russian President Vladimir Putin, who are using state action to punish corporations that defy him.
Some Republicans are also enforcing their religious beliefs with a slew of abortion laws—such as the ban on total abortion recently enacted by Oklahoma. Abortion becomes illegal, with exceptions only in case of a medical emergency. Under the law, it would be an offense for anyone in the state to help a woman obtain an abortion, who has been raped and has become pregnant. Women who have been raped will be forced to terminate the pregnancy. This is not only barbaric and un-American, it is also religious persecution.
Then there is an attempt to ban books. Yes, some people in the GOP are trying to make it easier to remove books from libraries that critics don’t like. Does this sound like American values to you? It sounds like something you would see in a dictatorship.
Polls show that most Americans strongly oppose these GOP actions.
For example, a February CBS poll found that 8 in 10 Americans oppose a school ban on books that discuss race or criticize American history. Politicians trying to enforce these book restrictions are out of step with the bulk of the Republican base on the issue, too.
And on abortion, a January Nation World News poll found that 69% of all adults oppose ending abortion rights.
In addition to making 2022 a referendum on Republican fundamentalism, Democrats must also wake up. After all, what would you call the people who ended slavery and Jim Crow supported the 19th Amendment to ensure that women had the constitutional right to vote, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and opposed the passage of more. An attempt to perfect our nation? They had woken up.
Democrats must build awareness of people who have pushed for equality and progress. Conversely those in the GOP who wanted to take the United States back to a time where women had no reproductive freedom, were banned from the books and worse.
On Friday, DeSantis signed a bill known as the “Stop WOKE Act” that would likely curtail academic freedom by not allowing instructors to teach about slavery, which would “instruct students to take a particular approach.” Will agree to it.” How can you not teach about slavery in a way that convinces students that it was evil?
As The Washington Post reported in February, the real-world impact of similar GOP-enacted laws has resulted in less robust education on topics of race and black history. Teachers have reported having to “edit” themselves for fear of violating these repressive laws. “Are you willing to lose your job over this sort of thing?” A teacher in Texas told the paper.
A report in The New York Times detailed how an Oklahoma teacher was fired for using the word “white” to describe people who fought to preserve slavery. It appears that the GOP-led legislature wants to rewrite history by colorfully teaching slavery, keeping students unaware of such issues.
I’m not saying that Democrats should ignore “kitchen table issues”—especially given that inflation has a real impact on people’s lives. But there is no easy way to solve that issue. There is when it comes to extremism.
Many of today’s Republicans aren’t just talking about punishing those who disregard them; They are making laws that do just that. Democrats not only have a winning political argument, but have an obligation to stand up to such an attack. They may be the only thing standing between us and the tyranny.
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