Wars often begin in unusual places or in unusual circumstances. Civil wars, not so much; but the US is a big country! The Tennessee legislature’s scandal seems to be an unusual circumstance, but in many ways that state, as birthplace of the KKK, would be a fitting place to begin a new civil war.
There’s a lot more to the expulsion of two state reps and attempted expulsion of a third hidden beneath the rank waters of the muddy cesspool of fascism that legislative body there has become. Sure, those reps were unruly, resorting to bullhorns after the speaker, a white fascist beholding to NRA lobbyists but better known for attempting to pants a referee, cut their mikes; but the cause of gun control legislation is a key social issue of our times, especially considering the lack thereof in Tennessee permits the murder of three defenseless kids and docents in Nashville.
But back to the KKK’s traditional presence in that southern state: The two expelled reps are black. Although the white female rep was only saved by one vote, the result of the expulsion maneuver is clear: The reps from the Good Ole Piranhas there are racists because the vote on expulsion for the black reps was a bestial landslide against them. Racism pure and simple, as the white female rep alluded to—she escaped because she’s white.
Fascist legislatures all across America are filled with bigots, racists, and white supremacists amongst the Good Ole Piranhas, and they are ensconced there by gerrymandering. Once in power, the fascists gerrymander to ensure their leverages in the future. Tennessee’s house is among the worst because its 75%-to-25% makeup in favor of the Piranhas does not reflect the state’s electoral makeup. Far from it!
A new civil war might be the only way to change all this! But how could we fight it when the fascists control rural America, a fertile breeding ground for all sorts of MAGA-maniacal bigots, racists, and white supremacists, and they’re bent on oppressing an urban and suburban population where those “damn libs” are? That doesn’t just occur in Tennessee. It even occurs in true-blue California! (The fascist leader of the Piranhas in the US House is from Bakersfield, CA. The Central Valley is MAGA country outside the larger cities, and they’ve managed to put a stranglehold even on those. That’s something we should never forget.) Yes, winning the war against the Fascist Party of America aka the Good Ole Piranhas is a necessity if we are to preserve our democracy, but how do we go about it? TBD. But it might just begin in Nashville, Tennessee!