👇🏼Via @emptywheel:

The Republican Party has become a criminal protection racket, and only Asa Hutchinson (and a wishy washy Chris Christie who helped it GET where it is) wants to take it back.

Folks: We actually don't KNOW whether the GOP is a dying party or a rising single party of an authoritarian state.

Unless and until the traditional press presents those as the stakes, it is very much unclear which it'll end up being. #media #fascism #Republicans

@GottaLaff @emptywheel I think it can't really die – or, at least, it seems structurally there are always 2 major parties that will seek balance. (One or both parties may shift dramatically, as we've seen, but I think not die.)

Both parties certainly have their authoritarian elements, so keeping the rise of authoritarianism in check is important.

@ech @GottaLaff @emptywheel Dude. No. Name an authoritarian Democrat. Are the Democrats banning books, denying voting rights, forcing their religious beliefs on people through state violence, seizing control of people’s own bodies, firing Republican prosecutors, investigating the parents for raising their kid Christian, refusing to consider Republican SCOTUS nominees, punishing businesses for political stances, ending the peaceful transition of power, attempting coups, swearing fealty?

@morecowbell @GottaLaff @emptywheel OK yeah the swearing fealty thing is weird, I'll give you that. No D's are doing that publicly that I know of. 😂

A lot of those questions are meaningless political rhetoric, but one of them reminds me of Jose Medina's (D-CA) AB 2756 requiring fire alarm inspections for schools, which would have made homeschooling harder. This was probably in reaction to the Turpin/Perris incident – you see, we can't trust you to take care of your kids without constant supervision, better to let us experts do it; let the state raise your kids. (Nevermind that they didn't do anything to prevent this problem when the Turpins went to public schools either, this patronizing philosophy is incredibly stupid.)

Again, though, as I replied to someone else, maybe this isn't what is meant by authoritarian? If not pardon me: yes, Ds are less likely to support R policies, and if you define those arbitrarily as "authoritarian" then right: Ds are a lot less likely to be "authoritarian". But even so, there are pro-life democrats and so on.

@ech @GottaLaff @emptywheel “Which would’ve made homeschooling harder”.

??? How??? Are you saying the CA is some how inherently against homeschooling?

Have you remodeled your house lately? Is the state against remodeling too because it requires hardwired fire detectors now?

Governments exist to write regulation. Period. Regulation is not authoritarianism, it is civilization.

Building codes are why CA won’t suffer the same fate as Turkey in the next earthquake.

@morecowbell @GottaLaff @emptywheel does the fire department come inspect your smoke alarms in a residence regularly? Do you have to pay for that? Not in California.

@ech @GottaLaff @emptywheel Do you ever wonder why you make really paranoid and weird connections between requiring fire alarms and an “authoritarian” government not letting raise your own children?

Do wonder why you support a government imposing the religious beliefs of a minority to the point where they will use violence on a woman who does the “wrong” thing with HER OWN body?

@morecowbell @GottaLaff @emptywheel no, I don't wonder why I made that connection, because the person proposing the law made it very clear what the connection was. No need to wonder. (Do you wrestle with this cognitive dissonance now that you know that?)

@morecowbell @GottaLaff @emptywheel on one hand, I'm encouraged that you think it's so bizarre that a politician would propose home inspections on homeschoolers that the only way I would conclude that a fire inspection regulation had to do with homeschool was incoherent paranoia. This says something good about you; don't get me wrong!

@ech @GottaLaff@qoto.org @emptywheel@qoto.org On the other hand, you apparently believe the government has no role keeping children safe and somehow equate that with authoritarianism.

Again - how does a fire alarm inspection make homeschooling “harder”?

Are you aware that preschools have surprise inspections by social workers? Home preschools as well?

Do you consider those authoritarianism?

Or are you just mad at the gubment because that’s what your father was?

@morecowbell can you see the difference between a home preschool with a bunch of other people's kids versus just you with your kids?

Do I consider preschool inspections authoritarian? It's a spectrum, right? I've made it pretty clear elsewhere in this thread that I'm not an absolutist non-authoritarian or whatever weird thing you like to lump everyone in together with.

Look some people are totally comfortable with the government doing all kinds of things to keep them safe or whatever. Other people aren't, because it's expensive or they see where that kind of oversight can go wrong. It's pretty clear which kind of voter leads to more authoritarian governments.

Some particularly privileged people have no problem with inspections and that kind of thing: the more the merrier. Like Eric Schmidt said, why are you worried about surveillance if you weren't doing anything wrong. I think when you become more aware of how those kinds of things are abused or can lead to unintended consequences, you get a little bit more wary.