Letter: How GOP gained control

Republicans now control all three branches of government. How did that happen?

Two anti-democratic provisions in the Constitution helped: the Electoral College and the U.S. Senate. Both contradict the bedrock of democracy: equal votes for every citizen. In the Senate, Wyoming has the same clout as California. That ridiculous arrangement allows Republicans to control that body. Republicans used that power to block Obama’s moderate nominee to the Supreme Court. That seat now will be taken by a Republican extremist.

Republican Supreme Court justices previously gutted restrictions on campaign contributions, and Republicans in Congress have blocked bills that at least would identify contributors. So now a torrent of right-wing cash flows from undisclosed sources into elections at every level of government.

Meanwhile, Republicans in state legislatures have so gerrymandered the House of Representatives that their party dominates the House too, far out of proportion to their share of the nationwide vote.

Republicans have used the myth of voter fraud to rationalize voter ID laws, which disenfranchise people without driver’s licenses. Who is that? People without cars, obviously: college students, city dwellers, and the poor, all disproportionately Democratic. Republicans compound that impact by closing polling places in minority neighborhoods.

Thirty-four states disenfranchise felons (who are disproportionately minority), even after they have served their sentence. Worse, Republican officials comb voter rolls and disqualify anyone who shares the name of a felon. People with those names are disproportionately minority too.

Today’s Republican leaders are anti-democrats with both a lower case and a capital “D.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 4:10 PM with the headline "Letter: How GOP gained control."