Ohio's Crybaby Caucus

Great op - ed.

******

After a weeklong meltdown of moaning, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, a new faction of Ohio House Republicans capped off their temper tantrum Wednesday by revitalizing plans to subject the Ohio Constitution and all Ohioans to extremist minority rule.

Last week, 54 adults in the Ohio House came together in a bipartisan vote to elect Kitts Hill Republican state Rep. Jason Stephens as House Speaker. This included 22 Republicans alongside 32 Democrats.

The deal struck by Stephens and Democratic House Leader Allison Russo put the Speakership hopes of anti-union, right-wing religious fanatic Derek Merrin out to pasture.

Some of the provisions of the deal Stephens offered Russo aren’t as solid as others, Russo said: Nothing is in writing, but rather agreements, compromises, and known Democratic wants.

It includes a confirmed goal of getting bipartisan and constitutional district maps and a constitutional Fair School Funding Plan for Ohio public education.

It also includes preventing charter school voucher expansions, anti-union bills including any “Right to Work” law, and House Joint Resolution 6, the Republican attempt to give control over Ohio’s Constitution to a 41% minority of voters.

No Ohioan should greet the deal as any kind of guaranteed protection from right-wing radicalism. It certainly shouldn’t be thought of as a “coalition government,” as many in the national press wet themselves with excitement to exclaim.

But this deal is the first step down a path that, if stuck to, could lead to less insane and more thoughtful lawmaking.

That’s something devoutly to be wished by all reasonable Ohioans.

Meanwhile, the petulant shrieks of the religious zealots, the anti-reality COVID deniers, the un-American grifter know-nothings, and the hate-mongering bullies of children, echoed across our great land. After the deal, the Ohio Republican Party voted to censure the 22 Ohio Republicans for voting for an Ohio Republican House Speaker.

Perhaps nothing better illustrates the toxic crankery that the Trumpian Republican Party has descended into than that. Somebody get these babies their binkies.

More
https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/01/12/ohios-new-crybaby-caucus-another-consequence-of-gerrymandering/