themollusk

themollusk t1_jacw6pp wrote

>Anytime an org is called XX for Liberty or something you can assume its goals are exactly opposite the definition of liberty.

Same for orgs that include "freedom" and "patriots/patriot/patriotic"

Jamie Barton, a freshman state rep from Schuylkill County, was a board member of the Berks County Patriots group before getting elected last fall. (Who knows, maybe he still is, since conflicts of interest are draws to them!)

It's nothing short of a little homegrown domestic terrorist incubator. They don't stand for anything beyond their neighbors who don't agree with them being the enemy. When Dan Meuser first ran in 2018, he was a guest at one of their meetings and stated that liberals/the left are the greatest threat to national security this nation had ever seen.

They're nothing more than a hate group.

My line of thinking re: this nomenclature extends to business, too. Patriot Gutters, etc? Probably run by Someone who's nationalistic at best, maga at worst.

Anyone who calls themselves a patriot, isn't.

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themollusk OP t1_j5m6y4r wrote

It's extremely disingenuous.

The Rs want to do this now for two reasons:

  1. because they want to deprive the residents of 3 districts of a say in this matter

  2. they put all three amendments into a single package that will be voted on in one go. One vote. They're hoping that the sexual abuse amendment can be used as a poison pill to force Ds to vote for the whole thing.

Fuck em. I hope this dies.

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themollusk t1_j2y28rd wrote

>But what exactly is wrong with letting the voters decide on amendments??

In theory and on paper? Nothing.

The issue is with how it's implemented and the threshold for passing. The US Constitution takes 2/3 of the House and Senate, and then 3/4 of the states to agree to it before an amendment goes through. In PA all it takes is 50% + 1 at every step of the process. The state GOP had been abusing the process in order to pass unpopular legislation that they wouldn't be able to muster enough votes to override a D governor's veto. For something as serious as amending the construction, a larger consensus should be made, not a skin of the teeth majority.

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themollusk t1_j2xik9u wrote

I already contacted my freshman rep (Republican) to push this same thing... Fix PA election law to disallow running for multiple seats in the same cycle.

Maybe since the Rs are getting more burnt than the Ds with this, they'll actually try to make headway on it? 🤞

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themollusk OP t1_j0d8xnz wrote

And the extra pisser about the process?

It only requires 50%+1 vote during each step. Compare that to amending the US Constitution: 66% of both the House and Senate, and then 75% of the states. It's amazingly simple to amend Pennsylvania's constitution, especially so when you have an artificially created majority that isn't representative of the actual people who live in this state.

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themollusk OP t1_j0cl1v3 wrote

Governor has no say whatsoever in the amendment process. That's the entire reason why the state GOP has been machine gunning amendments the last few years is because they can't override a veto. So instead, they package unpopular legislation as amendments specifically because it cuts out the governor's office.

They abused this process to strip the governor's emergency powers, and now they're working on abortion, mail in voting, and gerrymandering the state supreme court. Dave Argall, chairman of the Senate government committee, had also made it clear that the GOP intends to use constitutional amendments to skirt around the governor and ban property taxes.

If the GOP holds a majority in both houses for even a slight bit of time during the upcoming session, they will push the amendment package through. All they need to do is have it pass both the house and senate one more time and then they can put it on a statewide vote. They want this on the May primary ballot because it's the most advantageous for them.

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themollusk OP t1_j0c51cn wrote

That's a legitimately good question.

It may have happened in the past, but unfortunately it's been a while since PAs had a swap of control so it would have been a while ago. No matter, it's wrong.

Because as you and someone else pointed out, taxpayer money doesn't have a party affiliation.

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themollusk OP t1_j0bs6jv wrote

But due to the Democrats not having official control for a few weeks/months into the new season, Cutler is almost certain to be elected speaker on the 3rd and the GOP will use their short term majority to ram through the amendment package onto the May primary ballot.

  • Abortion ban.
  • End of no excuse mail voting.
  • End statewide elections for the supreme court, and have them elected via politically drawn districts. Read: gerrymandered.
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themollusk t1_iwlzm26 wrote

As much of an abject shithead Meuser is, I've had a fairly easy time speaking to someone at his DC office as well as his Pottsville regional office. Sure, it's just a staffer or intern, but even if you could get a "direct" email address it won't be Dan reading it. I'd be surprised if anyone other than your absolute localist politicians actually directly responded to any normal contact, be it written or by phone.

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themollusk t1_iwlyo3z wrote

Lucky. I live 3 or 4 miles from my parents, and they just got redrawn out of the district while we're still stuck with him. We might be somewhat in the same neighborhood.

Second most blood red district in the state. But just barely. One of two R districts where the people who voted to throw out all Pennsylvanians' votes received over 70 percent of the vote last week. His seat's been a minimum of R+45 since he first got in back in 2018. His seat doesn't need protecting, and it's his until he decides he doesn't want it anymore. It's deep deep deep deep red, and stupidly large. I live at the very Southern edge of the district... our concerns here share very little, if anything, with those on the PA/NY border... I could get in the car and drive for 3 ½ hours and still be within the district.

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