Convictions and convictions (4): how sacrifice (sometimes) works

Posted on June 17, 2023 by David S. Meyer
Daniel Ellsberg and Randy Kehler in 1971, photo from Kehler papers at UMASS

Daniel Ellsberg died of pancreatic cancer at 92, having lived a long and contentious life.

As the obits everywhere tell, he started by touching every base on the career trajectory of an elite military analyst: an academic start in prep school, through undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard, interrupted by a stint as a Marine Corps officer, and then a job at RAND and service as an adviser to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.

In 1971, Ellsberg jumped off the inside track and leaked The Pentagon Papers, a secret study of US involvement in Vietnam commissioned by McNamara. Photocopying thousands of pages–before autofeed existed, Ellsberg tossed away his career and any prospect of future government jobs to show, among many other things, that successive US administrations lied to Americans about the war, offering an optimistic vision of a potential victory that high level officials knew was impossible.

Why did he do it?

Years later, Ellsberg told different versions of the same story: he was moved and shamed into action by the stories of young men who went to prison for resisting the draft. There were more than a few names, but one that came up in every story was Randy Kehler, a star student at Harvard–like Ellsberg–who returned his draft card, rejecting the conscientious objector status he’d been granted, and served nearly two years in Federal prison.

Ellsberg spent the rest of his life campaigning against nuclear weapons, war, and government secrecy.

Randy Kehler has spent his life organizing against war and for democracy. A founder and national coordinator of the Nuclear Freeze campaign, Kehler launched many citizens’ campaigns and staged a very visible tax resistance campaign that cost him his home. (Kehler’s papers are collected and available to researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, not far from where he lives.)

“No Randy Kehler, no Pentagon Papers,” Ellsberg wrote in a copy of one of his books, given to Kehler.

Kehler said that he didn’t think his stint in prison would end the war, but resisting the draft was the right thing to do. It’s hard for me to imagine that he didn’t entertain doubts about his efforts during his time in prison. Certainly, there were few visible signs that a very costly personal sacrifice was changing the conduct of the war at the time.

But protest sometimes works in odd and unanticipated ways, and inspiring others to action can matter.

Ellsberg certainly thought so. In the decades after leaking the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg was arrested 90 times at protest actions.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/mar/21/hundreds-rally-at-base-holding-wikileaks-suspect/
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Convictions test convictions (3): Principle, strategy, and loyalty

Posted on June 13, 2023 by David S. Meyer

Arraignments test convictions too. So do the bursts of detail revealed in charging documents.

A few hundred* Trump loyalists, many in costume, appeared to show their support for the former president, newly indicted in the classified documents scandal. Although the Trumpist turnout in Florida was much bigger and more vigorous than the showing in New York City earlier this year, it’s far smaller than what local police obviously prepared for, and not near the demonstration of division Trump’s allies threatened.

Every charge, trial, and blurted insult provides a chance for supporters to get off the Trump train, and Republican politicians are still trying to figure out how long they can safely ride and walk off in time before…..steaming off into the sea.

Of course, some Republicans never boarded that train for reasons ideological or strategic. Trump was clearly unprepared to be president, departed from Republican orthodoxy on a batch of important issues, presented a substantial drag on the Party’s electoral, and daily displayed considerable character deficits. Still, Trump won the Party’s presidential nomination in 2016, representing its only hope of gaining the presidency. Most Republicans got on board rather than risk being left behind, and the Never Trumpers were marginalized within the Party.

Early defectors among national Republicans fared worse. Senators Jeff Flake (Arizona) and Bob Corker (Tennessee) cited principles (civility and foreign policy, respectively) in explaining their reasons for breaking with the sitting president of their party. They were isolated in Washington, DC, and ostracized at home; neither could mount a viable campaign for reelection.

The impeachments provided additional reasons and opportunities to stand up for something other than Trump. In the House of Representatives Justin Amash (R-Michigan) said that he read the Mueller report before deciding to support impeachment. He was basically forced out of the Republican Party, joined the Libertarian Party, forfeiting any chance at reelection or any kind of political career. Utah Senator Mitt Romney (Utah) was the lone Republican to vote for the first impeachment, surviving politically only because of the strong loyalty he commanded from the Mormon community in his state.

Of course, other Republicans supported Trump less enthusiastically, occasionally explaining differences on one issue or another, or just left office. But when the 2020 reelection campaign commenced, the crowds got in line. Although Joe Biden’s electoral victory was real and substantial, Trump somehow pulled millions more votes than in his first campaign.

Trump’s defeat at the polls was another long stop where Republicans could have changed trains. Most didn’t. The January 6 insurgency was another stop, this time unexpected, and more than a few appeared ready to leave Trump and find other vehicles for protecting themselves. Notably, Senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) announced that he was done with Trump, who had just gone too far. But the break-up didn’t take.

Strategic actors, trying to read a room, looked to see how many were ready to move away from Trump, and who they were. Waiting for someone else to move first, politicians in the national party found a way to continue supporting Trump, despite repeated defeats and increasingly egregious claims.The two House Republicans ready to publicly challenge Trump, Liz Cheney (Wyoming) and Adam Kinzinger (Illinois) were isolated in the institution and unable to win reelection.

Strategic considerations–keeping a job, political allies, or golf invitations–trumped principle. Republicans in office were willing to abandon their political stances on everything but Trump, who demanded loyalty. But be sure that most Republicans were still watching and waiting for another moment to break. Among those NOT running for office, including a long line of former Trump staffers and Cabinet officials, pointed criticism was much easier to find.

The presidential campaign, in conjunction with what will surely be an extended set of legal dramas, may have changed the strategic calculus. Fearful of alienating Trump’s electoral base, most of his opponents have been unwilling to criticize the former president on matters of policy or principle, even as they hoped that something else would take Trump out of the race. The challengers have, however, suggested that he might be an electoral liability for the Party. As the details of the most recent indictment appear, eager defectors can proclaim that loyalty to country supersedes commitments to Trump. Tentatively, at first, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, have suggested that–if proven–the charges against Trump are serious. They’re testing the response.

Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity Action (funded by the Koch network) has begun running ads that focus on Trump’s electoral liabilities, even asserting that Trump may be the only Republican who would be unable to defeat President Joe Biden.

It’s not a Never Trump movement so much as a not Trump now campaign. Principled early defectors suffered for what we can call premature prescience. But now, each new Republican Trump opponent coming out makes it a little less risky and a little less difficult for the next pragmatic politician to follow.

It’s certainly not most Republicans, at least not yet, and be sure that there will be some dead-enders who will cling to Trump through their last breath. But the pragmatic case for defection is getting stronger and stronger.

When politicians reconsider their political commitments, the deliberations and decisions eventually become public–and they have to explain their choices. But at the grassroots, no-longer-loyal Trumpists don’t have to explain their decisions to anyone.

They just stop showing up.

* The total number of demonstrators was initially reported as in the dozens, before I posted. Since then, later reports identified hundreds of protesters.

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Froze and Reversed the Arms Race, June 12 anniversary (reposted)

Posted on June 12, 2023 by David S. Meyer

I’m reposting this reminder about the massive nuclear freeze march, part of an important campaign in the 1980s. Of course, nuclear weapons are not the most salient story today, when a war rages in Ukraine, activists across the country demonstrate against gun violence, and pundits fear that every new legal move against a former president could spur another violent attack on the institutions of governance. Just for starters.

But the fairly short story of the nuclear freeze offers useful lessons for all sorts of other movements. Not the least of these is that movements (sometimes) matter, and don’t get credit for their efforts unless organizers claim it. The June 12 demonstration made international news in 1982, but is generally edited out of popular histories of the Cold War or of the Reagan era. (See if you can find anniversary remembrances in your media feed today, and tell me if I’m wrong.)

The threat of nuclear war isn’t gone, and more than a few developments in the Trump era have made it more pronounced: The United States abandoned an arms control treaty with Iran that was working, while pursuing a kind of detente with North Korea that hasn’t worked. The United States also announced that it would no longer abide by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, negotiated in the mid-1980s, and announced that it was withdrawing from an “Open Skies” verification accord first proposed by Dwight Eisenhower, and in force for decades. Bilateral and multilateral negotiations on nuclear arms control have largely stalled. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine–which ceded nuclear weapons deployed on its territory to Russia in 1994 for a promise from the major powers, including Russia, to protect its territorial integrity–put nuclear weapons back on the agenda, and Russian leader Vladimir Putin periodically threatens to use nukes on the battlefield.

It’s an urgent moment.

The Federation of Atomic Scientists, an expert group that has promoted nuclear safety and arms control since the end of the second World War, maintains a “Doomsday Clock,” signaling its perception of the nuclear danger. In 1981, when Ronald Reagan took office and the freeze campaign took off, the clock was set at 4 minutes to midnight. In 2012, when I first wrote the appreciation below, the Clock was set at 5 minutes to midnight. 

Today, the Doomsday Clock is set to 90 seconds to midnight, the closest to apocalypse that it’s ever been. Had you heard of the Doomsday Clock before reading today’s post? When first created in 1947, it was a big deal, and every adjustment–usually closer to midnight–got lots of attention in mainstream media. Now that the perceived danger is worse than ever, the Clock doesn’t seem to claim much public attention.

So:

Forty-one years ago today, one million people marched in the streets of New York City to protest the nuclear arms race in general and the policies of Ronald Reagan in particular.

  Organized around a “nuclear freeze” proposal, the demonstration was a watershed for a movement that seemed to come out of nowhere, not just in the United States, but throughout what was then called Western Europe.

Of course, movements have deeper roots. Relatively small groups of people have been protesting against nuclear weapons since the idea of nuclear bombs first appeared. On occasion, they’re able to spread their concerns beyond the few to a larger public. Such was the case in 1982, when Europeans rallied against new intermediate range missiles planned for West Europe, and when Americans protested against the extraordinary military build-up/ spend-up of Ronald Reagan’s first term in office.

The freeze proposal, imagined by Randall Forsberg as a reasonable first step in reversing the arms race, was the core of organizing efforts in the United States, which included out-of-power arms control advocates and radical pacifists. Local governments passed resolutions supporting the freeze, while several states passed referenda. People demonstrated and held vigils, while community groups in churches and neighborhoods organized freeze groups to discuss–and advocate–on the nuclear arms race.

The freeze figured in large Democratic gains in the 1982 election, and Ronald Reagan ran for reelection as a born-again arms controller. Most activists didn’t buy it, but after Reagan won in a landslide, to the horror of his advisers and many of his supporters, he negotiated large reductions in the nuclear arsenals of the United States and what used to be called the Soviet Union.

US/ Russia nuclear warheads

The arms control agreements created the space in the East for reforms, reforms that spun out of control and eventually unraveled the cold war and the Eastern bloc.

The world changed.

It was both less and more than what most activists imagined possible.

Do you want to call it a victory?

Update:

The nuclear freeze movement was the subject of my doctoral dissertation and my first book

The issues in it remain relevant.

The story shows the long and complicated trajectory through which social movements affect influence. That’s the topic of my most recent book.

There are a few simple lessons that merit repeating today:

  1. It’s never one event, action, demonstration, statement, or lawsuit that makes the difference; rather, it’s an accumulation of efforts.

2. All victories take forever.

3. And they’re never enough, and certainly not necessarily permanent.

4. The work is important, and it must continue in order to be effective.

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Convictions test convictions (2)

Posted on May 26, 2023 by David S. Meyer

The sentences for the January 6 insurrectionists are getting far more harsh. Partly, it’s because the first sentences reflected plea bargains, and then prosecutors worked up to the trials of the worst offenders–and they’re not done yet.

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, was just sentenced to 18 years in prison after being found guilty of seditious conspiracy–among other charges. Unrepentant on the stand during his criminal trial months ago, Rhodes expressed regret only that his forces weren’t better armed in the onslaught on the Capitol. Up to the moment of sentencing, he reiterated his belief that the 2020 election was “stolen,” and his commitment to work for regime change–and not through electoral politics. Another half-dozen insurgent leaders await sentencing on similar charges.

In another courtroom on the same day, Richard “Bigo” Barnett was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for a clutch of crimes that included posing for the cameras in then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office. He said he got distracted while looking for a stun gun he misplaced, and acknowledged remorse that he’d gotten so angry. A retired fire fighter, Barnett got caught up in the Trump-induced frenzy about the election, and then in the madness of the day.

Rhodes, in contrast, had been working up to the invasion for years, orchestrating the Oath Keepers’ invasion without setting foot in the Capitol himself. A graduate of Yale Law School, Rhodes offered a more developed plan to keep Trump in office and suppress any forces that might want to honor the results of the election. He says he’s going to keep working on such plans.

Rhodes’s estranged wife, who’s been seeking divorce for years, used the term “sociopath” to describe her husband, and says she prayed for a sentence long enough to keep the man out of her life and the lives of their children.

They’re different offenders with very different stories, but they present the same set of dilemmas to regular Republicans. The test is one of separating political beliefs from criminal action. Candidate Donald Trump has promised to pardon many of the January 6 insurgents if he gets back into the Oval Office, citing the legitimacy of their grievance–that Trump was being forced to leave office.

Not to be outdone, newly declared presidential hopeful, Ron DeSantis announced that he too would aggressively consider pardons for the insurgents if he makes it to the White House. DeSantis, however, is running a campaign based on Donald Trump’s record as a loser, so he needs another rationale for the pardon, and blames the Justice Department for political enforcement of the criminal code, and promising a reversal.

Broad protection of a free society is premised on encouraging free expression of diverse ideas, but punishing criminal conduct regardless of political motivation. When Republican regulars are forced to choose between the law and putative supporters who may be criminal or just crazy, the choice should be easy. The fact that it’s not is an ominous threat to American democracy.

I hope that enterprising reporters will keep asking about pardons, but not about a diverse group like the Capitol rioters. They should ask about Bigo and the stun gun. And about Rhodes and the Oath Keepers. And certainly about the series of prison sentences sure to follow.

Watching Rhodes, by the way, other Oath Keeper and Proud Boy convicts may decide that testifying against others is a better bet for a shorter sentence than hoping for a favorable election and a pardon. Be sure that those who spent January 6 down the street from the Capitol, strategizing in the White House, are well-aware of that possibility.

Note that it’s not just criminal verdicts that pose the test. When Trump was judged responsible for sexual abuse and libel of writer E. Jean Carroll in a civil trial, regular Republicans got another reason to pause and consider on the road to nominating Trump for a third run at the presidency.

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Convictions test convictions: Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and the Republican Party (1)

Posted on May 5, 2023 by David S. Meyer

Seditious conspiracy is a heavy criminal charge in the United States, hard to prove, rarely used, and harshly punished. But this week a jury convicted four members of the Proud Boys–a far right group–of the charge, along with a range of other crimes. They were the third set of defendants convicted of seditious conspiracy as a result of the attempted insurrection of January 6, 2021, all liable for decades in prison.

It’s a big deal.

Over the past few years, the Department of Justice has processed hundreds of criminal charges against people involved in storming the Capitol and trying to stop Congress from certifying the electoral defeat of Donald Trump.

The first set of actions were plea deals, where protesters pled guilty to charges like vandalism or trespass. The sentences varied, depending upon the provable actions of the defendant, and ranged from probation to several years in prison.

Those who chose not to take plea deals then faced trials, and somewhat harsher sentences. Defendants claimed they were confused or misled or doing their Constitutional duty. More than a few blamed Donald Trump, then president of the United States (ulp!) for inviting the insurrection. Attorneys went further, blaming Trump for intentionally misleading and exploiting confused and troubled individuals.

From early on, it was clear that while some of the Capitol invaders were people who had come to protest peacefully and just got caught up in the moments. But others were part of organized groups that came with access to arms and allies, and saw themselves as executing a coordinated strategy. They planned their actions and left an electronic trail of communications. They also left frustrated allies who cooperated with the Department of Justice and testified against their former colleagues.

Several Oath Keepers were convicted of seditious conspiracy–and other felony charges, in November, and then another group was convicted in January. They await sentencing. Stewart Rhodes, among the convicted, founded the group as a mission and a business in 2009, and has led it since. Absent Rhodes, resources, or direction, its prospects of continuing seem bleak.

The Proud Boys, convicted just this week, may be another matter. Founded in 2016, the group has already been through several leadership changes, and maintains a more decentralized structure, with local groups plotting out their own efforts. Since January 6, local Proud Boys groups have staged actions against LGBT events and drag queen story hours, starting fights and getting attention. The locals can continue even without their national leaders, people who are likely to be in federal prisons for a long time.

The criminal convictions are a challenge to the groups, and a bigger challenge to their allies operating more or less in the mainstream of the Republican Party. Most national Republicans have been silent on the legal processing of the January 6 defendants. But a few far right performers, including members of Congress Matt Gaetz (Florida) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia) have valorized the insurgents, visiting them in prison and complaining about the conditions of incarceration.

Trump has gone further, kicking off his third campaign for the presidency in Waco Texas, with a song of sorts, featuring the “J6 choir” singing the national anthem while the candidate recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Trump promised pardons for the insurgents, a promise he could only deliver on if elected.

Democratic governance works by separating belief from conduct, allowing debate of contentious ideas, and making policy through established institutions. Everyone’s supposed to follow the same rules, and enjoy equality under the law.

Fascism works another way, by identifying worthy individuals and groups and giving them wide berth in advancing their interests at the expense of anyone else.

You can tell the difference.

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May Day 2023

Posted on May 1, 2023 by David S. Meyer

Same as it ever was, May Day is an international day of protest for workers rights.  Below is a picture of a march in France, where people are protesting against raising the national retirement age to 64.

In France, protests against Prime Minister Macron’s reform plans, have stretched on for months–with no signs of influence on anything yet, except encouraging more protest.

In the United States, where by design we have a different day for workers (Labor Day), May Day always seems like an opportunity to organize and demonstrate around a somewhat related cause, with or without the support of organized labor.

Workers, organized and otherwise, have plenty of issues in the United States these days. Hollywood screenwriters are about to go on strike in response to their worsening prospects in a stream-centric entertainment world. Campaigns for raising the minimum wage at the state level have met with some success in some states. Unionization campaigns have succeeded at a couple of Starbucks and Amazon sites, but every subsequent site is a battle. Graduate student researchers and teaching assistants have launched unionization campaigns and strikes for better contracts with some success–including at the University of California. Here at UC-Irvine, the unions won substantial raises, and the University is responding by cutting the number of graduate students admitted and teaching assistants assigned. There are no easy battles.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/195339/number-of-union-members-in-the-us-since-2000/

Successful campaigns have increased the number of unionized workers in the United States, bucking the trend of the past 70 years or so, but the percentage of American workers in unions continues to decline.

The graph below charts the rate of union membership since 1983. It’s hard to miss the trend line–and it’s worse for private sector workers.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/195341/percentage-of-emplyoyees-respresented-by-unions-in-the-us-since-2000/

May Day is an obvious time to take stock. Journalists look for labor stories that are normally undercovered on May Day (and even on Labor Day), and organizers work hard to fill the space.

May Day is an opportunity to organize and say something, reminding the rest of the world that constituencies and concerns remain vital and potentially volatile.

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The Tennessee Three and what a win looks like (2)

Posted on April 13, 2023 by David S. Meyer
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/justin-pearson-due-be-sworn-back-tennessee-statehouse-2023-04-13/#:~:text=NASHVILLE%2C%20Tennessee%2C%20April%2013%20(,the%20House%20of%20Representatives%20floor.

Now that Justin Pearson has (again) taken the oath of office, the Tennessee Three is reunited in the state House of Representatives. On Wednesday, the Shelby County Council voted on appointing an interim representative to replace the one who was expelled last week (Pearson). Seven of thirteen members showed up to a special session and voted unanimously to put Pearson back in office.

Like his colleague, Justin Jones, Pearson wasn’t just waiting for the vote. He and his supporters staged a demonstration at the Civil Rights Museum located in the former Lorraine Motel–where Martin Luther King spent the last evening of his life–and then a large march to the Memphis Council, where Pearson gave a stemwinder of a speech. My favorite sign: “No Justin, No Peace.” The next day, he returned to Nashville and the state legislature, expressing determination to continue the fight for sensible gun regulation.

The modest disruption the Three (Jones, Pearson, and Rep. Gloria Johnson) caused by bringing a megaphone to the podium turned into a tactical tour de force, aided by a significant and unwitting boost provided by the Republican majority.

But they didn’t get all that much closer to their expressed goal, pushing for sensible gun regulation in Tennessee. The Republicans still enjoy a massive advantage in the House, holding 75 of 99 seats, with legislators still elected in heavily gerrymandered districts. Upon reaching the age of 21, any Tennessean can carry a gun, open or concealed, without having to get any kind of permit. The governor and the majorities in each house of the legislature are quite clear that they have no interest in making it much more difficult to get any kind of weapon. Although the Three and their supporters were masterful organizers and tacticians, the road to reform lies ahead, and it looks like a long haul.

We always want shorter stories about movement influence, in which the heroes win meaningful battles quickly enough that we can connect policy changes to protest. But that’s not the way the world works. Rosa Parks on a bus in Montgomery makes for a shorter simpler story if we edit out more than a decade of organizing she did beforehand, and a decade of organizing afterward to get to Voting Rights legislation. That story isn’t over either.

In addition to the road ahead, there’s a long backstory that’s worth telling. Before fixing on the confrontation in the well of the Tennessee House of Representatives, take a glance at how much time the Three spent getting ready for that moment.

Gloria Johnson had a career as a teacher in Knoxville, before first running for the state house in 2012. She organized in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and worked at the grassroots for educational funding and health care reform. She first clashed with House Speaker Cameron Sexton a couple of years ago, when she was the lone representative who refused to vote for him as speaker. He gave her an office in a windowless conference room, and she moved her desk into the hallway.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/01/tennessee-nathan-bedford-forrest-bust-justin-jones-banned-capitol-after-casada-incident/3027058002/

Justin Jones had mixed it up with the state legislature long before he ran for office. In 2019, as a Divinity student at Vanderbilt, he was banned from the building after staging a disruptive protest against the presence of the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate war hero and founder of the Ku Klux Klan. The bust was placed in the Capitol as a sign of resistance during a much earlier round of civil rights activism. In 2021, it was removed from the State House.

Jones been arrested before for political protests, including efforts for health care, against Senator Marcia Blackburn, and a 62 day vigil against police violence after the murder of George Floyd.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2021/07/23/tennessees-nathan-bedford-forrest-bust-has-been-moved-museum/8064468002/

Jason Pearson had organized a campaign against the siting of the Byhailia oil pipeline that was to be routed through poorer Black neighborhoods in South Memphis. The pipeline, opposed by a broad coalition of interests, was cancelled. Pearson’s parents (dad a preacher, mom a teacher) say he’s been a powerful orator and committed crusader forever–he’s still not thirty. He got to make his case for activism and politics in an op-ed at the New York Times.

The first point is that it took a long time to become the Tennessee Three; the protest about guns and democracy built on long histories of advocacy and organizing, and a couple of identifiable wins.

To win even a modest policy reform like limiting access to assault-style weapons will take a lot more work, which will include many meetings, protests, lobbying, and electoral campaigns. Alas, it will probably take more horrific shootings as well.

In the meantime, Governor Bill Lee has announced his support for “red flag” legislation, strengthening background checks for gun purchasers, and spending $140 million to “harden” schools and funding armed guards stationed at schools. Of course, these aren’t the remedies gun safety advocates were demanding, but there’s no reason to believe Gov. Lee would have gone even that far without the pressure and the national exposure. Lee didn’t acknowledge the influence of the protesters, also of course.

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The Tennessee Three show what a win looks like

Posted on April 11, 2023 by David S. Meyer

A few days after suffering expulsion from the Tennessee House of Representatives, Justin Jones (again)

took the oath of office and reentered the legislative chamber. Rep. Gloria Johnson, the unexpelled member of the Three, enthusiastically accompanied him on his return to the floor, but many colleagues appeared less enthusiastic.

The Republican majority was certainly far less joyful than the cheering throngs of activists crowded into the gallery.

Just days ago, almost all of the Republican legislators had signed onto Speaker Cameron Sexton’s decision to execute an expedited expulsion of the Three for speaking out of turn. And now Rep. Jones was back, and Representative Justin Pearson was likely to return well before the end of the week.

Tennessee law allows local officials to fill a vacancy with a temporary appointment, and the Nashville’s Metro Council, in very short order, voted to appoint Jones to temporarily fill the vacancy his expulsion had created. The vote was 36-0. Later, Jones will have to run for the full term, with Nashville’s voters more committed than ever. The Memphis council is scheduled to vote on who will fill Pearson’s vacancy. (The smart bet is Pearson.)

It’s not just that efforts to purge the chamber of two young Black men were so clearly unsuccessful; even more important was the attention the Three generated nationally, and the solidarity and enthusiasm they tapped into in parts of Tennessee. Everyone in the state house will be back in the same seats they had a week ago, but it really won’t be the same.

Prior to the protest, the Three were part of a small and easily marginalized Democratic minority in a heavily gerrymandered state moving further to the right. They could not speak about guns on the floor (mics cut off when they tried), much less pass legislation.

Protest works when it alters the scope of a conflict and maybe even the balance of power, and it’s the losers in any battle who have an interest in bringing others into the fight (thanks, E.E. Schattschneider.)

When Tennesseans, especially young Tennesseans in the cities reacted to yet another horrible school shooting–this time at a Christian school in Nashville, the Three decided to amplify the calls from the marchers outdoors and take them indoors. Brandishing a megaphone, they came to the podium, and chanted for less than a minute until the Speaker ended the session. That’s not much of a win.

But the Republican majority overreacted, spotlighting its opposition and displaying its own, mostly unpopular, politics. The extremely unusual decision to expel members guilty of a breach in protocol won the Three national exposure, speaking invitations, and far more vigorous local support. Johnson, Jones, and Pearson proved to be more than ready for prime time, focusing on democracy, children, and public safety. The Justins, in particular, were adept at dropping in bits of Scripture at the just the right time. (Pearson’s father is a Christian minister, and Jones has started a divinity degree.) And they all kept coming back to gun violence, the issue they were silenced on.

The Republicans in the House made a tactical mistake, one bred of overconfidence that may come from living in an apparently safe and relatively homogenous supermajority. Sometimes effective advocacy is all about giving the opposition a chance to show itself–and make mistakes. The GOP rose to the bait and the Three mastered the moment. After years of trying a range of strategies to get attention, suddenly each enjoyed a national audience. They filled broadcast and social media, and engaged and mobilized political allies far from Tennessee. Coupled with an Easter break and news from yet another horrific mass shooting, this time in neighboring Kentucky, the Three had more support, and more attention to their issues and their efforts.

At the Nashville Newark* airport, Jones and Johnson even ran into–of all people–Joan Baez, who started singing for civil rights more than a half century ago. She sang with Justin Jones, and the videos went viral.

Meanwhile, the offended House majority was on the defensive. They’d hoped to teach insurgent legislators a lesson, and instead they were schooled.

Hundreds of Jones’s supporters surrounded the Nashville Metro Council when it met to decide to send him back to the House. And more supporters joined Rep. Jones as he walked to the state capitol and took the oath of office on its steps.

Now, think about the message clever and committed activists will take from the travails of the Tennessee Three. Standing up against what they saw as the arbitrary exercise of authority and the blatant neglect of an urgent public safety issue, they broke some rules, and irritated members of the party that controlled the legislative agenda. They returned with allies and attention.

Representative Jones showed that he’d learned his lesson. Upon his return, he took the mic and announced, “I want to thank you all. Not for what you did, but for awakening the people of this state, particularly the young people.” He then called upon the Speaker to resign.

*Corrected

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Expelling the Tennessee 3: Bad for democracy, bad politics. And not so good for “decorum.”

Posted on April 7, 2023 by David S. Meyer

The Republican Party had nothing to gain by voting to expel two Democratic state reps (Justin Jones and Justin Pearson), and just barely deciding not to expel a third (Gloria Johnson).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/07/tennessee-republicans-racism-democrats-expelled

The expulsions were about the dumbest thing the Republicans could have done, and they did it about as badly as possible.

Remember, democratic politics works when most people believe their beliefs can be represented, and might ultimately convince a majority and carry the day. Political losers accept defeats because they can imagine that they might one day be victors. Political winners have a strong interest in nurturing their opponents’ dream of influence through mainstream politics.

The Republican Party enjoyed a massive majority, 75-24, in the state house, partly a result of political preference, but also a reflection of residential sorting and aggressive gerrymandering. They could pass anything they wanted, while the Democrats were left to complain…ineffectually. Not only couldn’t the Democrats pass legislation, they couldn’t even get their proposals considered on the House floor. The Republicans gained no new advantages by cutting the Democratic caucus to 22. But they were able to deprive 2 districts of their representatives in government, effectively telling large parts of Memphis and Nashville that they would get no hearing in the House…at least for the moment. Both districts are overwhelmingly Democratic and Jones and Pearson won their seats handily–and they are certainly more visible and more popular now.

Expulsion put the Tennessee 3 on a much larger map. In the days leading up to the event, they were all interviewed everywhere, and proved themselves to be effective communicators and pretty charming as well. They’ll get more practice, and they’ll all get better, and surely win fans and followers across the country. In every interview, they talk about government inaction on gun violence, the issue that got them expelled. Each is now well-positioned to raise more money for an electoral campaign than any candidate for the state house has ever raised before. (By the way, that job pays just over $24,000 a year, plus a per diem.)

On the eve of the expulsion, young people in Nashville and across the state were already outraged about legislative inaction after a school shooting, and were protesting at the capitol and even staging walk-outs at their schools. None of this is likely to stop. Indeed, the expulsion creates more issues and opportunities, as Jones and Pearson seek to regain office, stage campaigns, and remind their constituents that they were thrown out for protesting about gun violence. Both in their twenties, they look like they could have long political careers.

Clearly frustrated by the Tennessee 3’s protest, the majority had many options for punishment, but buoyed by a supermajority, went right for the extremely rare remedy of expulsion. And they tried to do it as quickly as possible, bypassing any kind of committee process, fact-finding, or considering a formal defense. Instead, in a jury-rigged quick fry, each targeted member got to answer questions before a final vote. Discussion was high stakes and high stress, and–appropriately–none of the 3 demonstrated a bit of contrition. Video highlights are circulating all over the internet.

Then, having decided to go after three members, the majority expelled two Black men in their twenties, and spared an older white woman, repeatedly announcing that it wasn’t about race–almost always a sign that it’s about race. On the interview circuit, Rep. Gloria Johnson was asked everywhere why she alone was allowed to keep her seat, and was quick to praise Pearson and Jones, adding that it “might  have to do with the color of our skin.”

She explained (quote from Snopes), “I’m a 60-year-old white woman and they are two young Black men. In listening to the questions, and the way they were questioned, and the way they were talked to… I was talked down to as a woman, mansplained to, but it was completely different from the questioning they got. And this whole idea that […] you have to almost assimilate into this body to be like us.”

She added that she felt the two Black men were spoken to in a “demeaning way” and told “if you’re going to come into this body, you’re going to have to act like this body.” 

That majority looks mostly like older white men.

So, the Republican majority created new heroes of their opponents, drew attention to their largely unpopular position, and invited a spotlight that the other side was better prepared to use. They also sent a signal to young Tennesseans that their capitol was no place for debate about the issues they cared about.

Whoops.

And the kicker: The leadership said it wasn’t about the issues or politics, but about House rules and decorum. It’s hard to believe that even the foot soldiers in Donald Trump’s Republican Party see any gains in preserving decorum.

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Pushing protest outdoors in Tennessee

Posted on April 6, 2023 by David S. Meyer

Tennessee state representatives Tennessee State Representatives Justin Pearson, Justin Jones, and Gloria Johnson (l-r above) broke the rules. In the wake of the most a recent mass shooting at a Christian school in Nashville, protesters filled the chamber’s galleries and surrounded the state capitol. Unarmed and nonviolent, they were nonetheless vigorous, demanding legislative action on gun safety, and yelling at the legislators who were determined not to give them what they wanted. The Tennessee 3 amplified the protesters, moving to the well of the chamber and chanting through a megaphone. They didn’t wait to be recognized.

The protesters outdoors included many young people, students from local high schools and universities, and they were well aware that a large majority of the House was far more likely to make it easier for Tennesseans to get guns rather than impose any restrictions. Just two years ago, Tennessee passed a law allowing anyone over 21 to carry a handgun (openly or concealed) without a license; the legislators are due to consider a reform that would lower the age of permitless carry to 18, and include more weapons.

The protesters said they were scared, but they looked angry.

The Tennessee 3 weren’t in the well for very long before the House leadership gaveled in a recess, ending the session. The Republican Speaker of the state house first blamed the protesters, comparing them to the January 6 insurgents at the US Capitol. Some of the Republicans said they were scared–but they looked angry.

They were particularly angry at their three Democratic colleagues who, absolutely, violated rules of procedure and decorum. Members of the Republican majority were determined to respond to protect their vision of the legislature. It’s important to remember that the Republicans enjoy a huge advantage in the House, with 75 Republicans and 23 Democrats. The majority in any legislative body has many options for punishing members who offend:

Individuals can talk with their colleagues privately, and express their opinions.

A majority can pass a resolution of disapproval or censure and formally rebuke a member.

The House leadership can strip a member of committee membership, staff, or office space.

Or the majority can kick a member out, although it’s difficult. It takes a 2/3 majority to expel a member, and it doesn’t happen much. The New York Times reports:

“Six lawmakers were expelled from the Tennessee House in 1866, immediately after the Civil War, for seeking to prevent the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to formerly enslaved people. Since then, the House of Representatives in Tennessee has voted only twice to oust a lawmaker. Both votes were bipartisan: in 1980, after a sitting lawmaker was convicted of soliciting a bribe, and in 2016, after the House majority whip faced allegations of sexual misconduct while in office.”

On April 6, after a long and contentious debate, the majority voted to expel Reps. Pearson and Jones, but came one vote short of kicking Rep. Johnson out. It is lost on absolutely no one that, unlike Johnson, Pearson and Jones are young Black men.

I don’t know if the Republican majority meant to send a message, but they surely did. If they didn’t realize it at the time, they will certainly be schooled and reminded–again and again.

All of this matters, not just for school safety or gun regulation or racial politics in America. Democracy depends upon the losers continuing to participate in the system, albeit not necessarily happily or with optimism, and certainly not politely. But they must stay engaged. The system depends upon minorities keeping faith that they might someday win.

Reps. Pearson and Jones may well be back in the legislature soon, appointed by county committees or reelected by constituents who value the passion and commitment they displayed.

Or they, or some of their supporters, may decide that the institutions of their state government are so inaccessible and unresponsive that stronger measures must be taken.

That’s what the January 6 insurgents thought.

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