Of Republican States and United States

Published in El Heraldo de México
(Mexico) on 21 September 2022
by José Carreño Figueras (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Adam Wambeke. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
The movement now is to restrict rights such as abortion and marriage equality and to limit sex education.

A century and a half after the Civil War, fought to determine the right of states to set their own policies, including whether to approve slavery, several former Confederate states are taking up the "lost cause" of deciding on issues, including the treatment of immigrants, that have been subject to federal authority.

According to veteran analyst Ron Brownstein, the current situation "marks a new escalation of the red state drive to seize control of national policy from below, not only on immigration but on a broad array of domestic policies."

And at the center of this new "civil war" is the issue of immigration, used notably by former president and presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump during his election campaign in 2016, and now, especially, but not exclusively, by Govs. Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida. Both are spearheading a movement that transfers migrants to Democratic enclaves in the North by means that include deceptive "recruitment" campaigns.

But these gestures, which are quite cynical but appear to be symbolic given the size of the problem, are only one aspect of a larger trend. They are only a facet of a renewed onslaught by the American right, which has been developing for years.

Since the 1940s, and very notably since the 1960s, there was a tendency in the United States to give more power to the federal government and grant it jurisdiction over a number of issues, from the economy to law enforcement and citizen rights, which translated into greater power over legal and social matters, even racial integration.

But now the pendulum seems to be swinging in the opposite direction based on the influence that conservatives and flat-out far-right groups have gained with the appointment of right-leaning judges around the country and given Republican-led administrations in half or more of the states.

The movement now is to restrict rights such as abortion and marriage equality and to limit sex education. And indeed, after the Trump regime, Republican-led state governments seem more determined to enforce what they see as their rights and jurisdiction.

Republican federal legislators are evidently on their side, and a plethora of judges appointed by Presidents George H.W. Bush (1988-1992), George W. Bush (2000-2008) and Trump (2016-2020), are, at the very least, facilitating these administrations’ objectives to thwart Democratic efforts to expand voter rights.

The debate is so heated that there is talk about the possibility of violence and the willingness of armed groups, especially from the right, to impose their agenda amid growing political polarization.


De estados republicanos y Estados Unidos


Siglo y medio después de la Guerra Civil sobre el derecho de los estados a determinar sus políticas, incluso el uso de esclavos, varios de los antiguos aliados confederados tratan de retomar la llamada "causa perdida" para decidir sobre temas que, como el trato a migrantes, han sido parte de la autoridad federal.


De acuerdo con el veterano analista Ron Brownstein, la actual situación "marca una nueva escalada de la campaña de los estados republicanos para tomar el control de la política nacional desde abajo, no sólo en materia de inmigración, sino también en una amplia gama de políticas internas".


Y en el centro de esa nueva versión de "guerra civil", está la cuestión migratoria, usada notablemente por el expresidente y presunto aspirante presidencial, Donald Trump, durante su campaña electoral en 2016 y ahora, sobre todo pero no sólo por ellos, los gobernadores Greg Abbott, de Texas y Ron DeSantis, de Florida. Ambos encabezan un movimiento que transfiere migrantes, incluso mediante tramposas campañas de "reclutamiento", a enclaves demócratas en el norte del país.


Pero si bien esos gestos, que son harto cínicos, pero parecerían simbólicos, dado el tamaño del problema, son sólo un aspecto de una tendencia mayor, son sólo una faceta de un renovado embate de la derecha estadounidense, que lleva años en desarrollo.


Desde los años 40, y muy notablemente desde la década de los 60 del siglo pasado, hubo en Estados Unidos una tendencia legal a dar más poder al gobierno federal y otorgarle jurisdicción sobre una serie de temas, de la economía a la observancia de la ley o los derechos ciudadanos, que se tradujo en mayor poder sobre aspectos legales o sociales, incluso la integración racial.


Pero ahora el péndulo parece ir en dirección contraria, con base en la influencia adquirida por grupos y personas conservadoras, o de plano de extrema derecha, por los nombramientos de jueces de esa tendencia a todo nivel del gobierno federal, y sobre gobiernos encabezados por republicanos en la mitad o más de los estados del país.


El movimiento, ahora, es de restringir derechos como el aborto, el matrimonio igualitario y límites a la educación sexual. Y de hecho, luego del régimen de Trump, los gobiernos estatales encabezados por republicanos parecen más determinados a hacer valer lo que consideran como sus derechos y jurisdicciones.


Legisladores federales republicanos están evidentemente a su lado y una pléyade de jueces, nombrados por los presidentes George H.W. Bush (1988-1992), George W. Bush (2000-2008) y Donald Trump (2016-2020), facilitan por lo menos sus objetivos para limitar los esfuerzos de los demócratas por ampliar los derechos de sus propios votantes.


El debate es tan agitado que se habla de posibilidades de violencia y la disposición de grupos armados, especialmente de derecha, a tratar de imponer sus propuestas, en medio de una creciente polarización política.
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