Some quotes:
“The Mandate for Leadership” is a 920-page document that details how the next Republican administration will implement radical and sweeping changes to the entirety of government. This blueprint assumes that the next president will be able to rule by fiat under the unitary executive theory (which posits that the president has the power to control the entire federal executive branch). It is also based on the premise that the next president will implement Schedule F, which allows the president to fire any federal employee who has policy-making authority, and replace them with a presidential appointee who is not voted on in the Senate.
So they’re gonna take over the executive branch.
And businesses will support and fund this effort because:
The business wish list calls for eliminating federal agencies, stripping those that remain of regulatory power, and deregulating industries. The president would directly manage and influence Department of Justice and FBI cases, which would allow him to pursue criminal cases against political enemies. Environmental law would be gutted, and states would be prevented from enforcing their own environmental laws.
And what about the social wish list?
The social conservative wish list calls for ending abortion, diversity and inclusion efforts, protections for LGBTQ people, and most importantly, banning any and all LGBTQ content. In fact, “The Mandate for Leadership” makes eradicating LGBTQ people from public life its top priority. Its No. 1 promise is to “restore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children.” They are explicit in how they plan to do so, as you’ll see in the paragraph below. They plan to proceed by declaring any and all LGBTQ content to be pornographic in nature.
“Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology and sexualization of children, for instance, is not a political Gordian knot inextricably binding up disparate claims about free speech, property rights, sexual liberation, and child welfare. It has no claim to First Amendment protection. Its purveyors are child predators and misogynistic exploiters of women. Their product is as addictive as any illicit drug and as psychologically destructive as any crime. Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned. Educators and public librarians who purvey it should be classed as registered sex offenders. And telecommunications and technology firms that facilitate its spread should be shuttered.”
When they talk about pornography, this includes any content discussing or portraying LGBTQ figures from the children’s books I Am Jazz and And Tango Makes Three to the Trevor Project’s suicide hotline. We know this by looking at how “don’t say gay” laws have been implemented in Florida: This is literally their model. It’s been tried in Virginia. It’s also arguable that LGBTQ parents would be subject to arrest, imprisonment, and being put on sex-offender registries for “exposing children to pornography” simply by being LGBTQ and having children.
It would also likely criminalize any therapist, doctor, or counselor who provided affirming therapy to trans youth. Indeed, the document makes it explicitly clear they want nationwide bans on abortion and access to affirming care for trans youth, while calling for conversion therapies to be the only available treatments. It could be argued as well that people who are visibly trans in public are pornographic or obscene, because they might be seen by a minor. This understanding of intent is in line with the call to “eradicate transgenderism from public life.”
There’s also the matter of the internet: Any Internet Service Provider (ISP) that transmits or receives data about transgender people could potentially be liable if conservatives have their way. When you read the final sentence of the excerpted paragraph, the clear intent is that the same would apply to any social media company that allows any (positive) discussion or depiction of transgender individuals, as it would be considered pornographic and contributing to harming a minor.
And how will they do this shit?
The organizations that drafted “The Mandate for Leadership” understand that blue states, which have sanctuary laws for transgender people, are unlikely to comply. It’s difficult to imagine California arresting and prosecuting teachers, librarians, doctors, therapists, bookstores (virtual or physical), LGBTQ parents, and especially LGBTQ people merely for existing in public. This is why they included the following paragraph:
“Where warranted and proper under federal law, initiate legal action against local officials—including District Attorneys—who deny American citizens the “equal protection of the laws” by refusing to prosecute criminal offenses in their jurisdictions. This holds true particularly for jurisdictions that refuse to enforce the law against criminals based on the Left’s favored defining characteristics of the would-be offender (race, so-called gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) or other political considerations (e.g., immigration status).”
This is calling for the executive branch to use the Department of Justice to threaten prosecution of any local or state officials if they do not charge LGBTQ people and their allies with crimes under the pretense that they are breaking federal and state laws against exposing minors to pornography. If people at the Department of Justice refuse to go along with this, then they can simply be replaced under Schedule F. While the excerpted paragraph above includes references to immigration, the fact that it explicitly includes gender identity, and fits in with the previous calls to designate anything trans-related as pornographic, clearly telegraphs their intent.
The result of these actions will be perhaps the biggest power play against states rights in American history, and the threat is clear. If blue states refuse to turn on their own transgender citizens, then the federal government will do everything in its power to decapitate the leadership of those states using the Department of Justice. Conservatives are making the bet that individual district attorneys will not risk prosecution, and prison, on behalf of a tiny, despised minority. They’re betting that state governors will not be willing to risk both prosecution and a constitutional crisis over transgender people.
Well, fuck!
In addition to voting, what should we do about this?
I’m all for arming the resistance, but I feel it’s important to point out that if someone doesn’t feel able and/or safe handling a firearm that’s ok too, there are other ways to support those on the front lines and the rest of the community.
Here here! Very good point here. A good alternative I’d say would be to get a more than basic first aid kit and take some first aid classes.
I would disagree. I say that everyone should take a first aid class, but to be useful in any real situation in general you need a shitton of training. Honestly, from experience, I want fewer people who think they are useful when being everything but useful in emergency situations. It leads to situations where I need to babysit them and work. At worst, they endanger themselves and/or others.
I know a lot of people who are not used to these situations feel like an extra pair of hands is always a plus but I have not met any first responders, health care workers, military or aid workers that agree with that statement. It is a common subject of discussion as it really is driving most of us up the wall.
I disagree - I have been involved in civilian emergency prep communities for a while now, and it is the formal, published stance of FEMA that having civilians who understand incident response logistics and advanced first aid is absolutely critical to managing the first hours of an incident. We teach advanced trauma first aid (wound packing, field dressing, tourniquets, chest wounds, triage etc), as well as field command hierarchy and management to be handled until professional help arrives.
Teaching civilians how to stabilize, log and report on incidents has a huge multiplier effect on the effectiveness of emergency services. The idea that people should not get involved because they are not professionals is very outdated. It takes about two weeks to go over the basics of incident management, S&R, and first aid/triage. Once you’ve done that and established a local CERT volunteer corps, FEMA will literally give you grants to hand out equipment, hold practice exercises and recruit more volunteers.
I am a humanitarian aid worker working in emergencies with a decade under my belt. I am not saying civilians are not useful if they are properly trained. First aid courses that are not advanced, often repeated can help but it really is nowhere near enough to think you are ready to even halfway towards the front lines. Often simple first aid courses can also make you think you know more than you do. That also commonly coincides with attitudes where people are not listening.
I just have absolutely too much experience with people making bad situations worse with their actions. And even some people causing emergency situations because of what they don’t know. But I do not disagree with you. I think we are talking about two different things. I am talking about normal first aid courses people take every couple of years what you are talking about is actual advanced first aid courses that properly teach emergencies, how they work and how you need to act.
Please tell me what I can do other than lay down and wait to die then.
See if you have a local CERT chapter. They will train you on incident response logistics, search and rescue, and advanced first aid. It will also connect you to a community of volunteers and professionals in the area.
Of course, don’t lay down. Really learn and train to become useful in those situations. You don’t need to be professional, just properly trained. There are multiple ways to do it but you need more than a couple of days a year to also keep that training up to date.
I just have a lot of experience with people making things worse because they think the basic to medium first aid courses will make you able to help properly. And then make things worse. So my comment might have come out too harshly. But advanced first aid with the psychology of emergencies and scene management with the right attitude (mostly listening to those more experienced) will actually be useful.