Tennesee House votes to expel 2 of 3 Democratic members over gun protest. The political fallout from March 27th’s horrific Nashville shooting continues to roil the nation. The latest story has the Tennessee House of Representatives expelling two black members for protesting gun violence. The expulsion is being portrayed by some as Republicans callously ignoring gun deaths and targeting two black men in a blatant show of racism. Reality is a bit more nuanced.
They let the member who did sexually abuse his victims stay in the chamber. Fact. They had more reason to remove him than the two representatives who supported the protest. Should they only eject members who are convicted of crimes? The men they ejected were accused of no crimes. Did those two men make it a routine of shouting on bullhorns every day? As far as I know, this is the first time they did it--in order to support a peaceful protest about an important issue that was already going on. Is it a good practice to protest peacefully inside the Capitol? Probably not. It shouldn't be encouraged if you ask me. It's nowhere near as bad as vandalizing the Capitol and attacking police officers and stealing things from the Capitol, however. There's no comparison. So those two members whom the majority party treated with contempt were at worst guilty of being disruptive and annoying the majority party for one day. Maybe it should result in a warning. That's all. The majority party did what they did because they are obsessed now with unprincipled displays of power for the sake of trolling and punishing those they view as enemies.
Well done, first article I have seen that actually explained the details of what happened. We are so oriented to the culture wars most of what you get is the outraged opinions, in disguise as news.
I agree with you all round, the GOP went over the top in their reaction and it is going to work against them in the long run. Plus they turned these two guys into national heroes. They will be thanking the GOP Tenn house soon for the career help.
The egregious overreaction of going straight to expulsion -- which is really tantamount to imposing a political death penalty (notwithstanding that in this case the two expelled members are likely to have their political lives quickly resurrected) -- for a five minutes long violation of House rules may or may not be rooted in racism, but it is without a doubt rooted in extreme and destructive hyperpartisanship. Imposing a measured penalty, like reprimand or censure, would have been justifiable.
This is not -- it's an ugly, damning, and ludicrously unreasonable overreaction from a legislative supermajority that sees itself as immune from consequences for engaging in excessively partisan acts that are corrosive to democratic institutions and traditions. So even if we give the TN Rs the benefit of the doubt on the racism charge (I do suspect there's likely at least a tinge of racism at play here), their behavior is still wrong and contemptible on those grounds.
It's a week later. The two men have been reappointed and will run for reelection. The Tennessee House will let them back. The net result was that this incident embarrassed America across the world. You may not think it was racist, but that's they way it is being perceived. It fits the history of Tennessee too closely. Also, they used a megaphone because the Speaker often cut off their microphones when he didn't want to listen. Also, the Speaker has been revealed to be a liar and a thief. This could never have happened without the Republicans using highly computerized gerrymandering to deprive Nashville Democrats of representation. The Republicans are also angry at Nashville because they rejected holding the Republican convention there. Tennessee is not 75% Republican, probably 58 - 42 among the people who actually vote. Also: can someone explain why the Republicans remain so totally wedded to assault weapons? It's their kids who are getting shot, and not just in schools.
They let the member who did sexually abuse his victims stay in the chamber. Fact. They had more reason to remove him than the two representatives who supported the protest. Should they only eject members who are convicted of crimes? The men they ejected were accused of no crimes. Did those two men make it a routine of shouting on bullhorns every day? As far as I know, this is the first time they did it--in order to support a peaceful protest about an important issue that was already going on. Is it a good practice to protest peacefully inside the Capitol? Probably not. It shouldn't be encouraged if you ask me. It's nowhere near as bad as vandalizing the Capitol and attacking police officers and stealing things from the Capitol, however. There's no comparison. So those two members whom the majority party treated with contempt were at worst guilty of being disruptive and annoying the majority party for one day. Maybe it should result in a warning. That's all. The majority party did what they did because they are obsessed now with unprincipled displays of power for the sake of trolling and punishing those they view as enemies.
Well done, first article I have seen that actually explained the details of what happened. We are so oriented to the culture wars most of what you get is the outraged opinions, in disguise as news.
I agree with you all round, the GOP went over the top in their reaction and it is going to work against them in the long run. Plus they turned these two guys into national heroes. They will be thanking the GOP Tenn house soon for the career help.
"Disorder" is fair. "Dishonor" is not. Some sort of penalty for what was essentially an act of civil disobedience would be fair. Expulsion is not.
The egregious overreaction of going straight to expulsion -- which is really tantamount to imposing a political death penalty (notwithstanding that in this case the two expelled members are likely to have their political lives quickly resurrected) -- for a five minutes long violation of House rules may or may not be rooted in racism, but it is without a doubt rooted in extreme and destructive hyperpartisanship. Imposing a measured penalty, like reprimand or censure, would have been justifiable.
This is not -- it's an ugly, damning, and ludicrously unreasonable overreaction from a legislative supermajority that sees itself as immune from consequences for engaging in excessively partisan acts that are corrosive to democratic institutions and traditions. So even if we give the TN Rs the benefit of the doubt on the racism charge (I do suspect there's likely at least a tinge of racism at play here), their behavior is still wrong and contemptible on those grounds.
It's a week later. The two men have been reappointed and will run for reelection. The Tennessee House will let them back. The net result was that this incident embarrassed America across the world. You may not think it was racist, but that's they way it is being perceived. It fits the history of Tennessee too closely. Also, they used a megaphone because the Speaker often cut off their microphones when he didn't want to listen. Also, the Speaker has been revealed to be a liar and a thief. This could never have happened without the Republicans using highly computerized gerrymandering to deprive Nashville Democrats of representation. The Republicans are also angry at Nashville because they rejected holding the Republican convention there. Tennessee is not 75% Republican, probably 58 - 42 among the people who actually vote. Also: can someone explain why the Republicans remain so totally wedded to assault weapons? It's their kids who are getting shot, and not just in schools.