Democrats Think the Defeat of an Antidemocratic Amendment in Ohio Means Support for Them. Silly Democrats.

In my last post I described the defeat of Ohio Issue 1, the antidemocratic amendment the Republican legislature tried to sneak through in a summer election. It would have made it highly improbable that Ohioans would ever be able to put an issue on the ballot ever again.

Unsurprisingly, the corporate media and the Democratic Party focused on the immediate reason for the timing of this abortion of a legislative initiative, which was to make it impossible for the abortion rights amendment on the ballot this November to pass, but not on the content, much less the real purpose of it.

Currently, to get anything on the ballot supporters have to gather signatures of at least 5% of the registered voters who voted in the last gubernatorial election in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties. This thing would have raised that requirement to all 88 counties, which would have made it almost impossible to meet.

Raising the threshold to pass from 50% +1 to 60% was just the proverbial icing on the cake. If Issue 1 had passed, the notoriously corrupt Ohio Legislature, elected on maps repeatedly declared unconstitutional by the Republican Ohio Supreme Court, would rule without fear of any popular check.

Since neither the corporate media nor the Democratic Party have any more interest in supporting majority rule, aka democracy, than the Republicans do, they chose to focus on the culture war issue at stake—abortion rights. They talked about those over 90% of the time, rarely emphasized the 60% requirement, and nearly totally ignored the 88 county requirement.

In short, the servants of our kleptocracy had no problem with those things.

Ironically, these postmodernist idealists convinced themselves that abortion was the only thing this was about, and immediately moved to speculating on how the issue could help Biden in November, and maybe even put Ohio in play.

Zeeshan Aleem of MSNBC gushes that “Tuesday’s returns serve as yet another data point that abortion rights are a winning issue for Democrats that they’d be wise to lean into as the 2024 elections approach.”

Politico toots:

Democrats across the country were ecstatic by the election’s outcome, seeing it as evidence that more than a year after Roe v. Wade was struck down, voters are not any less frustrated by the elimination of abortion rights — not even in solidly red states like Ohio. Within Biden’s campaign, his aides also believe it shows that his strategy of empowering the DNC is paying off and that the party is performing strongly under his leadership.

Abortion rights will be on the ballot. Turnout will increase in the cities. The abortion rights amendment will pass with at least 53% of the vote. Democratic strategists are right about that.

They’re probably right that abortion rights will help Sherrod Brown get re-elected to the Senate. The thing is, he probably would anyway, for the simple reason that Ohio Republicans won’t be smart enough to run an antiwar candidate against him. If they did, they could win, but how bright could they be? Their last Speaker of the House is going to prison for taking bribes from a utility company and they actually thought Issue 1 would pass!

Need I comment on the intelligence displayed? Or the arrogance, for that matter?

As for Democrats, every Ohioan also knows that Biden’s Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, said after East Palestine that hundreds of trains derail every year, so no big deal. We all know that Donald Trump at least went to East Palestine, while Joe Biden absolutely, positively does not give a shit about it or the people who live there. None of that has changed.

There was a broad coalition against Issue 1. Libertarians, Communists, Greens, Democrats, independents, and many Republicans, including former governors Kasich and Taft. It never had a chance.

I guarantee you that at least 20% of Ohioans who voted against Issue 1 would never consider voting for a Democrat, any Democrat. Some would vote for Trump, some for Cornel West, some for the Libertarian, and some not at all. They’ll show up and insure abortion rights, too, but they will most definitely not vote for Joe Biden just because he says he’s pro-choice.

Joe Biden says a lot of things, mostly lies, and most Ohioans know that, too.

Silly Democrats. You’re so narcissistic. This election wasn’t about you. It was about We The People of Ohio, and the message was simple:

Don’t Tread on Us. Hey! I’ve got a flag for that!

Thank you for reading, good night, and good luck.