Rep. Zooey Zephyr

Rep. Zooey Zephyr

@zoandbehold · Twitter ·

From NYT: "Not content to control these rooms...Republicans have said, in essence, that representation is a privilege for communities whose chosen lawmakers don't offend their sensibilities." This is what I mean I say that we are standing up for democracy itself.

I think that’s because these moves against dissenting members constitute an attack on representation itself. No one forced Tennessee Republicans to expel Representatives Jones and Pearson. They could have ignored them. But they were so incensed by the show of opposition that they deprived about 130,000 people of their representation in the legislature. Silencing and effectively banning Representative Zephyr means that about 10,000 people in Montana’s 100th District don’t have a voice in the legislature. The foundation of modern American democracy is that all Americans deserve some kind of representation in the rooms where law and policy are made. Not content to control those rooms in states where they dominate the political scene, some Republicans have said, in essence, that representation is a privilege for communities whose chosen lawmakers don’t offend their sensibilities.