You never know, as the voters in Trump country seem to constitute the best argument against democracy as a form of government, since they consistently vote against their own best interests. Still, it’s possible that if you shove it in their faces they will actually get it. Republican politicians are consistently voting against the interests of their constituents, but they always come up with some lie to the effect that they’re not really doing what they’re doing.
It will be hard to to that in this case.
Missouri’s Republican governor on Thursday signed legislation repealing the paid sick leave portion of a ballot measure that the state’s voters approved with nearly 60% support in the 2024 election.
The short-lived provision, which will officially be repealed on August 28, required Missouri employers to provide workers with an hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours of work. Businesses with 15 or more employees were required to provide up to 56 hours of earned paid sick time per year, and businesses with fewer than 15 employees were required to provide at least 40 hours of paid sick time.
Bear in mind that it wasn’t just the governor, it was the Republican controlled legislature as well. It’s one thing for the Republicans to refuse to pass legislation that helps their constituents, it’s another to repeal legislation enacted by those very constituents.
This sort of thing is happening more and more, and, assuming we have free elections in the course of the next few years, enough voters may learn a lesson and we may make gains in states such as Missouri.
Or, am I looking at the bright side, sort of like Brian at the end of the movie?