Arizona’s GQP-Friendly Media Could Learn From The Kansas City Star

While Governor Doug Ducey and radical Republicans opposed to democracy in the Arizona legislature are busy trying to reverse the will of the voters on Prop. 208, the Invest In Ed citizens initiative, equally radical Republicans opposed to democracy in Missouri are busy trying to reverse the will of the voters on a citizens constitutional amendment for expanding Medicaid in that state.

The tie that binds is that the modern GQP is an authoritarian anti-democratic force for destruction that rejects American democracy and the will of the voters. It is un-American.

It is disheartening that the GQP-friendly media in this state cannot find the courage to issue an editorial opinion about Arizona’s anti-democratic radical Republicans as excoriating as this one from the Kansas City Star about the anti-democratic radical Republicans in the Missouri legislature. Missouri legislature to voters: Drop dead. We won’t do as you told us on Medicaid:

Republicans in the Missouri legislature continue to reject reason, logic, the law, empathy and common sense regarding Medicaid, the federal-state program that provides health insurance for the poor.

The latest chapter in this apparently never-ending tragedy unfolded Thursday, when the House Budget Committee took up a spending bill that would pay for Medicaid expansion.

You’ll recall the state’s voters told lawmakers to expand Medicaid last August. The state’s constitution requires the state to provide Medicaid coverage for eligible Missourians at or below 133% of the poverty level.

For the radical Republicans in Jefferson City, however, the people’s will, and the constitution, are mere waste, to be flushed away. After several hours of debate Thursday, the committee rejected the Medicaid expansion budget measure: nine voting to approve it, 20 voting no.

Let’s be clear about the numbers. Expanding Medicaid would cost about $1.6 billion, according to the bill. Of that, only $103 million would come from the state’s general revenue. More than $1.4 billion would come from Washington.

No one can seriously argue Missouri lacks its $103 million share. State revenues are relatively even after the COVID-19 pandemic, and the federal government is pouring billions of additional dollars into the state to ease any additional budget concerns.

Even Gov. Mike Parson’s budget provides for expanded Medicaid. He knows the money is there. In fact, Missouri is likely eligible for enhanced payments from Washington for Medicaid expansion as part of the COVID-19 relief bill.

None of this made the slightest difference. Lawmakers on the Budget Committee simply threw more than $1 billion into the garbage, along with the state’s most vulnerable citizens.

If even money were tight, though, lawmakers still have no choice but to spend the cash, because the state constitution now requires coverage for eligible Missourians. Period. Legislators simply can’t ignore the constitution when it’s distasteful.

The fact that Republicans want to do so is extraordinarily enlightening, and frightening. They’re turning down billions of federal dollars. They’re ignoring voters. They’re violating the state constitution. Why?

Because they hate the poor. There can be no other explanation. That hatred is so intense, it overrides greed, political ambition, even respect for the law. Far too many GOP lawmakers don’t want this to be a state where even one poor Missourian gets treated for a cough or a broken finger.

“To the people of Missouri who did the work to get their neighbors healthcare, you deserve so much better than being told your voice doesn’t matter,” state Rep. Betsy Fogle tweeted after the vote.

To that, we would add: Missourians deserve representatives who understand the law, and have some feeling for other human beings.

There are indications the Medicaid spending could be revived later in the session, either in the Senate or on the floor of the House. It has to happen somewhere. Lawsuits are also likely, and in this case, welcome.

Why doesn’t Arizona’s GQP-friendly media hold authoritarian anti-democratic radical Republicans in the Arizona legislature accountable for their actions like this?  Do the editors agree with this GQP assault on our democracy? Or are they just craven cowards who do not want to lose paying subscribers and advertising dollars over having taken a stand against the GQP assault on our democracy?

Arizona media rarely even do editorial opinions today. And when they do, they tend towards the “both-siderism” false equivalency argument, and are ready apologists for whatever evil the GQP is presently doing in this state.

They are failing the duty of the media to be the watchdog of democracy. They are failing the job of a newspaper “to afflict the comfortable, and to comfort the afflicted” – Mr. Dooley, the fictional bartender created by Finley Peter Dunne for Harper’s Weekly and Collier’s Weekly.