“Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in.” (Ronald Reagan) It’s the start of a new Congressional session for both the state of Missouri and the Federal Congress. This beginning can be said that it started like a massive dumpster fire rolling down the main street. Between the pre-filed bills from state legislators, gaudy cowboy boots from our newly elected senator, and day 3 of the election of the Speaker of the House, everyone has been sent a pretty good sign of what will come from our politics over the next two years. Nothing about this start looks like the “status quo” or even normal in the 247 years of traditions that everyone has become accustomed to. [1] To quote Sean Hannity, “It’s turning into a clown show.” A person knows when they start agreeing with Hannity that things are bad. And while folks seem to be in shock at the 118th Congressional soap opera happening in real-time, they don’t realize that this is the kind of nonsense that Missourians have seen the GOP super-majority create for the past 20 years. They also don’t seem to realize that the last time Congress was in this much chaos, the Civil War was triggered, with Missouri’s politics being the primary catalyst to that bloody event. [2] So, let’s dig into the backstory of how Missouri contributes to the current circus for the US.
- Author Joanna (Jojo) Stewart is a blogger from the heart of the Ozarks and a political activist in the Dirt Road Democrats/Rural progressives movement.
4. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5271234
6. https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/IOR5327112020ENGLISH.pdf
7. https://www.senate.mo.gov/23info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=44730
8.https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/supremacy_clause
9. https://www.senate.mo.gov/23info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=44735
13. https://thecounter.org/land-access-farmland-missouri-foreign-ownership/