When Missouri’s Circus Reaches DC

“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.

It’s no secret that Missouri’s political climate always spills over into the national stage, e.g., the Dred Scott decision to more recent events involving threats to National Security. So, the tiny minority taking the majority hostage for the Speaker of the House is nothing Missourians haven’t seen before. The internal fighting among Missouri’s GOP has gotten so bad that there’s no longer a Republican Caucus for the state due to how extreme the MAGA is getting. To put it bluntly, this hostage-taking has led to radical legislation that’s passed, like the “Trigger Ban” on abortion and anti-federal gun laws under SAPA (Second Amendment Preservation Act), and to pre-filed bills like SB 356 — a bill to legalize forced birth, outlaw birth control, and charge women with murder for having a miscarriage. The entire statement is considered a war crime and against international law. Then SB 358 says that “Any Federal laws” are invalid in Missouri unless approved by the Missouri Legislative body. That entire bill, again, is unconstitutional due to the Supremacy Clause in the US Constitutional. [4]. Make no mistake that the same tactic is being used to achieve their end goal of control of the Speaker of the House and gaining absolute control of the House with no compromise.

Missouri, particularly Congressional District 8, is a prime example of how these clowns govern. When you look at the stats and rankings nationally, it’s not a pretty picture either. So, let’s dive into the backstory of how Missouri became the picture of what MAGA truly is and how extreme it is. The one thing folks need to understand is that what they’re bearing witness to has been going on since the 2000s with the GOP. These jokers didn’t start to show their true colors until 2016-2020.

In fact, Missouri’s former Attorney General John Ashcroft told the FBI not to investigate Al Qaida threats in 2004 and brushed off 9/11 warnings of one of the U.S.’ most brutal acts of terror that took 2,996 American lives. [3] Exactly 12 years later, his son became Secretary of state for Missouri with the same appetite for religious zealotry and absolute power. Ashcroft, Jr. is already starting his gubernatorial campaign for 2024 by fanning culture wars and demanding fewer constitutional rules be applied to public libraries and schools. Ashcroft, Jr.’s agenda is tailor-made to appeal to the home-grown extremists’ agenda.

But the Ashcrofts are not the anomaly in Missouri politics. Most folks have probably seen how the GOP and Josh Hawley start screeching about land being sold to China and other foreign investors as if this was something new and strictly “Democrats doing.” The reality is Missouri started allowing the sale of farmland to China in 2013 while our newly elected Senator Eric Schmitt was in the Missouri Legislative branch that voted to allow the law to be changed and then worked to pass it again when Jay Nixon vetoed it. China now owns over 146,000 acres of Missouri’s farmland.

In the same spirit, Governor Parson sharply turned his horizons to the Middle East (UAE and Israel) for more trading opportunities. [5]. To his credit, Parson was following the way of the “battle-hardened culture warriors” of the “Ultra MAGA” created by Trumpism. For those of you playing at home, the Trump administration had all kinds of ties to both China. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner marched off with Billions of Dollars from Saudi. It could be argued that foreign investors are a popular thing to do when “Ultra MAGA” and Hawley are merely trying to pretend to care about national security as they work to pull attention away from his misdeeds and (dirty) involvement with MAGA. Of course, Hawley didn’t start his chicken screech until Dan Crenshaw raised the question on national security and had a moment of clarity.

Missouri has a more significant impact on the national stage, including foreign policy, than folks care to admit. These folks need to start paying attention to “flyover country.” Missouri is the shining example of what GOP governing looks like and what their status quo is since Missouri is “ground zero” for the Republican failed social experiment. In short, what everyone sees with the Speaker of the House business is the mess that the GOP leaves in their wake and their attempt to govern. If anything, this nonsense is foretelling a story about how long the next two years will be and the possibilities for even more deranged legislation to come from Congress and the State of Missouri. So buckle up, folks. It’s bound to get even stranger and crazier now that the minority has taken the majority as hostages.

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.

Citations: 1. https://www.axios.com/2023/01/04/house-speaker-vote-kevin-mccarthy

2. https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/The-most-infamous-floor-brawl-in-the-history-of-the-U-S–House-of-Representatives/

3. https://publicaffairs.missouristate.edu/HallOfFame/dred-scott.htm#:~:text=It%20said%20the%20Scotts%20were,for%20the%20American%20Civil%20War.

4. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5271234

5. https://www.ozarksfirst.com/news/regional-news/stlouisnews/missouri-library-system-accuses-ashcroft-of-book-banning-over-proposed-rule-change/#:~:text=Ashcroft%2C%20a%20Republican%20considering%20running,will%20be%20available%20to%20minors.

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

10. https://www.kmbc.com/article/ad-check-eric-schmitt-allowed-foreign-businesses-to-buy-missouri-farmland/41522145

11. https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/pair-of-bills-would-ban-foreign-ownership-of-agricultural-land/article_c2c7fa3c-2552-11e8-9ffe-f72aed96ee0e.html

12. https://www.columbiamissourian.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/letter-to-the-editor-parson-pushes-foreign-ownership-of-missouri-farmland/article_27167a5c-13b9-11eb-a77f-7b43ab98ee51.html