Tag: Gun violence prevention

THE COLD CIVIL WAR AMONG THE STATES

Some Republican states, with Texas in the lead, are trying to impose their right-wing policies on Democratic states. The federal government is fanning the flames of this divisive extremism. Abortion, gun laws, public school funding, and even private companies’ behaviors are targets.

SUMMARY: Some Republican states, with Texas leading the way, are actively trying to impose their right-wing policies on Democratic states. The federal government is currently fanning the flames of this divisive extremism. Abortion, gun laws, public school funding, and even private companies’ behaviors are targets of these efforts.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

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As my previous post documented, states’ policies have very significant effects on people’s well-being, including health and health care, safety from gun violence, economic well-being, civil rights, and even their longevity. It also documented the very significant differences in policies and outcomes between Democratic-controlled (“blue”) states and Republican (“red”) states.

As politics and policies have become more polarized between Republicans and Democrats, these state-level differences are becoming more dramatic. This trend has been exacerbated over the last 45 years because the federal government has abandoned its role of working to provide a consistent national economic safety net and to reduce economic disparities among states.

As partisanship has grown, right-wing policy extremism has become a goal of red states in and of itself. The federal government is currently fanning the flames of this extremism. Furthermore, red states are actively trying to impose their right-wing policies on Democratic states. This has created a cold civil war among the states. [1]

Red states, with Texas leading the way, are enacting aggressive and extreme right-wing policies and actively encouraging other states and communities to follow their lead. There’s even a competition of sorts among red states to enact the most aggressive and extreme right-wing policies. [2]

Texas and other red states are even trying to impose these policies on Democratic governments and private individuals beyond their borders. Abortion has been one focal point of these efforts. Texas and other red state haven’t been satisfied with banning abortions in their states; they have attempted to criminalize travel to other states to obtain an abortion and to ban the provision of abortion drugs across state lines. Texas has deputized its citizens by allowing them to sue anyone who aids or abets an abortion. Alabama has threatened felony charges against health care providers assisting patients with obtaining an out-of-state abortion. [3]

Gun laws have been another focus. Red states and red communities within blue states have asserted themselves to be “Second Amendment sanctuaries” where federal gun laws don’t apply. When their residents travel to other states, they have tried to make other states honor their laws that allow individuals to carry guns in public.

Red states have been expanding the funding for school vouchers, which allow parents to use public funding to pay tuition for a child attending a private school, including a religious school. They, and right-wing activists, have been pressuring the federal government to divert its education funding, including its funding for schools serving large populations of children from low-income families, to provide vouchers to parents to use for tuition at any school of their choice. [4]

Texas has used its economic leverage to coerce private companies. Its leverage comes from investing almost $400 billion held in various state-controlled pension funds and tens of billions more in various investment funds. It has pressured companies not to embrace policies or investment strategies supporting environmental, social, or good governance (ESG) goals. It has barred state investment in companies that encourage alternatives to oil and gas production and use.

The Texas Attorney General has sued other states to overturn their election results. He has sued hospitals in other states for allegedly providing telehealth services to transgender Texans.

Texas has also usurped some powers of the federal government. For example, it has evicted the federal border patrol from parts of the Mexico border and taken over border enforcement itself. It has invited other states to send law enforcement personnel and national guard troops to help it patrol the border. It, along with Florida, has shipped immigrants to blue states and cities, as much for political showmanship as anything else.

My next post will discuss how red states are using vigilantism and violence in the effort to spread their policies. It will also discuss the role of the judicial system and how blue states and cities can resist and push back.

For lots of good news see Jess Craven’s Chop Wood Carry Water blog’s most recent good news Sunday post here.

[1]      Dayen, D., 10/7/24, “The cold civil war,” The American Prosect (https://prospect.org/2024/10/07/2024-10-07-cold-civil-war/)

[2]      Hooks, C., 10/8/24, “Texas will mess with you,” The American Prosect (https://prospect.org/2024/10/08/2024-10-08-texas-will-mess-with-you/)

[3]      Janssen, E., 10/9/24, “Red-state abortion tactics push into deep-blue Illinois,” The American Prosect (https://prospect.org/2024/10/09/2024-10-09-red-state-abortion-tactics-deep-blue-illinois/)

[4]      Berkshire, J. C., 10/11/24, “Breaking the public schools,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/2024/10/11/2024-10-11-breaking-public-schools/)

EXAMPLES OF THE HUMAN TOLL OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The Trump administration is making us less safe from disease, violence, and death. Cuts to Medicaid and Medicare will increase deaths. So will weakening gun violence prevention efforts. Finally, the Trump administration’s war on children is harming children and will increase deaths for them too.

The Trump administration is making us all less safe in many ways, including less safe from disease, violence, and death. Cuts to the Medicaid and Medicare health care programs will increase deaths. So will the weakening of gun violence prevention efforts. Finally, the Trump administration is engaged in a war on children that is harming the well-being of children and will increase deaths for them as well.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

STORY #1: The expansion of Medicaid by the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obama Care) has saved 27,400 lives. The National Bureau of Economic Research recently published an analysis of 37 million Americans since the passage of the ACA in 2010. The low-income adults who got Medicaid coverage under the ACA expansion were 21% less likely to die each year than those who did not have Medicaid coverage. Deaths also fell for 20 and 30-year-olds. Overall, the analysis estimated that 27,400 lives were saved by the Medicaid expansion. This is one of several studies that have found that having Medicaid coverage saves lives. These findings are particularly relevant now, given that the Republican budget just passed by the U.S. House would end Medicaid coverage for roughly eight million people who now have it. [1]

STORY #2: The Republican budget just passed by the U.S. House would increase the deficit so much that it would trigger mandatory spending cuts, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The cuts would include a roughly $50 billion a year reduction in Medicare spending. Explicit cuts to Medicaid (health coverage for low-income Americans including many seniors in nursing homes) are specified in the Republican budget. The cuts to Medicare (health coverage for all seniors) are not explicit in the budget but are forced by the budget’s sizable increase in the annual federal budget deficit. The CBO’s non-partisan analysis estimated that the Republican budget would increase the deficit by about $230 billion a year. Therefore, under the 2010 Pay-As-You-Go Act (PAYGO), the White House Office of Management and Budget would have to reduce spending (i.e., sequester authorized spending) by $230 billion a year. About $50 billion of this would come from cuts to Medicare, according to the CBO. [2]

STORY #3: The Trump administration is weakening multiple facets of gun violence prevention efforts. This makes us all less safe. On day two as President in 2025, Trump closed the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. Despite Trump’s promises to keep Americans safe and reduce crime, this and other actions that weaken gun violence prevention will do the opposite. The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, created by President Biden, brought a coordinated, government-wide approach to gun violence prevention for the first time. It coordinated the federal response to mass shootings and community violence. Its cross-agency, public health approach to the uniquely American epidemic of gun violence contributed to a 13.5% decline in the homicide rate in 2023, the largest annual decrease ever. It also contributed to a significant drop in the number of untraceable “ghost” guns, i.e., guns without serial numbers. It worked with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to close down 644 gun dealers who had engaged in illegal sales. [3]

The Trump administration has also:

  • Legalized the sale of devices that convert ordinary guns into automatic weapons, i.e., machine guns,
  • Advocated for a nationwide right to carry a concealed weapon,
  • Cut Centers for Disease Control funding for studying and analyzing gun violence,
  • Promoted policies that would make it easier and more profitable to sell gun silencers, and
  • Facilitated re-licensing of gun dealers who had their licenses revoked for illegal activity.

Three hundred Americans are shot every day on average. Weakening gun violence protection efforts puts the interests and profits of the gun industry above the safety of children and all the rest of us.

STORY #4: The Trump administration is putting children at risk and making them less safe in multiple ways. The risks start at birth and continue through adolescence. The lack of federal regulations and enforcement for the health care of pregnant and post-partem women has led to significant increases in maternal and infant mortality.

The Trump administration has laid off thousands of workers who run programs that help children and their families. They have also cut funding or plan to cut funding for many of these programs. For example, the staffs of programs that help families keep the electricity and heat on have been fired en masse. The staff that provides enforcement for child support payments has been decimated. Funding has been terminated for investigating child sexual abuse, responding to internet crimes against children, preventing youth violence, and following up on reports of missing children. Billions of dollars for school meals and school safety have been suspended or delayed. [4]

Trump wants to eliminate funding for Head Start, which provides hundreds of thousands of low-income children annually with high quality early education along with meals and family support. The federal staff that oversees Head Start programs and processes their federal funding has been decimated, which may force some programs to shut down.

The Trump administration’s cutting of funding for food assistance, gun violence prevention efforts, and the suicide hotline will all disproportionately harm children. It’s ignoring the harm that social media does to children. And last, but by no means least, its targeting of immigrants, who frequently are parents of children (who may well be U.S. citizens) is doing untold and immeasurable harm to children.

[1]      Kliff, S., & Sanger-Katz, M., 5/17/25, “Medicaid expansion saved 27,000 lives, study finds,” The Boston Globe from The New York Times

[2]      Johnson, J., 5/21/25, “‘They’re not just cutting Medicaid’: GOP bill would trigger over $500 billion in Medicare cuts,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/cuts-to-medicare)

[3]      Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, retrieved from the Internet 5/27/25, “Press releases,” (https://www.bradyunited.org/press)

[4]      Hager, E., 4/23/25, “The Trump administration’s war on children,” ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org/article/how-trump-budget-cuts-harm-kids-child-care-education-abuse)