Years ago, I noted the discrepancy between what Republicans said they wanted and what they actually did and predicted that this would soon come to an end. Red state legislatures, particularly but not exclusively Florida’s, are proving me right. The dam has broken. Reactionaries are using their muscle to get exactly what they want; the PBPs have lost the power and the will to stop them.
But now that the anti- agenda (anti-trans; anti-gay; anti-immigrant; anti-free speech; anti-abortion, etc.) has been put in place, what’s next? Will the reactionaries take their winnings and go home, or will they find some other supposed existential threat to their culture, and ban it?
I honestly don’t know where the frontier is for the reactionaries, but the national experience with guns suggests that there will always be one. There will be a whole new crop of grievances to legislate against next time around.