Handmaid's Tale in the Heartland

Missouri Republicans once again prioritize guns over children

Author’s Note: We have truly reached a critical mass of paid subscribers and it’s incredible to have so many of you supporting our work. I’m excited to add special paid subscriber events starting this month with a special Zoom to discuss the latest events and answer your questions. In light of the crazy moment and worries about all of our budgets being tighter I’m offering an “It’s May” discount so we can grow the community. It’s our most generous ever with 25% off all paid subscriptions….forever! I hope you’ll jump on this opportunity and I will post the invite for our first paid subscriber event later this week! For that purpose would you guys prefer a daytime or evening gathering?

Laboratories of Autocracy

“It is one of the happy incidents of the federal system,” Justice Louis D. Brandeis wrote in 1932, “that a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.”

That phrase, “laboratories of democracy” has persisted since as a way of showing how important state legislatures are as places to practice governance techniques that can be models for other states and eventually national policy. This has led to folks like my friend writing a whole book about it as a way to push the importance of participating in state level elections.

He’s right still. Unfortunately, in the Trump era we are seeing that states are also laboratories for autocracy as much as democracy. Look only to my home state of Missouri for a perfect demonstration of that just this week.

This is a real story.

The real story is even worse than that outlandish headline.

In Missouri we protect guns not kids

For background, the Missouri Republican party has a stranglehold super majority and has been in power for over 20 years now. By Missouri law that means they can do whatever they want. Even if Democrats don’t show up the majority can conduct business and pass whatever legislation they want.

The really interesting twist is that the Republicans hate each other as much as they hate the Democrats and apparently…kids. As we are seeing at the national level, there are multiple wings to the Republican Party of today. There are still some oddly traditional conservatives, you’ve got MAGA, and then you’ve got your extremists who take MAGA and blend it with some hard core Christian Nationalism, old school class warfare, a sprinkling of racism, homophobia, and a giant dollop of transphobia.

That’s no better living portrayal of that toxic stew than the woman in the picture above, State Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R-Hell). If you took the stereotype of a neighborhood Karen and layered in extra stupidity, lack of self awareness, and the Church Lady, you’d get Mary Elizabeth.

I mean…

Childcare is socialism

Anyway…back to the latest stupidity in Jefferson City. The great nonprofit newsroom the Missouri Independent has the story:

A faction of Missouri Senate Republicans held up a bill that sought to incentivize investment in child care Tuesday evening, arguing the chamber should instead move on to GOP priorities.

The legislation, which would establish a tax-credit program at an estimated expense of nearly $70 million annually, was part of negotiations on a separate bill that would roll back regulations on guns.

State Sen. Rick Brattin, a Republican from Harrisonville and sponsor of the gun bill, said he was willing to accept a tax credit program in order to pass his legislation seeking to block enforcement of federal gun laws.

But a handful of GOP senators didn’t agree.

State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican from Arnold, led a filibuster of the bill, saying she would rather see far-right legislation take precedence in the final days of the legislative session.

Okay…let’s pause for a second. The Missouri legislature is a part time one. That means they meet for about four and a half months every year and that’s it. If legislation isn’t passed by the end of the session it’s gone. Last year, they almost didn’t even pass the state budget which is the only one they are required to pass by law and the state Constitution. The Republicans spent the session stabbing each other and damn near missed the deadline.

But it’s a new year and they have all new bad ideas like bringing back bad ones. Missouri’s idiot GOP passed an insane law on guns in 2021. The Missouri Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA), aimed at preventing state and local officials from enforcing federal gun laws, was struck down by a federal court in 2023 and again by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2024. The court ruled that SAPA violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which dictates that federal law takes precedence over state law.

But, hey…all that’s old is new again so they literally worked most of this session on a new version of the SAME LAW…except this time it actually penalizes Missouri police organizations if they cooperate with federal enforcement of gun laws.

I wish I was making this up. But we step into the insanity because that’s what they were partially mad about. They were angry that instead of focusing on passing a law to protect guns in the state they were “wasting time” dealing with a childcare shortage.

No really.

Here is the rest of Senator Karen’s quote.

“It is absolutely insane to me that we have reached this point in session where we are laying over a bill (that would) protect the Second Amendment to create child care tax credits,” she said on the Senate floor. “Whose logic is that? This is absurd.”

The story lays out the situation in the state with childcare and why this legislation was proposed…by a Republican lawmaker.

As reported in The Independent’s “Disappearing Daycare” series, access to child care started to wane prior to the pandemic, with the number of child care programs dropping 24% between fall 2019 and fall 2020.

Areas with three or more children for every licensed child care spot are considered a child care desert, and nearly half of Missouri kids ages five and under live in one. In some ZIP codes, there are 20 children for each available slot in a day care facility.

Provisions in the bill seek to pinpoint child care deserts for an infusion of funding.

The state has huge swaths that are truly childcare deserts and this legislation aimed to address that by offering a range of tax credits and breaks for businesses that pay for employees childcare and the childcare providers themselves.

The bill would essentially add a tax credit allowing those who donate to child care providers to receive a credit equal to 75% of their donation and must not exceed $200,000 in annual tax credits. In addition, employers who help their workers with child care costs could claim tax credits equal to 30% of qualifying expenses. A third tax credit would help child care providers expand or upgrade their facilities.

It is a set of proposals that has been successful in other states and is a top priority for the new Republican governor.

The Karen’s Unite!

But, here is where we get to the Christian Nationalism part of the conversation. You see, Mary Elizabeth is a hard core Christian Nationalist and has proven that over and over. Now, mind you it only applies to others as rumors swirled about her carrying on affairs during session when an Uber driver spilled the beans a few years ago about what happened in her back seat.

Back to this ‘hard fought’ battle that lasted….three whole hours.

You see Mary Elizabeth was more worried that it is encouraging women to leave home and work! She proposed a $10,000 tax credit to women who become stay-at-home mothers. She was joined by another Republican Karen.

Republican state Sen. Jill Carter of Granby, Coleman said she was a lawmaker and a lawyer but “first and foremost” a homemaker and mother.

Carter liked Coleman’s proposed amendment, adding she had been a stay-at-home mother while her husband worked two jobs. She thought child care tax credits could prompt some parents to send children to day care.

“I wondered what it is that we’re incentivizing,” she said. “Are we incentivizing parents leaving their kids more? Or do we want change, for parents to be able to be more engaged in their children’s lives?”

Get that? Are we incentivizing parents to leave their kids…and work…to provide for their kids. You see in their privileged circles this makes all kinds of sense.

The Hypocrisy Gene has been removed

You see Mary Elizabeth Coleman just happens to be married a very wealthy man. They made news when they sold their home in the district she represents in small Arnold, Missouri and bought a $1.7 million mansion in the Central West End of St. Louis. That’s kind of our “Park Avenue” area if you will.

But, the best part is that Mary Elizabeth is a lawyer herself with two nannies and spends at least 4 and a half months a year away from those kids in Jefferson City.

So, this stalwart group fought back and after a blistering….three hours…got the bill tabled that would help thousands of Missourians improve their lives to focus on protecting guns in a law that will without a doubt be struck down by the courts and is universally opposed by law enforcement officials across the state.

Guns matter more than kids in our little laboratory of autocracy.

Getting rid of Trump and MAGA at the national level won’t end this insanity. We are going to have to spend decades cleaning house in every corner of our nation.

I can’t tell you how important every election is, no matter what level of government. These are the people that are truly impacting your life from that pothole out front to the lack of healthcare in your area. It’s your state house doing all of that and about two dozen are under the control of lunatics like this.

We are not going to have some victory on the hill. It will be a long slow slog to take back our nation to a place of sanity that includes caring about kids more than caring about guns.

We are in the fight for our future. Get in it.

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Unite for Veterans. Unite for America

Finally, I’d love you to join me and thousands of my fellow veterans, family members, and supporters on the National Mall on June 6th for Unite for Veterans. Our goal is to let our leaders know that we aren’t going to sit quietly while our veterans healthcare and benefits are stripped from them: while thousands lose their jobs; and while they shred the Constitution we swore an Oath to protect and defend from all enemies; foreign and domestic.

Also, Dropkick Murphys will be there to perform their newest songs and more is coming. Be there!

Learn more at Unite4Veterans.org