The Arizona Republican Party’s Anti-Democracy Experiment

[MTAtech]

The Arizona Republican Party’s Anti-Democracy Experiment​

First, it turned against the establishment. Now it has set its sights on democracy — the principles, the process and even the word itself.

Rose Sperry, a state committeewoman for Arizona’s G.O.P., answered immediately when I asked her to name the first Republican leader she admired. “I grew up during the time that Joe McCarthy was doing his talking,” Sperry, an energetic 81-year-old, said of the Wisconsin senator who in the 1950s infamously claimed Communists had infiltrated the federal government. “I was young, but I was listening. If he were here today, I would say, ‘Get him in there as president!’”

Sperry is part of a grass-roots movement that has pushed her state’s party far to the right in less than a decade. She had driven 37 miles the morning of July 16, from her home in the Northern Arizona town Cottonwood to the outskirts of Prescott, to attend the monthly meeting of a local conservative group called the Lions of Liberty, who, according to the group’s website, “are determined to correct the course of our country, which has been hijacked and undermined by global elites, communists, leftists, deep state bureaucrats and fake news.” That dismal view of America today was echoed by nearly every other conservative voter and group I encountered across the state over the past year.
....
The aggressive takeover of the Arizona G.O.P. by its far-right wing was made manifest on primary night earlier this month, when a slate of Trump-endorsed candidates — the gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, the U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters, the state attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh and the secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem — all prevailed. As a group, they maintain that the 2020 election was stolen, have promoted conspiracy theories about Covid and have vowed to protect Arizona’s schools from gender ideology, critical race theory and what McCarthyites denounced 70 years ago as “godless communism.”
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Arizona's GOP is an example of the lunatics taking over the asylum. The crazies are throwing out the normals.

The only question will be whether the general election voters throw them out.

 

[Jkca1]

You saw how well the AZ GOP did in 2020 right? They more they talk crazy, the less voters they will attract.

 

[mike2810]

Been in Arizona since 89. I left the Republican Party this year and went Independent. The audits of the 2020 election by Cyber Ninjas and the lawsuit by Lake/Finchem wanting to do away with the current voting system was the last straw. Till the looneys go away I will not return.

 

[Old 'N Chill]

The Arizona Republican Party’s Anti-Democracy Experiment​

First, it turned against the establishment. Now it has set its sights on democracy — the principles, the process and even the word itself.

Rose Sperry, a state committeewoman for Arizona’s G.O.P., answered immediately when I asked her to name the first Republican leader she admired. “I grew up during the time that Joe McCarthy was doing his talking,” Sperry, an energetic 81-year-old, said of the Wisconsin senator who in the 1950s infamously claimed Communists had infiltrated the federal government. “I was young, but I was listening. If he were here today, I would say, ‘Get him in there as president!’”

Sperry is part of a grass-roots movement that has pushed her state’s party far to the right in less than a decade. She had driven 37 miles the morning of July 16, from her home in the Northern Arizona town Cottonwood to the outskirts of Prescott, to attend the monthly meeting of a local conservative group called the Lions of Liberty, who, according to the group’s website, “are determined to correct the course of our country, which has been hijacked and undermined by global elites, communists, leftists, deep state bureaucrats and fake news.” That dismal view of America today was echoed by nearly every other conservative voter and group I encountered across the state over the past year.
....
The aggressive takeover of the Arizona G.O.P. by its far-right wing was made manifest on primary night earlier this month, when a slate of Trump-endorsed candidates — the gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, the U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters, the state attorney general candidate Abraham Hamadeh and the secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem — all prevailed. As a group, they maintain that the 2020 election was stolen, have promoted conspiracy theories about Covid and have vowed to protect Arizona’s schools from gender ideology, critical race theory and what McCarthyites denounced 70 years ago as “godless communism.”
==================
Arizona's GOP is an example of the lunatics taking over the asylum. The crazies are throwing out the normals.

The only question will be whether the general election voters throw them out.

I just listened to part of that on the radio today, very disturbing. Podcast in link for anyone interested.

 

[Old 'N Chill]

Been in Arizona since 89. I left the Republican Party this year and went Independent. The audits of the 2020 election by Cyber Ninjas and the lawsuit by Lake/Finchem wanting to do away with the current voting system was the last straw. Till the looneys go away I will not return.

Much respect.

 

[MTAtech]

I just listened to part of that on the radio today, very disturbing. Podcast in link for anyone interested.

Thanks!

 

[mike2810]

Much respect.

Thanks.

Was not a decision made lightly. It has been on my mind for a few years. This year broke the camel back. It is no longer a Party I recognize.

 

[Old 'N Chill]

Thanks!

You're welcome!

 

[Old 'N Chill]

Thanks.

Was not a decision made lightly. It has been on my mind for a few years. This year broke the camel back. It is no longer a Party I recognize.

I trust it was a difficult decision to make and wasn't made lightly. Many of us don't recognize the republican party anymore, and that is unfortunate for the country.

You are not alone in your decision, many others abandoned the party after trump became their leader and incited the deadly insurrection of January 6, 2021. The party has become anti-American and anti-democracy.

 

[AZRWinger]

Meet the leadership of the Lions of Liberty

https://www.lionsofliberty.com/about

 

[AZRWinger]

Meet the leadership of the Lions of Liberty

https://www.lionsofliberty.com/about

They are libertarians inspired by Ron Paul. The writer in the OP shamelessly hand picked an attendee who gave the response he wanted to a leading question then promoted that as an anti democracy belief supposedly shared by all members of the group and all Republicans. It's a classic Democrat media propaganda technique, smear all Republicans based on the caricature of the so-called typical member. What ever you feel about McCarthy, I suggest reading "Blacklisted by History", there ought to be resounding condemnation of the propaganda in the OP masquerading as journalism.