Dr. Jason Johnson and Will Cain discuss Wayne LaPierre’s comments that Boston citizens would have felt better if they had all been armed during the Boston Bomber manhunt.
In the Media
Minnesota Public Radio: Jason Johnson on the budget deficit
Hiram College professor Jason Johnson was interviewed by the Daily Circuit on Minnesota Public Radio for a segment “Hints of progress as new deficit reduction plan takes shape.”
Republicans Expand 2013 College Voter Suppression to Ohio
Nobody likes a sore loser, especially in politics. Usually in the world of campaigns and elections losing is a painful but important opportunity to re-valuate strategy, message, tactics and sometimes do some wholesale policy changes. Nationally the Republican party, after serious losses in 2012 seems to have embraced this idea, at least publicly. The “GOP Autopsy” called for by RNC Chair Reince Priebus earlier this year suggested that the Republicans, at least publicly, were willing to acknowledge that changes needed to be made and that losing three of the last four election cycles was not a fluke but a sign of changing electoral tastes. Apparently several state Republican parties haven’t gotten the message.
One of the more despicable actions on the part of state Republican parties in the 2012 election cycle (with tacit support from many GOP presidential candidates) were the blatant and brazen attempts to suppress the vote of those deemed most likely to vote Democratic and for Obama. In Michigan,Florida, Ohio and most famously Pennsylvania, Republican led state legislatures, filled with the hubris of the 2010 midterms, set about making voting as difficult as possible. Early voting in Ohio was curtailed, photo identification became mandatory with little notice to voters in Pennsylvania and Mississippi, state funding to polling locations were cut almost guaranteeing long intimidating lines in Florida and the list went on and on throughout the country.All of this was done under the guise of stopping “voter fraud” even though everyone with common sense knew these were racist and classist attempts to stop Obama from being re-elected. And how did all of these efforts turn out? Obama got re-elected and Democrats increased their seats in the House and Senate. What’s more though it pains the Washington Post and Fox News to admit it, African American turnout increased from 2008 and in 2012 surpassed every other ethnic group in America for the first time in history. Considering the efforts put across the suppress the minority vote, one can only imagine what might have happened in places like North Carolina had voter suppression not been put in place.
Republicans across state houses, still refusing to accept legitimate losses in 2012 have turned their oppression techniques from the poor, and minorities to college students, another base of support for Obama. North Carolina began the this march with a GOP proposed bill that would raise taxes on parents whose children voted on campus as opposed to their parent’s homes. Indiana then followed suit by debating a bill that would make it illegal for students who pay out of state tuition to register to vote where they go to college. Now Republicans in Ohio, the swingiest of swing states, have tried to combine the North Carolina and Indiana plans with a proposal that hits the pocketbooks of all taxpayers and suppresses the vote. In Ohio, many state colleges and some private colleges (such as my employer Hiram College) provide students with utility bills and other documents to establish their residency on campus and make it easier to vote. A new Republican budget measure would require that all state institutions that provide documents for students to vote could only charge those students in-state tuition rates. Essentially charging state colleges and universities millions of dollars in lost revenue for helping register students and indirectly charging tax payers millions of dollars to make up for the loss of revenue in out–of-state payments.
The good news is that the Supreme Court established in 1979 that college students have the right vote at their institutions instead of their parent’s homes. Consequently the North Carolina, Indiana and Ohio Republican proposals will likely not stand up to legal scrutiny. The bad news is that this proves the Republican Party has essentially given up on winning over voters and instead seeks electoral success through cutting out as many participants as possible. This was the deep cynical undercurrent of Romney’s infamous 47% comments. What he was really admitting was that the Republican Party was done trying to convince voters and instead would just focus on suppressing those who weren’t already in the fold. The Republican party has always given mixed messages about courting Latinos, the poor and African American voters, that is nothing new. However, attempting to purge the electorate of young voters because it’s easier than trying to win their votes (and writing them off by assuming no future state or national Republican could suffer from low turnout amongst college students) is anti-Democratic and political suicide. Unfortunately, I don’t believe the GOP has learned its lesson yet, and perhaps it will take another election, another 15% loss amongst voters under 30 before Republicans perform an autopsy that goes more than skin deep.
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.
Gay Athletes: Jason Collins won’t be the last
It seemed like only a week ago we were all talking about Brittney Griner coming out as a lesbian during the WNBA draft and the lack of fanfare that it created. The reason, (at the time) was because she was a woman, the WNBA isn’t a major sport in America, and the stereotype is that all WNBA players are gay. Just wait until a MAN come out, in one of those macho sports, like baseball or basketball or football that’s when real change is coming we scoffed to ourselves. Well, now it’s happened. Yesterday Jason Collins has shocked the sports world and the nation with his heartfelt and reflective essay on coming out. He literally knocked Tim Tebow off the press pages, and now it’s time for America to get back up and see the truth.
There have always been, and always will be homosexuals, and bisexuals in professional sports. This is not news to anyone who’s played a team sport in high-school or college. The real issue has never been the existence of gays in sports, only in how we as a public and consumers of sports respond to these announcements. The fear, not completely unjustified, has always been that owners and fans would reject any active player that was gay. Less than a week ago you had the Kerry Rhodes story where an NFL player insists that he was passed over for a contract because rumors (oh and PICTURES) surfaced showing him and his partner frolicking in the water. Was Rhodes denied the chance to play football because he was gay? Or was it because he wasn’t a good player anymore? No one knows, but he clearly believes that played a role, which is why so few athletes are willing to do what Jason Collins just did. But it also explains exactly WHY Jason Collins was able to do what he just did.
While his years as a tough defender in the NBA will help dispel stereotypes about gay men being incapable to playing sports, the timing of his announcement reinforces how much of a challenge being gay in professional sports remains. Collins is 34 years old, he’s a free agent, his career is near or at it’s end by most accounts. In other words, he doesn’t have nearly as much to lose making this announcement now as he would have if he was 24. Not just because it would have been 2003 and the nation was less open to even the IDEA of gay entertainers but because the risk of losing a potential contract because of some bigot in the front office is much more daunting when you still believe you’ve got 10 years of basketball left in you.
I wish Collins and any other professional male (or female athletes) who feel the need to come out the best of luck. The nation is changing, consumers are changing, and I truly believe that most sports fans don’t really care if their favorite athletes are gay or straight as long as they remain entertaining and somewhat relatable. It’s already obvious with the coverage of Collins coming out. Only in 2013 could a 34 year old black man and professional athlete telling the world that he’s gay become a bigger story than a white Christian straight football hero like Tim Tebow getting cut from the New York Jets.
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.
Tim Tebow Released by the Jets and the Obama Era is in full swing
This morning Tim Tebow, the most recognizable and polarizing quarterback in the NFL for almost two years, was released by the New York Jets into the cold hard world of unemployed NFL players. The move was not entirely unexpected, Tebow had received little or no playing time on the Jets despite the fact that starting quarterback Mark Sanchez was terrible this season and the team was going to miss the playoffs by a mile. Nevertheless his amazing career arc, from college to two short years in the NFL, seem eerily similar to the current state of politics in America and the Republican Party in particular. Tebow’s rise and fall follows the same pattern as the Tea Party movement and the anti-Obama right in America, and his demise in football shows the ultimate triumph of the left in America’s waning culture wars.
Tim Tebow came to national attention as the superstar quarterback of the Florida Gators. He immediately became a media darling for his good looks, open Christian faith and most importantly incredible success in one of the most storied college football teams in America. He won the Heisman Trophy in 2007, took the team to the BCS Championship in 2008 and a 13-1 record in 2009. His clean, white, boy-next-door image was an antidote to for many Americans to a college football world that had been corrupted by money, shady coaches and thuggish prima donna (i.e. black) players. The most controversial thing about Tebow was his penchant for putting bible verses on his eye paint before games and telling the world that he was a virgin.
Tebow’s popularity, especially amongst the evangelical community was a real boon for the NFL. The lockout had left a bad taste in the mouth of many fans, and high profile scandals like Ben Rothlisberger’s rape accusations further entrenched the view that the league was no longer a place for hometown heroes. Despite real concerns about his ability to actually play the quarterback position at the pro level, Tebow was drafted and entered the NFL in the 2010-2011 season for his supposed ‘intangibles’ which is another word for ‘publicity’ in sports marketing circles. He rode the pine his first year, but in the 2011-2012 season, when the Broncos were desperate and the season looked lost, they put Tebow in as the starter and miracles began to happen. Even though his mechanics were horrible and his stats were abysmal he led the team to an improbably 8-1 finish to the season and then defeated the defending AFC Champion Pittsburgh Steelers in a playoff win. He was a certified hero, his pre-game praying stance “the Tebow” was the hottest thing in Christian talk circles, his speeches to evangelical crowds were at Rick Warren levels and his demographic profile made him a very convenient cover for thinly veiled race-laden conversations about the sport on ESPN’s “First Take” and other programs.
While all of this was happening President Obama was at the lowest point of his presidency. With approval ratings in the low 40s, the GOP seemed poised for a 2012 backlash to the new millennial multi-cultural center left secular politics of the Obama era. Tebow was perfect for this era. He was courted by every GOP presidential candidate in 2012. He was asked about his political future, Harry Reid even found ways to reference him in his speeches. After his incredible 2012 run, Tebow the cultural lightening rod seemed poised for an amazing future. Then he got traded to the Jets, and the Broncos picked up Peyton Manning. In other words, a better, more acceptable Republican.
Tim Tebow was a winner, he could galvanize a crowd, but his brand of football was not sustainable. The Broncos and John Elway knew that for the long haul, a charismatic but polarizing QB with a penchant for last second heroics wasn’t as good a long term solution as Peyton Manning. In other words he’s a nice clean safe Republican. Peyton Manning is just as conservative as Tebow and has given money to GOP candidates for years. But he’s always kept his politics in check, and in this day of changing values and multi-culturalism a conservative quarterback who is technically sound and keeps his politics close the vest is a better bet than a charismatic but polarizing QB who may get people excited but may not be a long term solution.
Tebow was shipped off to the New York Jets, never even got a chance to play and was unceremoniously cut today with little or no chance of playing American football again, certainly not as a quarterback. Just like the GOP was in love with the hard right Rick Santorums and Newt Gingrich types in the 2011-2012 cycles in the end those candidates may have moved a small segment of the population, but they weren’t mainstream enough to work out long term. It was safer to go with an amenable bland guy like Romney than run the risk of a firebrand like Santorum. Similar to taking a safe but underachieving choker like Manning over Tebow for the long term. Tim Tebow was a product of his time, when culture and passion overtook common sense and results. But those days had a short life-span. American sports fans don’t want polyanish heroes anymore than they want cookie-cutter perfect presidents. They’d rather take a safe underachiever than a risky boom or bust superstar. The Tim Tebow era is over but he’ll probably always have a future in the warm arms of the diminishing cultural right.
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.