Just a few days have passed since Trump’s inauguration, and already high profile policy shifts are occurring on the national level, such as the apparent end of the United States’ involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But these national events are masking the truly important policy shifts we’re beginning to see: Those occurring on the local level.
Just a week before the inauguration, Texas State Representative Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, introduced House Bill 948, which would amend the penal code to make abortion a felony in Texas. On Inauguration Day itself, the Texas Supreme Court reversed its decision and chose to hear a gay marriage case amidst massive pressure from state GOP leadership. This case aims to restrict the city benefits granted to same-sex couples in Houston and presumably to set a precedent for the rest of the state.
Both of these actions, attempts to subvert two landmark Supreme Court decisions and substitute their state laws for federal legal precedent, are just the first examples of local governments reaching for more power. Under the Obama administration, states did this in regards to legalizing marijuana and gay marriage state by state. But under a Trump administration, states are taking a more dangerous route by attempting to restrict federally provided rights. We’ve entered an era where the GOP not only controls the White House and Congress, but has a simple majority in the Senate as well.
And in this era, attempts by the Texas State Legislature and the state GOP to restrict our rights can go largely unnoticed. Media focus on national actions, like the Carrier deal that Trump built up to be more than its reality, can make it seem like the only political action happening is occurring at the national level. They can make national policies into a large scale horror that engross us through the fear they provoke. In reality, the majority of the policies that affect us on a daily basis come from state level politics, such as the attempt to reform Child Protective Services and a school voucher bill that are both currently debated initiatives in Texas. Those headlines should be the ones engaging the public’s attention, angering them and driving them to action.
While it’s doubtful that either of these measures by the Texas Legislature will come to fruition, as both of the Supreme Court cases called into question are steadfast, the notion of their existence alone should be troubling. It should be terrifying that local politicians think that a new administration means they can rewrite federal laws they don’t agree with. And more people should be talking about it, instead of silently accepting it purely because they aren’t paying attention. With a new White House that’s commanding media scrutiny, it’s vital that the public not be drawn in by the spectacle of Washington, but remain informed and up to date on local politics.
Berdanier is a philosophy junior from Boulder, Colorado. She is a senior columnist. Follow her on Twitter @eberdanier.
