Following their national losses in the 2020 elections, many Republican state legislatures have been attempting to improve their chances in 2022 by introducing laws aimed at making voting harder, especially in minority communities.
In response to these disturbing barriers to democracy, many Democrats, including President Joe Biden, have described the Republican push for voting restrictions as a "new era" for Jim Crow laws or "Jim Crow 2.0."
Democrats introduced the "For the People Act," aimed at making "voting easier, streamline registration processes and prevent partisan gerrymandering."
As always, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas came up with the perfect, genius response to the Democrats' bill.
He declared the legislation, which would make voting easier for all citizens, "Jim Crow 2.0."
To help make his point easier voting was a "Jim Crow" law, Cruz pointed out the Democratic party was responsible for the Jim Crow laws of the early 20th century.
He neglected to point out how the two political parties essentially swapped platforms in the mid-20th century, and the Democrats of yore are actually far more similar to the modern Republican party than modern Democrats.
Cruz claimed the Democrats' bill dilutes the votes of American citizens by allowing non-citizens to vote illegally, something the bill absolutely does not allow.
Cruz falsely claimed:
"This legislation is profoundly dangerous, and the reason it suppresses millions of votes is by allowing millions of people to vote illegally. That is the intended effect and that would be the actual effect of this bill. It dilutes the legal votes of American citizens."
After the hearing, Huffpost pointed out to Cruz the former Jim Crow laws were also aimed at stopping non-White citizens from voting, whereas this bill would have the opposite effect.
Cruz retorted:
"And in this instance the Democrats want to stop the voters from voting Democrats out of power."
How making voting easier for everyone (including Republicans) would result in Cruz's scenario is unclear.
Cruz, a Harvard-educated lawyer, surely understands he's lying.
Twitter didn't let Cruz's misinformation go unchecked.
The For the People Act is widely supported by the public, though the future of almost all progressive legislation is subject to uncertainty due to the Democrats' razor-thin majority in the Senate.
The future of voter restrictions will likely be decided in the weeks to come.
