Chuck Darwin<p>Republican leaders are now adopting increasingly <a href="https://c.im/tags/autocratic" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>autocratic</span></a> measures, using the <a href="https://c.im/tags/police" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>police</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/powers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>powers</span></a> of government to impose <a href="https://c.im/tags/moralized" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>moralized</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/regulations" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>regulations</span></a>, turning <a href="https://c.im/tags/private" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>private</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/citizens" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>citizens</span></a> into <a href="https://c.im/tags/enforcement" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>enforcement</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/officers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>officers</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/expelling" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>expelling</span></a> defiant elected <a href="https://c.im/tags/Democrats" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Democrats</span></a> just as county Republican parties, particularly in Western states, are electing <a href="https://c.im/tags/militia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>militia</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/members" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>members</span></a>, <a href="https://c.im/tags/Christian" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Christian</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/nationalists" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nationalists</span></a> and <a href="https://c.im/tags/QAnon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>QAnon</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/believers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>believers</span></a> to key posts.</p><p>Here’s one example. Last November, the Republican Party of Clackamas County in Oregon chose a new vice chairman, Daniel Tooze, a <a href="https://c.im/tags/Proud" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Proud</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Boy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Boy</span></a> from Oregon City, and Rick Riley, the head of the county chapter of <a href="https://c.im/tags/Take" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Take</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Back" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Back</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/America" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>America</span></a>, which denies the results of the 2020 presidential election, as chairman. <br>Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that in central Oregon’s Deschutes County, the local Republican Party chose Scott Stuart, “a member of the county chapter of <a href="https://c.im/tags/People" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>People</span></a>’s <a href="https://c.im/tags/Rights" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rights</span></a>, a nationwide network of <a href="https://c.im/tags/militia" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>militia</span></a> groups and <a href="https://c.im/tags/anti" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>anti</span></a>-<a href="https://c.im/tags/government" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>government</span></a> activists founded by conservative firebrand <a href="https://c.im/tags/Ammon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Ammon</span></a> <a href="https://c.im/tags/Bundy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Bundy</span></a>.”</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/12/opinion/republican-party-intrusive-government.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">nytimes.com/2023/04/12/opinion</span><span class="invisible">/republican-party-intrusive-government.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare</span></a></p>