Republicans say they're for small, local government. Apparently not in Portland.

[Zorro]

What ever happened to “Don’t tread on me”?

Against the express wishes of Portland’s mayor, Oregon’s governor and both of its U.S. senators — all Democrats — a federal crackdown cartoonishly named “Operation Diligent Valor” proceeds against demonstrations at the city’s federal courthouse that have gone on for nearly two straight months.

In Georgia, there’s an ongoing battle over mask mandates in response to covid-19: Republican Gov. Brian Kemp issued an order suspending mask requirements in more than a dozen cities, barring them from implementing policies that are more restrictive than the state’s. Kemp sued Atlanta’s mayor and city council, and accused Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of ordering the Atlanta Police Department not to enforce the state’s ban on gatherings of more than 50 people.

And who can forget President Trump declaring in April that he could order states to reopen their economies? “When somebody’s the president of the United States, the authority is total,” he said. “And that’s the way it’s got to be. It’s total. It’s total. And the governors know that.”

Once upon a time, the rejoinder from right-wing radio hosts, activists and Republican politicians would have been “Don’t tread on me” (or, in the case of federal gun-control legislation, a more direct challenge along the lines of “Come and take it”). In the tea party movement’s heyday — a decade ago — Republicans and conservatives were evangelists of federalism and limited government. In a 2014 Wall Street Journal op-ed headlined “The Imperial Presidency of Barack Obama,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) warned that “an imperial presidency threatens the liberty of every citizen.” In 2016, the GOP platform condemned the Obama administration’s “unconstitutional expansion into areas beyond those specifically enumerated, including bullying of state and local governments.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/25/portland-trump-republicans-federalism/

[Binkie The Clown]

1. "Don't tread on me, unless you're a Democrat."

Then we'll tread the hell all over you and your constitutional rights.