REPUBLICANS PUT THEIR CONTEMPT FOR MISSOURI VOTERS ON FULL DISPLAY

Making it harder to amend the state constitution is wrong; deceit behind the scheme is worse.

Remember when Hillary Clinton made that idiotic statement in 2016 scorning as a “basket of deplorables” half of the people who were supporting Donald Trump for president against her?

Clinton specifically called out them out as “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic,” prompting more than one to respond, “I don’t have a xylophone.” But for a politician, two months out from an election, to display such disrespect to voters – even on the other side – was flat-out insane. And it’s one of the reasons we got the terror of the Trump era.

Republicans in Missouri were among the offended parties, and not unreasonably so. But if you think that in their victimhood, a lesson was learned by their politicians about treating voters with respect, think again.

Yesterday, the state House sent to the Senate a bill that would raise the threshold to 57 percent for amending the state Constitution. It’s expected to reach Governor Mike Parson, who will put the matter on the 2024 ballot.

News stories reporting “Major overhaul of initiative process one step away from Missouri ballot” are accurate but don’t do justice to the story. Not enough attention has been paid to the ongoing con job – preying upon voters’ naivete and cruelly exploiting the disabled – that underscores the Republican assault on the electorate.

The Republicans have done Hillary one better. They just told Missouri voters they are stupid.