Comcast supports cspan as a Public Service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Hou we are back and join this morning by now standing, a white house columnist for the hilt newspaper, years here this morning to talk about how a controversial issue, are playing out in state legislatures. Now, good morning. Good to see you. So, you recently wrote a column in the hill newspaper talking about how the culture wars in the United States are playing out at the state level. Tell us a little bit about why we are seeing this . I think it depends on the specific issue. So, obviously, abortion has been a culture or forever. Clearly, a thing moved to the states by the Supreme Court decision, about 11 months ago, striking down roe v. Wade. Then you have other additional issues, like the socalled crt allows, whichever they come to the forward is a matter of debate much more recently. Then in addition to that, frankly, you have some politicians, president ial ambitions columnist as well, Governor Desantis in florida, has quite clearly and quite ostentatiously been asserting himself into some of these debates, the abortion ban, socalled anti woke act and things like that. Why are we seeing this being dealt in state legislatures, rather than in washington, in congress at the white house . Why are we seeing this come up in gubernatorial and legislative at the state level . I think a couple of reasons. One, in relation to gun laws, for example, obviously very salient, for very sad reasons. There has not been a lot of federal action on that area. The progun control groups have increasingly focused on state legislatures, and have by their rights made some progress there. So, that is one part of this picture. I think also, jesse, there is the fact that, our politics have become increasingly nationalized. The big issue, the ones that excite such passions, have become dominant even at state level, and as you said, gubernatorial races, sometimes even on a more hyper local level, things Like School Board elections, are now being fought on crt issues, things like that. Is this a good thing . Or is this bad, but these are going on, the same conversation going on in different places, likely coming to Different Solutions . Is this a good thing or is theres a bad thing . One of the experts i spoke to suggested it was a good thing. His argument was that in a sense, it is the job of the states to experiment a little bit more. He put it that the federal government with their two guard things if they go completely crazy, but state legislature is another state body, they can deal with these issues and a level, by its nature, closer to the people. So, a law but you might see in alabama is not necessarily the same kind of law for voters in vermont will support. So having those state level disparities, is not necessarily a bad thing. However, especially when it comes to hot button issues like gun control, abortion, does this mean that americans face different laws in different states . And they may or may not know what jurisdiction has which law . I think that is an important point, particularly on those two topics, on gun laws and abortion laws. We really do see very dramatic differences. Obviously, on the gun question, there are all sorts of questions, whether one states law should be recognized in another state. In the abortion question, you and i have a region of the nation, primarily in the south, that is prohibiting or coming close to prohibiting abortion completely. And the north east and west coast, they have taken an entirely different view, going out of their way to protect reproductive rights over there. So, does that contribute to the sense that we are in some ways to separate nations . Possibly, but it is also reflective of the voters in those states. Speaking of the voters in those places, there are some people who say that there is a national group, that is manipulating these state legislatures by trying to push through the same laws in different states, using lobbying, using their political powers. Is that what we are seeing . Do we see these shadowy National Groups pushing through laws but states may not have moved on their own . So i want to be a little bit careful in answering that one. I think that the different laws in different states reflect different political cultures in those states, different views on the part of voters. That said, if you want to nefariously effect things, you can do that and get more bang for your buck, honestly in state legislatures or even more localized areas. Because those races do not typically come with budgets attached, certainly not the way a president ial election does for example, or even a senate race. So you can impact state legislatures, certainly school board elections, if you wish to do so much easier than you could do on the national level. Are we seeing that . Are we seeing more lobbying from larger groups, focusing on state legislature . One of the things we can see, congress is pretty much deadlocked. You will not get any more controversy or big name issues through congress. We see these groups moving money away from congress and where state legislatures . Or they can get changes they want . I think in broad terms, we do. Certainly, we see an increased focus and an increased recognition of the importance of these issues or these matters. When you look at Something Like the debate over criminal race theory, 18 states have now passed some form of restriction or prohibition on what might broadly be called critical race theory. Defining crt is a whole other battle, as you know. You know, abortion again, we talked about 13 states, with almost total prohibitions, 14 depending on how you characterize it, at the same number, with really tight restrictions. I think those kind of pivotal issues do encourage groups with interests, who are involving themselves to a greater extent. I want to get deeper into some of these issues. Before i do, i want to remind our callers, they can take part in this conversation. We will open up our regular lines, that means democrats, you can call in that 2027488000. Republicans, your line will be 2027488001. Independents, your line is going to be 2027488002. You might, you can always text us at 2027488003. And we are always on twitter, cspan, wga, facebook, facebook. Com slash cspan. So i want to dive in a little bit more today about the gun laws in the u. S. Of course, we have been, we had that shooting yesterday in austin, texas. We see different states with different gun laws. And we see a whole plethora of gun law is trying to push through in several state legislatures. What, what is the landscape we see out there right now . I think there are a number of states that have actually passed more stringent gun laws recently. Look at michigan, where Governor Whitmer recently signed something that basically increases the storage requirements for guns. And washing things date governor, signing an actual assault weapons ban, and a number of other restrictions. Colorado, governor polis. Now the point i would make of it, those are all democratic governors. We are not seeing this kind of moves in the in places like texas, despite these catastrophic events. The uvalde massacre, as well as what we saw yesterday. There has not really been traction for gun control effort in texas. In fact, you remember jessie, the last gubernatorial election, we had governor abbott, who is a strong advocate, shall we say, of the Second Amendment, quite easily defeating beto orourke, the democrat, who have been pushing for much more stringent gun laws. How does one state decision to perhaps, be more stringent on gun laws affect the next state across the border . Where are these laws just entities undo themselves . I think they effect it, but in a fairly nebulous way. Often, they affect the general perception of what may be politically possible. For a very long time, there was a perception that any mention of gun control is bad for democrats, good for republicans. I think that has been eroded in a number of these states. But it is not a universal rule. And there are these big differences between states which are much more resistant to gun control laws, and those that favor them. So does it have an impact . It has a sort of abstract impact, but not always a very specific one. You said earlier, state legislators and state law have a greater chance to experiment, especially when it comes to these hot button issues. But, dont you have the Supreme Court in the entire court system looking over the shoulder saying, you want to do this in your state, but its against the constitution . Yes, they absolutely do. They have state troops that sometimes in giving themselves to take a very obvious example, we were just talking about the sixweek abortion ban in florida. Im not sure the media has done a great job pointing out that is not in effect yet, because the courts in florida will require components of the states constitution. Then on top of, that you have of course the Supreme Court, a short distance from where we are sitting right now, kind of weighing in on any number of these matters and declaring state measures unconstitutional. Looks like some of our viewers will take part in this conversation. We will start with mark, who was calling from florida on the democratic line. Mark, good morning. Hello, good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Since we are talking about culture wars, and in the role of state legislatures, what does your guest know about the culture warrior, texas state representative brian slatons little upset there . But very much is the honest answer to that, i dont know if you want to invite me or otherwise, but im not very aware of mr. Slatons activities you are alluding to. I think he may have dropped off. All right, so, actually i do not know what hes referring to as well. We will see if we can find out later in the show. Lets go to gary who is calling from livingston, texas, on the republican line. Gary, good morning. Good morning. I just wanted to correct what you said a while ago. The shooting that happened yesterday, was in allen, texas and not austin. Thank you. Did either of us say austin . I do not think. So but if we did, it was in allen, texas. Lets go to luis, who was calling from kansas city, missouri on the independent line. Luis, good morning. Good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Could you discuss the difference between bribery and the influence of forces with congressman . That is actually a great question. And that could be a long discussion. I mean, the influence of money in politics is something that has been an issue for decades. But it seems to be intensifying as an issue. At what point is the purchase of influence illegal . There is an old saying, that these gaveled is what is legal rather than what illegal. Obviously, a lot of parties are very dependent on getting financial donations. They would argue universally, i would, think that does not affect the votes they cast were positions that they take. I will leave it up to you and the rest of our audience to adjudicate whether you think that is true or not. One of the things that we have seen, especially as it comes towards the next president ial election, we talked about this earlier, but some governors seem to be using these culture wars at the state level to lets just say, increase their national standings. Is it a democratic party, the Republican Party, or any party particularly benefiting from having these local state level culture war battles in their state legislatures . Does that give the republicans an advantage . Does that give democrats an advantage . I do not think it is that clear cut, it is a great question. I think there are some areas in which they benefit republicans. And to your point, president ial ambitions. You mentioned Governor Desantis earlier on. Very clearly, he has used his state powers legitimately, to promote or gain prominence for a particularly conservative position on these culture war issues. But does it ultimately benefit one party or the other . I think for example, advocates for gun control would argue that they have had more success at the state level and federally, so its not an issue, its benefited the liberal side, on other issues like abortion, i think it primarily benefited republicans than conservatives. One issue that has popped up on a local level that we have not talked about yet is the gender affirming care issue, and the transgender issues that we have seen all of the sudden, that seemed to be talk about in quite a few state legislatures. Where do we stand with that . Where do we stand with that is there are a number of legislatures considering, trying to pass. But that gets back to your previous point about which issues benefit which party. And it is notable there was a pull a couple of days ago in the washington post, that indicated that broadly speaking, the American Public favored, well, more republican position, the poll that found a majority of americans believed that gender is determined by the sex assigned at birth, and a large majority of americans were opposed to trans women or girls being permitted to compete in sports with people who had the female sex assigned at birth. So i think with that issue, that one were clearly, it seems to me, progressives, whatever term you want to use, have gone out in front of where the American Public is. When you say out in front, you mean the left is not in a box . And it is not instep with where the American Public are, yes. And how does that affect what goes on at the state level . Does that mean that republicans can use its issue, and try to pass laws, to put them in an advantage in the next upcoming election . Yes is the short answer. I think that is because you can use laws at the state level in the literal sense, try to private things, to encourage things, but also you will use laws at the state level to promote or amplify a particular issue. So on that issue, about what might broadly call trans rights, if republicans calculate, it seems me correctly, the data, but the public is broadly sympathetic to their position, then they can push these bills in state legislatures, by means of keeping the National Spotlight on those topics, and then there is a political advantage to be gleaned from that. Lets go back to our phone lines, and this talk to richard, who is calling from verona, missouri, on the democratic line. Richard, good morning. Hello. I just wondered, i spoke a while ago, the guy wanted to do about bribes. You cant bribe a supreme justice, i never thought you could, but i wondered sometime, there are guns and abortions down in texas, you know. You know, it is a republican deal i guess, with abortions now. I was old enough to remember when abortion was illegal all over, and women went to back alleys, and places like that, taking coat hangers and stuff like that, you know . So you can pass laws but it wont change peoples way to do things. Now, theres guns, there is abortion. I hope this will be the death of the Republican Party this upcoming election, because im tired, im even frayed but going to the mall in springfield, getting shot. Who want to go to church if you will get shot . So its pretty disgusting, now. I have spent a long time, living, ive seen in history what these people are talking about. Ive lived through that history. Things are better now than they have been, i will go with that way, thank you, sir. Yes, i think richard raises a number of interesting points there in relation to the Supreme Court, obviously the current controversy around the justice thomass, i would say, adding fuel to the coals, with there being a code of ethics for the Supreme Court justices, which it appears there is not at the moment, on the point of abortion. Richard, the point that you raised about how things were in the past when abortion was illegal, i think it is an important one. Certainly, there are republicans, moderate, centrist republicans who expressed concern about the party as they see, it pursuing too hard a line on. Congresswoman nancy mace of South Carolina for example, has suggested or required, or demanded that the party tried to find some middle ground on that issue, we would have to see if those calls honor that suggestion. Lets go to rachel, who is calling from 40, texas, on the independent line. Rachel, good morning. Good morning. I was listening to someone on cspan the other day, and they were talking about, with the deal expiring, it could sell military rifles. Right after that, the cartels were able to get military rifles. Thats when we started having problems with people coming over, from mexico. We had problems with illegals coming over here. Thats the time, when they will lift the brady bill that expired, over 80 to get military rifles could get them. But then, fox news, and conservative radio lied, and said that the sale of the military rifles could better help find the iraq war. And that is the reason why so many people allowed the brady bill to expire. Why is it that fox is not held accountable for the lives . Im not exactly sure what your point is in relation to iraq, rachel. Obviously, the assault weapons ban as you say, did expire. There have been calls, but leaves from President Biden himself to try to resurrect that ban. There arent immediate signs of that happening in congress anytime soon. But it remains a live political issue, just one, with the any intent action on. Since the caller brought up fox news, i am wondering, how much effect does the statewide, local media have on the laws and the coverage . Does their coverage affect these issues being fought at the state and local level, the way that we see congress being covered by the National Media . Does the same relationship exist at the state level . Probably not, but for a reason you and i will probably find quite discouraging, which is at the state level, the media has been hollowed out to a very considerable degree. One can basically look across the nation, at how many fewer correspondence there are, whether it is with state newspapers or state broadcasters, covering what goes on in these legislatures. I would argue that goes to the other point you raised earlier in the conversation, whether lobbyists, moneyed interests can affect things in the state legislatures. Broadly speaking, we both know the media has those faults. We are not perfect. But broadly speaking, the less scrutiny there is of anybody in power, the more at liberty they feel