(C) Tennessee Lookout This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Time is a flat circle • Tennessee Lookout [1] ['Gabe Hart', 'More From Author', 'March'] Date: 2024-03-21 Time is a flat circle. Long before Matthew McCounghey’s troubled character, Detective Rust Cohle, made that sentence famous in Season 1 of True Detective, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche originated it as part of his philosophy of eternal recurrence.theorized that existence occurs in an infinite cycle and that humans will live the same lives over and over again. In this philosophy, time isn’t linear but circular — a carousel of repetition. Every instance of pain, pleasure, sadness, and joy we experience will happen again and again for eternity. I’m starting to think Nietzche might’ve been onto something. Two years ago, I caused a stir when I publicly documented that I voted in the mayoral Republican primary in Madison County. In the eyes of many local and state-level Republicans, I had committed an unforgivable sin because I wasn’t a “bonafide Republican.” Secretary of State Tre Hargett came to town and encouraged the District Attorney to prosecute anyone who crossed over to vote in the primary. Rep. Chris Todd referred to me as a “felon” while messaging a constituent. Signs were posted at polling sites reminding voters that they could be prosecuted should they choose to vote in a party’s primary in which they didn’t belong long before those signs were even required by law. Recently, I found myself wondering if Nietzche might be onto something. Leading up to Super Tuesday, the same heated conversations and empty threats were being made about primary voting in Madison County — except this time, there was much more at stake on the local level than there was two years ago. While school board races were partisan in 2022, there were no contested primaries in Madison County; 2024 was the first year for contested school board primaries. Something else new in 2024? Fringe conservative groups recruiting and supporting candidates for school board seats. It’s no secret that the political battleground in communities across our state is the public education system. What started as random and confusing attacks on topics not being taught in schools (see CRT) turned into legislation banning those topics from being taught. Then, there was the subject of book banning, which forced teachers and librarians to painstakingly inventory every book in their classroom and/or school. And the coup de gras for our esteemed General Assembly was to enact the third grade retention law despite strong pushback from parents and educators. We’ve come to realize, however, that none of these issues were brought forth in a vacuum; they all paved the way for Gov. Bill Lee’s educational choice rollout. So, what does any of this have to do with primary voting? Two weeks ago in Madison County, three school board seats were contested in the primaries, two with no opposition in the general election. Therefore, the primary election would determine the winner of those races. In each contested primary, one candidate was endorsed by the Madison County Constitutional Republicans (MCCR) — a hyper-conservative group modeled after the Sumner County Constitutional Republicans. The MCCR helped their endorsed candidates place signs throughout their districts, organize voters, and promote the candidates’ collective platforms(Parent Choice and ESA’s) on their social media page. One of the members of the MCCR even turned my name over to the District Attorney because I publicly encouraged voters to vote in the primary election of their choice on my daily radio show. Only 9,141 Madison County voters showed up to vote on Super Tuesday: a 14% turnout. In the contested school board primaries with no general election, the winning candidate in one race received only 640 votes, while the winning candidate in the other race received just over 1,000 votes. Out of Madison County’s 100,000 population, more than 65,000 are registered to vote. So two candidates were elected to the school board while running on issues like “parent choice” and being “pro-voucher” while only receiving votes from 1% of the entire population of Madison County and 1.5% of the eligible voting population. This is not a representative democracy at work but rather conservative scare tactics limiting the confidence of voters in an open primary state. Two years ago, under pressure from the local GOP, the Madison County Election Commission hastily posted sheets of 81/2 x 11 paper printed with the following: “It is a violation of Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 2-7-115(b), and punishable as a crime under Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 2-19-102 or Section 2-19-107, if a person votes in a political party’s primary without being a bona fide member of or affiliated with that political party, or to declare allegiance to that party without the intent to affiliate with that party.” The same message appeared this year, as required by state law, at every voting precinct in Tennessee. The message was prefaced with the following phrase in large, bold font, “It’s the Law! Please Read…” Even though Tennessee remains an open primary state with an unenforceable “law” regarding primary voting, the Republican Party made sure many voters stayed away. In Madison County, it worked in the most extreme way possible for the party, with each MCCR-endorsed candidate winning their contested race. While Nietzsche believed that beauty could be found in repetitious experiences of pain, loss, and sorrow, he didn’t leave much room for change, and that’s precisely where this metaphor runs its course. The legislation created by Tennessee’s supermajority seems to get worse and worse each session, but we’re not stuck on this downward spiral with no agency for change. There has to be recognition of the importance of voices in democracy and the desire to fight against a party that has clearly lost sight of what a representative government should be. Time may very well feel like a flat circle in Tennessee, but progress is linear. It’s past time we start to straighten it out. 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