You know, we all represent 70,000 some odd, you know, citizens and they didn't elect us to come up here and sit silent. But he's just saying, let our voices be heard. The Republicans can still choose to pass it or not. On the kind of democracy we see at work in the Tennessee State Assemblyīlaise Gainey: 'The Republicans have a supermajority, so it doesn't really matter what the Democrats want to say on bills. Sheila Clemmons Lee, led an effort to establish a Community Oversight Board in Nashville. Greta McClain, executive director of Silent No Longer Tennessee. Jake Grumbach, political scientist at the University of Washington and author of Laboratories Against Democracy. Gino Bulso, Republican state representative representing District 61. Author of Losing Power: African Americans and Racial Polarization in Tennessee Politics and After the Rebellion: Social Movement Activism and Popular Mobilization among the Post-Civil Rights Generation. Sekou Franklin, professor of political science at Middle Tennessee State University. Guestsīlaise Gainey, political reporter for Nashville Public Radio. Today, On Point: Tennessee and a case study of the health of democracy in America's state legislatures. Local officials are reluctant to do anything about it because they feel that it will be overturned by the state.' 'They've targeted cities and prevented us from establishing an affordable housing policy. march for the last decade of preempting overturning local laws,' Sekou Franklin says. 'The state legislature has been on a steady. Grumbach says democracy in Tennessee is in trouble. 'Do Tennessee’s democratic institutions allow for the broad participation of Tennesseans? That's a really important part of democracy,' he says. Political scientist Jake Grumbach decided to measure the health of democracy at the state level. Then there's the states, once called the laboratory of democracy. Sign up for the On Point newsletter here. Supporters raise signs as Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders campaign rally in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, on March 8, 2020.

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