Vigilante Nation. How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy.

The Bill Press Pod

Bill talks with David Noll, one of the co-authors of Vigilante Nation. How State-Sponsored Terror Threatens Our Democracy. The new and important book examines the threat of state-sponsored vigilantism in the United States. The book traces the history of vigilantism in America, such as the Fugitive Slave Act, and Noll argues that the MAGA movement is now trying to institutionalize and normalize the use of vigilante power to enforce its agenda. Examples include Texas' bounty system for reporting on abortion providers, laws in states like Florida and Georgia that enable citizens to challenge voter eligibility, and efforts in states like Indiana and Florida to enable vigilantes to police teachers and libraries. Noll says these state-level experiments with vigilantism could be a blueprint for a future Trump administration to nationalize and further empower vigilante groups, such as by aggressively enforcing the Comstock Act to restrict access to abortion pills. When bill asks Noel what can be done he calls for Blue state legislatures to more actively push back against these state-level efforts to enable vigilantism, rather than leaving it unchallenged.

Today's Bill Press Pod is supported by The United food and Commercial Workers Union. More information at UFCW.org

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