Following the conclusion of the legislative session last week, I posted a poll on my political Instagram account asking, “Is Nashville under occupation?” Over 95% responded yes.
In Greek mythology, Persephone, the goddess of harvest, was once kidnapped by Hades (already in a vexatious situation) and ate six pomegranate seeds while passing time in the Underworld, thus locking her into a one-way, crushing contract for what, on paper, is six months a year, but is really for the rest of her life. Hades never lied to her, but his terms were designed to bind her before she understood what she was agreeing to, and by then, the seeds were making their way through the amorphous Greek god equivalent of a digestive tract.
Nashville continues to eat the seeds.
I once asked the legislative librarian why Tennessee experiences some of the worst preemption in the country, the unjust relationship when our “blue” cities pass legislation for paid family leave and police accountability, you know, things Nashvillians want, to which the state responds, neuters the legislation and turns around and dictates what type of mulch, pool levels, what type of color pugs one can possess within Davidson County limits. Well, this diabolical arrangement is due to the state of Tennessee BIRTHING the municipalities. Ah, the raw paternalism explained. I wasn’t around for the initial merry-go-round of occupation, but now Nashville and the rest of Tennessee's cities and counties are bound to a set of governing arrangements we did not choose, administered by people we did not elect, blanketing the infrastructure our city cannot survive without.
As a proximate bystander to this abusive relationship, I can say, with my whole chest, that the state Representatives and Senators who represent Nashville have zero power to affect its outcome. As we are considered lingering gadflies, the fate of our city is negotiated behind closed doors, with lobbyists, acquiescent officials, mostly gentry class white men, sprinkled with members of the business community who have been deemed conciliatory by our Republican and corporate overlords. In fact, when any of us object to the abuse, we’re told: “You don’t understand, this is the best deal for the city.” I’m sorry because I just saw red and heard loud circus music.
Wednesday of last week, during a spirited debate about Nashville turning over the Convention Center and Downtown to state Republican leadership, of which I inherited (much to the annoyance of everyone but my constituents, who elect me every cycle), I exclaimed, paraphrasing, on the House Floor, “NONE OF MY CONSTITUENTS WANT THE F*CKING SUPER BOWL! THEY WANT AFFORDABLE CHILDCARE, TRANSIT, HOUSING, AND TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON! I also went on to call the Speaker of the House, the “Shadow Mayor of Nashville”, to whom I bowed as the Speaker waved like Miss Wilson County at the Tennessee State Fair. I guess satire IS dead.
Just this session, the Tennessee GOP Supermajority, using WWII references, took over:
Nashville airport (and all other regional airports) by creating a state airport authority board after not breaching the Maginot Line, instead just going around it
Nashville Electric Service, as we got Vichy’d, with the state expanding the board to now nine members; four new seats added, each appointed by the county mayor of Wilson, Williamson, Rutherford, and Sumner Counties, all suburban Republican strongholds whose counties, combined, represent approximately 12 percent of NES ratepayers but will now hold 45 percent of the board’s voting power
Nashville’s underground?!?!?!?! Elon Musk is pretending to build a 13-mile underground tunnel system in Nashville worked with state officials to create and pass an Führerbunker mole people authority board, a new state agency with nine board members appointed entirely by the governor and Republican legislative leaders. And, CHASER!, a second bill made Boring Company assets reportable to the state comptroller rather than Davidson County’s property assessor, effectively blocking Nashville from determining the value of the infrastructure being built in its own ground.
As I used to say to my campaign team during the darkest moments, ARE WE HAVING FUN YET? Nashville is no longer a city facing the consequences of individual policy disagreements, but the vehicle for a coordinated project to strip a Democratic city of control over its own physical existence, piece by piece, using whatever pretext is available in any given session to rip any last residual tendon of autonomy we have until we’re left with 50K super bowl tickets and a power grid that only exists to serve the 2030 Super Bowl.
The Romans had a phrase for what happens when a central power strips local institutions of authority while maintaining the theater of local governance: forma sine materia. Yes, our elections remain (for now), the Metro Council still meets (for now, albeit a more reduced version because the State reduced our council size…lawsuit pending), the Mayor still holds the title (for now) while the Shadow Mayor holds both the Crossville and Nashville city-states in the palm of his hand.
Yes, Cesar kept every Republican institution perfectly intact after he consolidated power…the Senate still convened, consuls were still elected, tribunes still held their sacred veto, the full theater of the Republic played on without interruption, but what Cesar didn’t anticipate was that the people grew weary. Hungry, broke, powerless, they, over time, grew restless watching Cesar scoop dormice with pomegranate seeds out of the remaining vestiges of democracy… the visibility of the theft became the feast for the resistance.
Love,
Aftyn
A night of comedy and music presented by Bless this Mess media in support of the Nashville creative community and yours truly. Sketches from Third Coast Comedy Club and Inebriated Shakespeare; stand-up from Cortney Warner; songs from Marie Cecile Anderson and the Nashville Resistance Revival Chorus; DJ set from Remsteele.
If you have been gaslit by the Tennessee supermajority or your city overthrown, join us for a night of gluttonous humor and debauchery!
If you’d like to donate items for the silent auction to benefit my campaign, please e-mail angela@bakcommunitypartners.com.
If you want to sponsor the event, please email kathleen@fortifycommunications.com.
Early voting is happening NOW. Election is Tuesday, May 5th. Remember to bring your photo ID. If you want to know who I’m voting for, you can respond to this e-mail. Otherwise, I wanted to highlight two particular races where highly qualified women are running against the good ole’ boys club, who are, in their different ways, products of exactly the system that has been eating Nashville alive.
Dawn Deaner is running for Criminal Court Judge, Division III. Dawn served as Nashville’s elected Public Defender for a decade, from 2008 to 2018, and she built that office into something that actually fought for people the system had already written off before they walked through the door. Her opponent is Jim Todd: appointed to that bench by Governor Bill Lee, the same Governor Bill Lee who signed the NES takeover, the airport authority restructure, and the Music City Loop oversight bill. Todd was Lee’s pick; that tells you everything you need to know about whose interests that bench currently serves. The Nashville Bar Association highly recommends Dawn.
Jodie Bell is running for General Sessions Court, Division VI. General Sessions hears more than 170,000 cases a year, the court where ordinary Nashvillians, not corporations or supermajorities, actually encounter the justice system up close. Jodie has 30 years of criminal defense experience. When Rep. Andy Ogles came after me, threatening arrest due to my ICE accountability, Jodie picked up the call and walked me through scenario planning and had my back throughout the entire ordeal. Her opponent is Michael Robinson: a younger attorney whose grandfather was a General Sessions judge, whose father is a sitting General Sessions judge, and whose family has occupied Davidson County courtrooms across multiple generations like a judicial hereditary aristocracy. The Nashville Bar Association also highly recommends Jodie.
I wanted to personally shout out City Cast Nashville, which has done an excellent job covering the Supermajority’s shenanigans and could use your help. A podcast and a baller newsletter run by mostly women who care about Nashville the way Nashvillians do… I don’t miss their Friday political digest podcasts, and neither should you!
You can sign up to become a City Cast Nashville member by clicking below!
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