I was in a quandary, like other non-Trumpers who are watching the Republican Party’s full-scale effort to strip voting rights from as many Democrats as it takes to ensure future elections are won by extreme right-wingers.

One might assume this would be the media’s No. 1 story, but one would be wrong. The Republican plan to kill democracy in America apparently isn’t sexy enough to merit any more coverage than pop singer Britney Spears’ conflict with her father, or the mental breakdown of Philadelphia 76ers point guard Ben Simmons during the NBA playoffs.

“Well, so what?” Swamp Rabbit said. “’Oops!…I Did It Again’ was a major hit. And you got no idea how many sports fans hate Ben Simmons. Them’s big stories.”

“But this is real news,” I replied. “Senate Republicans blocked the For the People Act from moving forward last week. They won’t even debate it. They know passage of the bill would prevent them from imposing state-level restrictions on Blacks and other voting blocs they don’t like. And it would strike a blow against gerrymandering and dark money in politics.”

“If For the People is such a big deal, how come the Dems didn’t fight harder to get it passed?” the rabbit countered. “They got the 51-vote majority in the Senate if you count the vice-president.”

I explained to him for the tenth time that passage of the bill would require 60 Senate votes, not 51, unless Democrats changed the filibuster rule that effectively allows Mitch McConnell and his cronies to shoot down all Democratic legislation. And I mentioned that McConnell is getting essential help from Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the two most prominent DINO senators.

“Republicans are taking control of the electoral machinery state by state,” I said. “They want to make sure they have new laws on their side the next time they try to steal an election, like Trump tried to do in 2020.”

“They’re dressing tyranny in the garb of states’ rights,” I added, “just like the Dems did when Reconstruction was struck down in the post-Civil War South.”

Swamp Rabbit balked. “A lot of peeps think states’ rights is what keeps this country from being took over by Black Lives Matter and Critical Race Theory. They don’t like the federal gov’mint tellin’ them what to do.“

I was tired of his devil’s advocate act. “That’s what the federal government is for, dummy. To make sure the states let people vote and don’t allow lynching or slavery and so on. The voting rights fight is the Civil War, Part Two — or Part 10, maybe. Johnny Reb is winning.“

“Maybe he is, maybe he ain’t,“ the rabbit said. “Speaking of slaves, did you know Britney’s nasty old dad still controls all her money? There oughta be a law.“