Republicans are fighting a cold civil war “The doomsday prepper of the past has become a mainstay of rightwing culture,” Jeff Sharlet (The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War) said recently of scattered rural militiamen. Elected Republicans in control of state legislatures don’t need AR-15s to fight their cold civil war. They are manipulating democracy to undo democracy in full view of state capitol and national press. The Republican majority voted to expel three Democrats from the Tennessee state House last week for what they insisted were breaches of decorum in loudly calling for action against gun violence. They kept the white woman, Rep. Gloria Johnson (barely), and expelled two young Black men. The Nashville Metropolitan Council voted 36-0 Monday to reinstate Justin Jones to the position Republicans revoked last week. Justin Pearson of Memphis is expected to be reinstated when the Shelby County Board of Commissioners meets on Wednesday. Pardon the cliche, but if you haven’t noticed that MAGA Republicans have declared war on representative democracy, you haven’t been paying attention. Additionally, says Democracy Docket‘s newsletter, “a Tennessee court blocked House Bill 48, which would force Nashville — and only Nashville — to cut the size of its Metro Council in half. Two lawsuits argue that the law disenfranchises voters and violates the state constitution.” Yes, there’s more: “On Friday, the Montana House passed Senate Bill 117 on a party-line vote, which would ban state, county or local officials from accepting private donations to fund election administration. It now heads to the desk…