The lame-duck power plays by Republican legislatures in Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin to seize power from recently elected Democratic Party executive officials are just the latest egregious efforts by the Republican Party to deem Democrats unconstitutional.

What does it mean when Republicans deem Democrats unconstitutional? It means that Republicans do not believe that the Democratic Party can legitimately hold power. The GOP will use its power to enact last-minute laws to hurt Democratic constituencies and make it harder for Democrats to win power; if they somehow do, Republicans strip them of authority or prevent them from governing.

We are going to have a very liberal governor who is going to enact policies that are in direct contrast to what many of us believe in, said Robin Vos, the Republican Speaker of the House in Wisconsin, as he explained why Republicans would gut the authority of incoming Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

For Republicans, political power is now no different than an exclusionary childhood clubhouse: No Democrats allowed.

This policy effort to refuse Democrats power, at all costs, did not begin with the lame-duck session of 2018. Whats happening now is a part of an ongoing process by Republicans in the courts and in elected office to increase power for their own wealthy interests, attack and divide Democratic Party constituencies and create voting obstacles that dilute equal representation.