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Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy
That, of course, favors the Repubes since they have solid control over states with more seats than do Dems. I understand you like that.
Gerrymandering has a lot of adverse consequences - it makes seats noncompetitive, so incumbents more easily win; it shifts the real focus to primaries, so elections get controlled by a smaller more radical group; it concentrates money in fewer competitive districts. There just isn't a silver lining to gerrymandering.
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I didn't know that, and that wasn't my point. I was, badly it appears, joking that this ruling won't imperil democracy, just factionalize the republic into something ungovernable.
I just listened to a recent interview with Jared Diamond where he described how democracies disintegrate. He cited gerrymandering as the most significant of all of the factors. His view is that while everybody is looking at Trump, McConnell is doing to the real damage.
It's a simple hack. Our Republic isn't constructed to work with any party using "total war" tactics. It relies on legislators acting on the system's behalf above their own party interests where the two come into conflict.
The GOP has found a rationale to avoid that duty by saying that the "character of America" is challenged by changes sought by the majority, and it has a duty to stop that, by any means necessary. Yes, that's what they say. You'll never hear it aloud, but I know you've heard it in private. It's like the ramblings of a very bitter Edmund Burke.
