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[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Jesus Christ. We are talking about different things.

I am not interested in PA. First, because the PA decision has already been made.

Second, here's what is going to happen. Every very red state is going to gerrymander the fuck out of every possible election. And they'll do it with the most sophisticated software, ensuring maximum Republican results, which will mean waaaay more lunatic Freedom Caucus types at every possible level of government.

Then, states like Texas (that are trending blue-ward) will do the same. With their newly gerrymandered state senates, they will change the laws. They will appoint more lunatic judges who will uphold those laws. If a state has a constitutional issue with any of it, Republicans will amend it out of existence or their appointed judges will strike the provision.

But if you think any state where Republicans can now gerrymander themselves into a permanent position of power is going to self-regulate itself to fairness after this decision, you are absolutely crazy.

You combine this decision with the destruction of the Voting Rights Act and Republican goals have been met beyond their wildest dreams. The fact that the Electoral College and the existence of the Senate already gives them outsized political power wasn't enough. Your head is going to fucking spin with the levels of political gerrymandering we're about to go through.

This decision is a fucking joke.

(Also, I don't care what your friends think.)

TM

This is a quote that gives me some comfort:

AUSTIN — Texas could have tried to beat Alabama to become the first state in the nation to ban all abortions this year, taking a shot at overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. But the Republican leadership in Austin hit the brakes.

It was staunch pro-life Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who put a stop to the Texas version of the bill, which would have authorized criminal charges against any woman who has an abortion.

“I think it’s the exact wrong policy to be criminalizing women who are in that extremely difficult, almost impossible situation,” said Leach, a chairman who refused to let the bill out of his committee. “We don’t need to be going after these women.”

That sentiment voiced in April was just one example of a new message that Texas Republicans tried to send in the 2019 legislative session after a wake-up call in the November midterm elections. Hundreds of thousands of educated, suburban Republican women had crossed party lines to vote for Democrats, who picked up 12 seats in the Texas House and came within three percentage points of winning their first statewide election since 1994.

House Speaker Dennis Bonnen explained the Texas GOP’s predicament in a speech to young Republicans in February, just as the legislative session got underway.

“The clearest indication of the November election — and this is horrifying — is intelligent women said we’re not interested in voting for Republicans,” Bonnen said. “We have to remember that women matter in this state … The reality is that if we are not making women feel comfortable and welcome to telling their friend or neighbor that they voted for Republican candidate X, Y or Z, we will lose. And we should lose, truthfully.”