We Democrats are so nice—
—How nice are we?—
—We Democrats are so nice that even when we have the majority power to gerrymander Republicans into total submission, we don’t do it. Instead, we listen to the people and our principles:
The New Jersey Legislature had planned to rush through an amendment critics complained would have given Democrats unfair advantages. “The rule on its face looks fair, but it writes an essentially permanent gerrymander in favor of Democrats into the constitution,” says Patrick Egan, a professor of politics and public policy at New York University.
Because Democrats already have strong and longstanding majorities in the New Jersey Legislature, Egan says they created a perception problem for their party without gaining any clear advantage.
“The political upside of this seems so low compared to the obvious damage to what Democrats nationwide are trying to do, which is establish themselves against gerrymandering and corruption and for campaign finance reform,” Egan says. “It seems like a classic inward state party thinking only of itself, and not thinking of the national implications of its actions.”
That dynamic ended up killing the plan.
…”We do not have to cheat to win,” declared Analilia Mejia, head of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance [Alan Greenblatt, “After Backlash from Own Party, New Jersey Democrats Drop Redistricting Plan,” Governing, 2018.12.17].
We Democrats are like Captain Kirk, refusing to kill the Republican Gorn, even when we’ve finally knocked our enemy for a loop with our handmade sulfur/diamond cannon:
As I said in October at the League of Women Voters forum on redistricting, I’d love the opportunity to gerrymander Republicans into long, stringy districts that make their campaigns more expensive and less successful, but I won’t do it, and I won’t support anyone else doing it, because elections and election maps should be fair.
…Eventually, Kirk succeeds in completing his weapon and mortally wounds the Gorn captain. Kirk has the opportunity for victory and the vengeance he so desired, but something gives him pause. He rethinks his own position. He reconsiders the intelligent, living person lying beneath him. He looks upon someone he deemed to be an enemy, someone who had done violence to Kirk’s people, and yet he refuses to denigrate the Gorn and respond in similarly violent ways. He does not kill the Gorn… [Timothy Harvie, “The Importance of the Gorn,” StarTrek.com, 2017.05.12].
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/03/28/how-maryland-democrats-pulled-off-their-aggressive-gerrymander/?utm_term=.0060e251ff48
Democrats are soooooo anti-gerrymandering….except when they get to do it.
Wow,Steverino! The state has to redraw 2 of 8 districts. In wingnut la la land you condemn the whole state and ignore total state gerrymandering done by wingnuts all over America.
Next time find a link without a paywall.
Reading the article, Mike, it looks like more than two districts would need to be redrawn. In any event, Steve solidly refutes the assertion that Democrats don’t gerrymander.
Here’s what galls me, both about MFI’s comment and Cory’s post.
The tribalism. The self-congratulatory nature that allows you to spin what an objective outsider would see as troubling as a win.
The Democratic party in New Jersey was going to gerrymander, like state parties (red and blue) are want to do. They only backed off because the state is solidly blue anyway.
The NJ State Dems are a reminder that power corrupts. Let team Dem rule unchallenged for long enough and you’ll wind up with the same kind of corruption and mismanagement that so many on this blog bemoan about the way South Dakota has been run.
Healthy, vibrant debates and strong opposition parties are what we need to keep our democracy working. This blind “my party is right on everything in every instance” is garbage, and I’m disgusted to see its insidiousness manifest time and again on this blog.
There are no Kirks in politics. Only Romulans.
Here’s what galls me about Wayne B’s comment- the fact that wingnuts have the chutzpah to complain the other side does it, too when their side has done it on a massive scale , for decades, without shame or concern for fairness. Wingnuts have made it abundantly clear they want to keep themselves in power in states so they can control redistricting.
Mike, I think we agree in principle that it’s galling when kettles call teapots black. I’m not clear if you think I’m a wingnut or not.
What I’m not sure is sinking in for you is that neither party has a moral high ground. Both parties gerrymander. I know you’re fixating on who does it more, but I don’t think that matters in discussions about moral high ground. Look, it doesn’t matter if Cop A occasionally plants a little bit of drugs on a person to get them arrested, and Cop B does it three times as often. They’re both dirty cops.
To continue the metaphor, Cory’s celebrating that the internal affairs department convinced a cop they didn’t need to plant drugs on someone this time because the perp was already getting arrested for something else.
Gerrymandering is a reminder that all politics is local and that all states are fighting the same gerrymandering question.
What is a damn shame is that gerrymandering disenfranchises so many voters and especially takes away the voice of the poor.