It is with white knuckles and grinding teeth that I read each day of the spread of rationalized, justified racism--justified at the highest level. OK, OK, so SCOTUS has always been politicized, but to condone racism so blatantly is beyond belief.
And somehow to accept the legality of gerrymandering according to political leanings is even more reprehensible to me--outrageous because it amounts to a synonym for racism--how about discrimination against minorities? And it is blatantly acknowledged in Texas, for example; as the GOP-friendly institution of voter ID was inadvertently in another venue when the speaker of the Pennsylvania legislature hailed the voter ID requirement as a surefire way to insert Mr. Romney into a position he was highly unsuited for, POTUS.
(Speaking of flip-flopping--it wasn't out of modesty that he disassociated himself with his own, now-successful in one state, health care plan.)
The Constitution was designed to avoid tyranny by the majority. Tyranny by the minority is certainly undemocratic, but a quick glance at a magisterial website based on de Tocqueville's writings shows paragraphs and paragraphs defending minority rights. Now what are these? Most ambiguous in our context, possibly embracing the racist GOP along with the actually disenfranchised groups in this country.
Tyranny by the GOP minority is spreading like lava with more and more ground drowned more and more quickly. Now that Election 2014 has been stolen through gerrymandering, the stiff voter ID requirements, and other impediments like blatant robo-calling by the House Majority Leader-to-be, Mitch McConnell, the next move is already growling at us: Nebraska and Maine already base their electoral votes not on winner-take-all but on district-majority-take-all, so that statewide totals may be split. Thus, Republican-held governorships and state legislatures may now busy themselves with gerrymandering the structure of all states in the same fashion and bingo, what's next? Tyranny of the minority, success of Karl Rove's plan for permanent GOP rule by 2020.
Even as I write this, SCOTUS is mulling over the constitutionality of the latest race-based attempt at gerrymandering in Alabama, home of the now-notorious Shelby County that sued successfully to dismember the Voting Rights act last year. Annus horribilis. Too few blacks in a district violates the one-"man"-"one vote" principle, they ponder. So overcrowd them in a clump in the neighboring all-black district, of course. But call them Democrats and Jim Crow whoops a rebel yell.
Some states are fighting back but New York, blue as they come, boasts one of the lowest voter turnouts in the nation--because so many voters are discouraged by the growing inefficiency at the polls (condoned by the GOP-dominatedstate state senate state leg, which of course decreases blue (mostly) votes and turnout, especially in "off years," when (the actually vitally important) lower-level officials run for office and nobody cares. No long lines then--which tickles the GOP. They want the majority to stay home on Election Day. Soon it will be about as mechanical as its counterpart in Russia and opponents may be disappeared altogether.
This is a diary because it is so off the top of my head--I have so little time but when my spirit gets too angry I have to write. If this provokes a huge number of comments, I'll try my best to keep up with them--they are so stimulating and distracting from work on my book!
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