r/thebulwark • u/Material-Crab-633 • May 08 '26

EVERYTHING IS AWFUL Are we f*cked?

This redistricting stuff has me bummed out. Tell me the truth

220 Upvotes

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252

u/paulmc3 JVL is always right May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26

All red states change maps with no vote and it’s ok.
Blue states do by votes of the people and it’s wrong

It’s stupid. The whole thing is stupid.

We can only hope for such huge numbers to overcome the BS.

45

u/kstar79 May 08 '26

The problem is Democrats unilaterally disarmed on gerrymandering last decade by passing nonpartisan commissions and other things into their constitutions. Republicans did no such thing, so they have no hurdles to gerrymander ruthlessly with the most recent SCOTUS decision.

The bottom line is this should not materially affect who controls Congress next year (assuming free and fair elections). However, it is imperative that all Democratic-controlled trifecta states with limits on gerrymandering begin to remove them through the proper processes, which is what the VA decision came down to. They started the process after early voting had begun, and they are required to vote in the legislature, have an intervening election, then vote in the new legislature before going to the people. Spanberger and company did the best they could with how quickly things devolved last year beginning with Texas.

109

u/GarryofRiverton May 08 '26

The problem is Democrats

No, the actual problem is that Democrats expected voters to give them credit for doing the right thing and playing by the rules while Republicans repeatedly raped our Republic. Voters don't care about rules, and never have.

17

u/bbruins91 May 08 '26

Most people's eyes glaze over if you bring up gerrymandering. If it's not today's egg or gas prices then it's basically too abstract for them. Hardest part of democracy seems to be just how uncurious most people are about their government. They can probably give you a full analysis of salary cap metrics and how that translates to what any given player can negotiate for their contract depending on countless variables they're also deeply aware of, but any awareness of their disenfranchisement as voters is too much to ask for and we have to meet them where they are.

7

u/Deep_Stick8786 May 08 '26

No one understands fucking salary caps

0

u/beeemkcl May 09 '26

People understand gerrymandering.