FROM THE EDITOR: The Overlooked Reality Virginia's Gerrymandering War Has Produced
The gerrymandering wars unleashed are not about Democrats and Republicans -- it's about the extent to which we're all willing to go to subvert our opponents, then justify it.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Following a particularly difficult loss, a player I was coaching at Riverbend High School took to blaming his linemen, his holder, and the officials even before we got off the field. He continued throughout the weekend.
On Monday, we sat in the film room together and I pointed out every mistake he had made on Friday night.
“Control what you can control,” I explained. And when things go wrong, remember that your opponents are working as hard as you. And that the officials are there to ensure the integrity of play.
If only our political parties did the same.
Since the Supreme Court of Virginia’s decision on Friday, accusations and recriminations have been flying. In all the back-and-forth, one element of the gerrymandering arguments is being bypassed.
To understand what, let’s go to the film room.
Democrats
The Supreme Court of Virginia got it right, and Democrats need to find it within themselves to quit blaming Republicans and the Court; to quit creating flawed analogies to undercut the decision.
The justice’s affirming decision is worth reading in its entirety. While many sections are worth pointing out, Democrats should pay particular attention to Part II, Section B, which begins on page 7 of the decision.
A major Democratic complaint has been that the Court should have ruled prior to the election. However, as the affirming justices wrote:
It is fair to ask whether we could have or should have reviewed the constitutionality of the proposed amendment prior to it being presented to the voters. But it is not a question the Commonwealth should ask. Throughout this litigation, the Commonwealth has insisted that we cannot lawfully decide this case prior to the referendum.
The sitting Attorney General, Jay Jones, is responsible for the Court’s not ruling sooner. It’s time for the state Democratic Party to admit this mistake, and a slew of others related to this effort to gerrymander the state:
Blowing $80 million on a referendum that did not need to be held
Eating up most, if not all, of Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s political capital on a referendum that in actuality wasn’t needed. The party was likely to pick up two seats at minimum, if not three, against the backdrop of Trump’s bungled war with Iran and ever-increasing costs of living that have turned voters hard against his policies.
Insulting voters by trying to square “Fair” with gerrymandering.
We don’t need still more arguments and battles based in retribution. We need people and a party that can accept a loss, learn the lessons, and move forward.
Republicans
The GOP is right to celebrate SCOVA’s decision. Now do the right thing and call out the gross gerrymandering that is breaking the election rules Republicans rightly railed against here in Virginia. One needn’t look far for examples.
President Donald Trump’s call to blatantly gerrymander Texas and Missouri and North Carolina, among others, is simply wrong. Virginians’ straining to justify these acts as somehow different from what happened here is insulting.
The gerrymandering now underway in Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and likely more states in coming years happening in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s gutting the Civil Rights Act of 1965’s Section 2 are as blatantly corrupt power-grabs as the one Virginia Democrats just attempted.
Machiavellianism is the antithesis of democracy. Republicans need to take a stronger stand against gerrymandering, especially when it occurs in states where the party holds all the levers of power and use them to shut out and shutdown the opposition.
A Common Enemy
These examples are not an exercise in both-siderism. They’re the outline of the level of comfort that we have reached to break any rule so long as the “right” party wins.
Justifying gerrymandering Virginia to counteract blatantly corrupt power grabs in other states is not instituting “fair” elections. It is taking out a core pillar of Democracy.
Complaining about the action of Virginia Democrats without taking a strong stand against the gerrymandering Republicans are blatantly engaged in is the height of hypocrisy.
Combined, the actions of Democrats and Republicans are telling the public the same thing — rules don’t matter. Raw power does.
So where do we go?
We can begin by seeing our political opponents not as enemies, but as opponents who want for the country what most want — prosperity, peace, and economic opportunity.
Our system was designed to allow opposing parties to argue diligently for their positions, and decide the issues peacefully at the ballot box.
And in that effort, Democrats and Republicans have a common enemy — gerrymandering.
It’s time to join forces and take a strong stand against it. Virginia could lead the way.
Our nonpartisan redistricting commission is — thanks to the State Supreme Court’s recent decision — still a model for fair congressional elections. Let’s push to make it the model that every state looks to emulate.
Democrats and Republicans are not the problem here; the impetus to strip power from either is the problem.
Respect the opponent. Fight hard for one’s positions. And fight to defend the system that has for a quarter-millennium held this experiment in popular government work.
We demand this level of maturity of 17-year-olds who unleash on Friday-night gridirons. We should demand the same of our politicians and ourselves.
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