Frank's Musings

In the OpEd by Thomas Edsall in the 9/8/22 NYT, the label “undemocratic” is placed by both leftists and right-wingers on any behavior that contravenes their concept of what’s right for them.  In fact, this misuse of the term betrays the motivation of most voters in this country.

The American political system is based on an apparently equitable set of rules; however, Republican-controlled state legislatures have used gerrymandering to take advantage of the disparity between the voting behaviors of “haves” and “have-nots.” There is a simple reason the Constitution was drafted and ratified 250 years ago--it favored the interests of a relatively unified nation.  The overwhelming majority of the population was convinced that their disadvantages were caused by one single enemy—the British.  Now the country is splintered into ideologically warring camps— “the enemy is us. “  

Voter turnout is more driven by protecting one’s wealth than by seeking a fairer share. Gerrymandering voting districts would not as easily skew election outcomes if the populations of the wealthier neighborhoods turned out as poorly as voters in the less wealthy areas.  Therefore, a principal guideline of gerrymandering turns out to be to discount the nominal ideological balance of each district by its wealth-indexed voting propensity.

Two courses of action may be taken to correct this distortion of national election results:  the Supreme Court’s validation of gerrymandering could be overturned (Not likely with today’s Supreme Court majority); or the Democrats could concentrate their ample campaign funds on convincing their expected supporters diligently to exercise their right to vote.