If the Dems didn’t save the democracy they wouldn’t get the hit now

We’ve all heard the warnings, about how Democrats will weather the motions as Republicans. mobilized to reshape America’s constituency through super-partisan, super-partisan gerrymandering. We might even have dismissed them as exaggeration. But not anymore. Those warnings are now a dire, urgent reality.

In Tennessee, the state’s Republicans are preparing split the Democratic stronghold in Nashville into many GOP-dominated counties. Tennessee now lays out a roadmap for Republican legislatures in states like Kentucky, Florida and Arizona to divide and conquer the most trusted Democratic constituency. The result will be a new undemocratic era where Republicans enjoy a completely artificial and nearly insurmountable electoral advantage in the House.

While President Joe Biden raised party spirits with a strong speech in support of the law on voting rights in Atlanta on Tuesday, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin’s compromise bill on Freedom of Voting doesn’t go far enough to protect American elections from Republican interference. Democrats must strengthen their election protection provisions or prepare for a lasting wound to our election process and an attack in November — something that is sure to be admired by many. Republicans obeyed to fix the game in their favor.

As the national conversation turns to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s ambitious and fast-coming January 17 deadline to pass a serious voting reform package, there’s no time to waste. in strengthening the softer parts of Manchin’s admirable bill. In its current form, the Freedom of Voting Act would mandate uniform rules for the redistribution of parliament—And importantly, it includes the maps that have been issued this cycle. It also increases transparency around the redistricting process and restores the ability to sue in court over partisan power grabs like the Republicans planned for Nashville.

The courts will be key to unpacking the deliberately complex redistricting maps passed by Republicans and, to a much lesser extent, Democratic legislatures in states like Illinois, where Congressman Adam Kinzinger faced a undeniably dirty redistricting process that eventually led to his retirement announcement this year. Unfortunately, the federal courts are currently useless against gerrymandering after the Republican majority of the Supreme Court stripped the courts of their power to rule on redistricting cases. in the case of 2019 Rucho v. Common cause.

With no one to literally look after the store, the partisan bandits ran wild. According to data compiled by FiveThirtyEight, there are fewer competing congressional districts now than at any time in modern history, with just under half the country still locked in the controversial process of drawing their boundaries over the next decade. And without the hassle of federal courts, North Carolina Republicans can now use their far-right state courts to rubber stamp a redistricting map. Democrats reduce kneecaps while supporting GOP candidates.

But nowhere is it as bleak as Texas. In a state that prides itself on denying prisoners not only the right to vote but also basic human rights, Republicans in the state legislature are now count with the prisoners in a way that attracts representation from Democratic districts and redistributes it to Republican areas. In an East Texas town of 16,000 people, more than 13,000 are prisoners. With no signs of oversight, Texas Republicans are not far from arguing over cattle counting.

Fortunately for Democrats, the solution to their gerrymandering problem already exists in HR 1, For the People’s Act. That bill includes stronger terms to establish independent national redistricting committees and follow the lead of the states that have taken action to reduce the corrosive effect of partisan politics on protracted electoral reallocation a decade of the United States. More importantly, For the People also provides voters with a clear, uniform process for letting the federal government know when a state is violating redistricting laws.

Incorporating For the People into the Free Voting Act would make Senate Democrats more willing to agree to Schumer’s draconian proposal, and that would mean extending Manchin and Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s Green Wall. of Arizona. But that thinking shouldn’t dampen Democrats’ hopes: Manchin and Sinema have never been shy about voice disapproval of party priorities. But on this particular issue, both conservative factions of the party have been eerily quiet. In Manchin and Sinema’s silence is hope that maybe, eventually, Democrats can convince their institutional supporters that fair elections are worth some little flexibility.

“Leave us alone, no matter which side, it’ll come back to you pretty hard in the end,” Manchin told reporters earlier this week. But whatever the short-term political costs of decisive action, they are worth paying to prevent the long-term harm to democracy by allowing underrepresented counties to flourish across the land. country. Years of inaction have led to this moment. Now, it’s time for Senate Democrats to show real leadership in addressing this acute crisis.

Schumer deserves credit for setting a firm date for a vote and urging Biden to unequivocally and unequivocally confirm the end of undemocracy. January 17th is a moment of truth not only for the Democrats but for our nation, and it will likely be the last time Democrats stick their necks out before heading to the polls. midterm elections in 2022.

Democrats must make this vote by passing the strongest electoral protection legislation possible. If they don’t succeed, Schumer, Biden, and this nation may never get another chance to heal the dangerous disease currently raging in America’s electoral process.