Who gets the blame for breaking our 250 year old experiment with democracy?

[berg80]

Black majority-minority congressional districts are racist and unconstitutional

You folks keep saying things like that as if what R controlled legislatures in the south are doing isn't drawing new maps along racial lines.

 

[berg80]

the partisan Florida Court? Again 7 to 2 judgement by the supreme Court, are you claiming it was a republican court in 2000?

I'm not claiming it was, it was.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

The new voting districts approved Thursday could give Republicans a chance to win all nine of the state's congressional seats in the November midterm elections.

Tennessee lawmakers pass U.S. House map carving up majority-Black district in Memphis

The new voting districts approved Thursday could give Republicans a chance to win all nine of the state’s congressional seats in the November midterm elections.

www.pbs.org

Black people make up 17% of TN's population. The R controlled legislature wants to strip them of their political influence.

Republicans want to deny black Americans political representation.

 

[Nostra]

Republicans want to deny black Americans political representation.

Which blacks can’t vote now?

 

[Mac-7]

You folks keep saying things like that as if what R controlled legislatures in the south are doing isn't drawing new maps along racial lines.

The constitution does not prohibit congressional districts that favor a city or a rural district

Or a factory or some other special interest

But preferential treatment based on race is unconstitutional

 

[RetiredGySgt]

I'm not claiming it was, it was.

LOL no it wasnt.

 

[DonGlock26]

You do realize that, except for Massachusetts, most of those states only have 1 or 2 congressional districts, right?

Literally impossible to gerrymander…..

How many does Connecticut have?

 

[Oddball]

Who gets the blame for breaking our 250 year old experiment with democracy?​

The experiment was killed in 1913....This demonic azzhole gets the blame...

 

[berg80]

This the culmination of more than 50 years of conservatives’ efforts to undermine democracy and establish the tyranny of Republican minority rule.

Conservatives would say that they didn’t destroy our 250 year old experiment with democracy, rather that America was never a democracy.

The structural advantage R's have in the Senate and the EC isn't enough for them. They have the power to try to ensure minority rule and they are ruthlessly using it.

 

[berg80]

LOL no it wasnt.

AI Overview

The Supreme Court in 2000 had a conservative-leaning majority, which was solidified by the 5-4 ideological split in the pivotal Bush v. Gore decision. While often considered a 5-4 court on major issues, the majority was not as structurally deep as the current 6-3 conservative supermajority. [1, 2, 3, 4]

 

[$ecular#eckler]

The founders did not play the system this way, but here we are changing the rules of the representation, again, without an amendment convention. There are all kinds of problems with the almighty Constitution. This should be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Two Court Decisions Have Unleashed an Era of Perpetual Redistricting

Four states are considering drawing new maps in the coming weeks. Another dozen or more could join the fray next year.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Oddball]

They didn't play the system with a central bank issuing worthless paper commercial script, an income tax, popularly elected Senators, a standing military, a federal ID number, an immense welfare state, ad nauseum.

The Constitution, as written, hasn't been in effect in well over a century...So your continued beeatching and moaning that it's the problem has absolutely no basis in reality.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

AI Overview

The Supreme Court in 2000 had a conservative-leaning majority, which was solidified by the 5-4 ideological split in the pivotal Bush v. Gore decision. While often considered a 5-4 court on major issues, the majority was not as structurally deep as the current 6-3 conservative supermajority. [1, 2, 3, 4]

7 to 2 decision on whether to call what gore wanted illegal.

 

[DennisPTate]

I suppose one could make the argument the conservatives on the SC get the nod for gutting the VRA. The recent ruling effectively nullifying Sec. 2 of the law, having unleashed a rush by southern states to gerrymander districts with minority representation out of existence. But R gerrymandering was already well on its way before the Court decided to once again legislate from the bench.

Supreme Court guts Voting Rights Act, greenlights GOP gerrymanders​

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court kneecapped the Voting Rights Act (VRA), the landmark civil rights law that restricted racial gerrymandering and racial discrimination in voting for sixty years.

Writing for the majority in Callais v. Louisiana, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the court was not striking down Section 2 of the VRA, but rather “properly” interpreting it as “impos[ing] liability only when circumstances give rise to a strong inference that intentional discrimination occurred.”

Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, accused the majority of making changes that “eviscerate the law.”

The ruling effectively invalidates Section 2 of the VRA as it has been understood for four decades without explicitly striking down the statute. It now will require proof of intentional discrimination — something Congress did not write into the law and that’s extremely difficult for plaintiffs to show.

Supreme Court guts Voting Rights Act, greenlights GOP gerrymanders

Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, accused the majority of making changes that "eviscerate the law."

www.democracydocket.com

To be sure, both D's and R's have engaged in the ugly practice of gerrymandering throughout our history. Boiled down to its essence, it is and always has been a perversion of a representative democracy. Which is why Dem's tried to pass legislation mandating that independent commissions draw district maps in the future. R's rejected the idea. We're coming to understand why.

AI Overview

H.R. 1 (the For the People Act) and subsequent legislation like the Redistricting Reform Act of 2025 aim to eliminate partisan gerrymandering by requiring all states to use 15-member independent redistricting commissions (IRCs) to draw congressional maps.

So, it appears the hands down winner in causing an unprecedented number of R controlled states to enact legislation allowing for mid-cycle redistricting (which normally happens every 10 years following the census), and the consequent reaction by Dem controlled states to the aforementioned perversion, is.........well........it goes without saying. Of note, R's have typically used their control of state legislatures in order to permit the gerrymandering while D's have sought the input of the people by passing referendums. The VA Supreme Court having taken away the right of majority rule after the people voted to allow for new maps to be drawn.

trump has expressed concern he will be impeached again if the D's take the House in the fall. Then there's the matter of the House holding hearings and using its constitutional authority of oversight (something the R's have abdicated) that also has to be concerning for Don. Though two years isn't nearly long enough to hold the regime to account for all its abuses. Which explains his motivation for trying to rig the midterms in the R's favor. To be clear, rigging the election on a national scale is exactly what he's trying to do. It's an abomination like no other in our history.

But while he is responsible for trying to put another nail in democracy's coffin, is he to blame for the success to date? Or are the R's in control of state legislatures and governor's mansions really to blame? They could have stood up for the principles on which the country was founded like the seven state reps in Indiana did. The ones targeted by trump for being primaried out of office. Nothing prevented Greg Abbott from telling trump he could not in good conscience do what he was being asked. R legislative leaders could have refused to participate in an anti-democratic scheme they knew to be wrong. Voters in IN could have shown their support for the reps who so obviously did the right thing.

The point being trump is powerless without his enablers. He only gets to lead the country down this path if enough people follow. The existential question for the times is how to get them to stop following.

I haven't even read the opening post yet.... but it is pretty obvious that here in Canada and even in the USA President Donald J. Trump gets BLAMED for just about every problem that Canadians and Americans are experienceing.

My guess is that the owners of BigMedia....
want YOU to BLAME TRUMP!

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Somehow, you missed the point that the endeavor R's in southern states are currently engaged in is to draw maps demographically favoring white Repubs. A district in Memphis that has existed in its current form since 1932 is being broken in to pieces for the aforementioned purpose.

Somehow you simply ignored the gerrymandered dem district. What a surprise..............not really though.

 

[$ecular#eckler]

They didn't play the system with a central bank issuing worthless paper commercial script, an income tax, popularly elected Senators, a standing military, a federal ID number, an immense welfare state, ad nauseum.

The Constitution, as written, hasn't been in effect in well over a century...So your continued beeatching and moaning that it's the problem has absolutely no basis in reality.

What? How does that render my declaration that the Constitution is the problem?

People believe that the Constitution does something, and I would hope that they believe it controls the decision-making for a diverse society, the enforcement of civil rights, and the just application of penalties.

I do not understand your argument that the Constitution "hasn't been in effect." Are the elections my imagination? Are the ICE and military operations just my imagination?

 

[$ecular#eckler]

Which is why Dem's tried to pass legislation mandating that independent commissions draw district maps in the future.

It is time to realize that there is no such thing as "independent commissions." We learn what each member's political leanings are. It is absurd to believe that there are intelligent people without political leanings. Each side claims the other side is delusional, and that is reason enough to screen members for political commitments.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

I suppose one could make the argument the conservatives on the SC get the nod for gutting the VRA. The recent ruling effectively nullifying Sec. 2 of the law, having unleashed a rush by southern states to gerrymander districts with minority representation out of existence. But R gerrymandering was already well on its way before the Court decided to once again legislate from the bench.

Supreme Court guts Voting Rights Act, greenlights GOP gerrymanders​

In a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court kneecapped the Voting Rights Act (VRA), the landmark civil rights law that restricted racial gerrymandering and racial discrimination in voting for sixty years.

Writing for the majority in Callais v. Louisiana, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the court was not striking down Section 2 of the VRA, but rather “properly” interpreting it as “impos[ing] liability only when circumstances give rise to a strong inference that intentional discrimination occurred.”

Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, accused the majority of making changes that “eviscerate the law.”

The ruling effectively invalidates Section 2 of the VRA as it has been understood for four decades without explicitly striking down the statute. It now will require proof of intentional discrimination — something Congress did not write into the law and that’s extremely difficult for plaintiffs to show.

Supreme Court guts Voting Rights Act, greenlights GOP gerrymanders

Justice Elena Kagan, in dissent, accused the majority of making changes that "eviscerate the law."

www.democracydocket.com

To be sure, both D's and R's have engaged in the ugly practice of gerrymandering throughout our history. Boiled down to its essence, it is and always has been a perversion of a representative democracy. Which is why Dem's tried to pass legislation mandating that independent commissions draw district maps in the future. R's rejected the idea. We're coming to understand why.

AI Overview

H.R. 1 (the For the People Act) and subsequent legislation like the Redistricting Reform Act of 2025 aim to eliminate partisan gerrymandering by requiring all states to use 15-member independent redistricting commissions (IRCs) to draw congressional maps.

So, it appears the hands down winner in causing an unprecedented number of R controlled states to enact legislation allowing for mid-cycle redistricting (which normally happens every 10 years following the census), and the consequent reaction by Dem controlled states to the aforementioned perversion, is.........well........it goes without saying. Of note, R's have typically used their control of state legislatures in order to permit the gerrymandering while D's have sought the input of the people by passing referendums. The VA Supreme Court having taken away the right of majority rule after the people voted to allow for new maps to be drawn.

trump has expressed concern he will be impeached again if the D's take the House in the fall. Then there's the matter of the House holding hearings and using its constitutional authority of oversight (something the R's have abdicated) that also has to be concerning for Don. Though two years isn't nearly long enough to hold the regime to account for all its abuses. Which explains his motivation for trying to rig the midterms in the R's favor. To be clear, rigging the election on a national scale is exactly what he's trying to do. It's an abomination like no other in our history.

But while he is responsible for trying to put another nail in democracy's coffin, is he to blame for the success to date? Or are the R's in control of state legislatures and governor's mansions really to blame? They could have stood up for the principles on which the country was founded like the seven state reps in Indiana did. The ones targeted by trump for being primaried out of office. Nothing prevented Greg Abbott from telling trump he could not in good conscience do what he was being asked. R legislative leaders could have refused to participate in an anti-democratic scheme they knew to be wrong. Voters in IN could have shown their support for the reps who so obviously did the right thing.

The point being trump is powerless without his enablers. He only gets to lead the country down this path if enough people follow. The existential question for the times is how to get them to stop following.

having unleashed a rush by southern states to gerrymander districts with minority representation out of existence.

Minorities can still vote and will still have representation.

What they won't have is a guarantee that a district will elect a black or Hispanic or Asian or Muslim represntative.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

The new voting districts approved Thursday could give Republicans a chance to win all nine of the state's congressional seats in the November midterm elections.

Tennessee lawmakers pass U.S. House map carving up majority-Black district in Memphis

The new voting districts approved Thursday could give Republicans a chance to win all nine of the state’s congressional seats in the November midterm elections.

www.pbs.org

Black people make up 17% of TN's population. The R controlled legislature wants to strip them of their political influence.

Black people make up 17% of TN's population. The R controlled legislature wants to strip them of their political influence.

How? They have, according to you, 17% of the possible votes.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Black people make up 17% of TN's population. The R controlled legislature wants to strip them of their political influence.

How? They have, according to you, 17% of the possible votes.

Notice they never complain that Republicans are 40 percent of all the New England states but have zero representatices?