So here's a thing that has always bothered me. And it's particularly relevant right now, so I got a metaphorical shovel here to pry up these metaphorical weeds.
The big news here in the US right now is conservative legislatures getting the SCOTUS' stamp on "gerrymandering underrepresented groups out of representation districts is Good, Akshully" and not only jumping on it, but jumping on it before that ruling was handed down, rolling out new maps almost the next day.
Like. It was so obviously planned it's not even funny.
Let's trim some leaves out of the way first: to say that mid-decade redistricting is weird and Not Normal is an understatement. District demographics are calculated using the census, which is done every ten years; the last census was held in 2020. I dunno about the rest of you, but I've moved twice since then, and we're moving again at the end of the month. With the way housing has been snapped up by corporations and turned into rentals, it's really hard for younger people to put down roots and settle in; add on top of that gentrification pushing lower-income residents out of neighborhoods that used to be affordable, and you have a situation where the demographic map from 6 years ago was inaccurate within a couple years, particularly in places with no rent control. Redistricting mid-decade is, historically, Not Done, and the redistricting shenanigans of the last year have been weird and extreme. This is Not Normal.
With that background out of the way, let's get into the dirt: gerrymandering. Both Democrats and Republicans do it. There used to be a push for a independent, apolitical commission to balance districts impartially; the trouble with this is thst people have political agendas, and even if you use a computer algorithm to do it -- my brother has been working on one for years, already -- computers are still programmed by people and can have biases built in. Do Not Talk To Me About Using AI, because that has the exact same flaws.
I'm not here to discuss potential solutions to this issue right now; what I want to discuss is why gerrymandering happens. Why do parties weight districts in their favour? Obviously, to hold onto power. The current situation with some states redistricting to do a pure balance against conservative gerrymandering is a relatively new and novel one, actually. I have a feeling that's going to reach a new level now that Republicans have hit the gas.
But let's get back into holding onto power. I have friends on all parts of the political spectrum; and what I hear from the ones in heavily weighted districts is always the same, no matter where they stand: "My vote won't count for anything because of gerrymandering, so why even bother?" Sometimes they don't even have someone running in their political party to vote for, because the people who might have run figured nobody would vote for them.
But. Is that really true?
Take a look at these roots: the power of gerrymandering is not just in overwhelming demographics; it's in discouraging those demographics from ever trying to challenge the status quo.
Political power begins in the small local elections, with individuals getting involved in town hall meetings and building recognition. It's called grassroots for a reason. It's a lot of work, of course it is. But there's literally nothing stopping anyone from getting involved, even in areas where they feel they're an underrepresented minority; if you don't speak up about things, nothing will get done about them.
If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that everyone agrees on what the biggest issues are; it's their approach and solutions that differ. Infrastructure issues, rent control, and home insurance pricing are all universal issues that are top of the list right now which local governments have the power to affect. Federal government interference in people's medical decisions is also something people across the board can agree is bad; nobody is a fan of ICE kidnapping their neighbors who have never committed a crime more serious than speeding. People hate conservatives trying to distract with culture war nonsense when their kids' friends are being disappeared and they need to take payday loans to afford groceries.
Robert Reich did an interview with Justin Jones -- one of the powerhouse activist Democratic representatives from Nashville, Tennessee, if you haven't been keeping up with the news -- which is worth giving a watch.
It can be tempting to look at the effects of the current gutting of the VRA and want to throw in the towel. Justin says the same thing: don't give up. Protest the irregular actions of legislatures across the country, and refuse to stay home on election day. Refuse to be discouraged. Refuse to be silenced.
You have no idea how many people actually stand with you if everyone stays home. If you never plant any seeds, nothing will ever have a chance to grow.
