by Chap Petersen

A couple years ago, I wrote an essay entitled: “Single-Party Government Didn’t Work in the Soviet Union, and It’s Not Working in Fairfax County Either.”

My goal was to point out the parallels in failing one-party systems.

But frankly the points were too obvious. So I didn’t bother publishing it. Maybe I should have.

The last couple weeks have been depressing. On April 21, Virginia voters by a narrow margin (3 points) approved a redistricting map which will create a “10-1” map for Democrats, by intentionally diluting the votes of rural white voters.

A week later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the 1989 Voting Rights Act violated the “Equal Protection” clause of the Fourteenth Amendment by requiring states to create “minority-majority” districts, whenever possible.

The logic of the Supreme Court’s majority was unassailable: classifying voters based on race is inherently fraudulent, if not impossible in today’s America. (The  modern reality of mixed families defies the precepts of racial classification). The reality is a bit more complicated, however.

With the striking down of the race-based districts, there is now an open invitation for Republican legislatures to redraw their maps, just like Virginia, and wipe out any Democratic-leaning seats, both in Congress and in state legislatures. It would make short-term partisan sense.

But it is a terrible idea.

Our system of governance, like our justice system, should be adversarial. Opposition leads to better decisions. It forces the majority to articulate their decisions. Occasionally, opposition can lead to better outcomes. (I spent most of my Assembly years in the minority, so I know a bit about that).

That applies in every state, as well as the  U.S. Congress.

One party systems lead to laziness or, more likely, cowardice — as politicians seek to please the “usual suspects” of party committees and special interest activists. Independent thinkers lose interest. Eventually employers will also. I don’t claim any influence in “R” states like South Carolina or Tennessee, but they should honestly refrain from any overt partisan gains, especially in the immediate aftermath of the SCT decision. Draw maps based on geography and let the voters make the choice.

Tuesday, May 5th, will be the Indiana primaries. There the Republican State Senate refused to “gerrymander” the state’s Congressional map, even at the request of President Trump, who is now actively campaigning against the incumbents. Will voters reward their integrity? Stay tuned.

If so, it may justify a principle dating back to George Washington ….

Power stays with those who don’t seek all of it.  

Chap Petersen is a Northern Virginia attorney. This column is republished with permission from his newsletter The Virginia Attorney.