Gerrymandering erodes confidence in democracy
When politicians redraw congressional district maps to favor their party, they may secure short-term victories. But those wins can come at a steep price — a loss of public faith in elections and, ultimately, in democracy itself.
https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2025/08/12/gerrymandering-erodes-confidence-democracyOpen linkView original on sh.itjust.works374
Comments41
It's a feature, not a bug.
"If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.” - David Frum
Exactly. When people lose faith in democracy, leaders have free rein.
Of course gerrymandering erodes democracy, that's the point
Blatant election tampering erodes confidence in democracy? Who could have seen that development?
Clearly we need ranked choice and no electoral college. 🤷♂️
Agree on both points, but gerrymandering doesn't apply to the function of the EC. Even with Ranked Choice voting, they would still be susceptible to gerrymandering. Independent redistricting commissions seem like the best compromise, but then you get into a situation where not all states are playing by the same rules, and actually supporting your citizens rights is bad for the country if an equally large state can gerrymander the shit out of districts.
The article does suggest also having "proportional representation, in which parties win seats based on their share of the statewide vote, rather than in winner-take-all districts" which remove a lot of the fuss about districts maps, but would still probably still disenfranchise some voters. I also can't imagine a ballot in a big state like CA or TX having to rank 70+ representatives for your house seat.
The unfortunate reality is the politicians currently in power would rather pull up the ladder and secure their seat than make things more fair and add more ladders.
Of course, we are fucked. It’s all over. The best outcome we can hope for at this point is a civil war
And to win that war. And to somehow ensure that, in the vacuum of power that immediately follows, whomever takes over leading the nation isn’t influenced by foreign actors.
There won’t be any winners in a civil war these days. There will be too many sides.
Indeed. The folks that need to organize aren't, the fascists are, and the oligarchs are buying everyone that isn't affiliated one way or another. Then there's China, Russia, Israel, etc. It's a mess and we all lose at the end.
Well how do we Organize when all of our organization attempts are moderated, yet on truth social they are encouraged.
This very community has certain moderators who try very hard to shut down any conversation like that
You aren’t wrong. I don’t know the answer. I truly wish I did.
My suggestion is 5-member districts elected by Sequential Proportional Approval Voting. Quintuple the House and award seats using the same method in groups of five.
Gerrymandering erodes 𝖼̶𝗈̶𝗇̶𝖿̶𝗂̶𝖽̶𝖾̶𝗇̶𝖼̶𝖾̶ ̶𝗂̶𝗇̶ democracy. FIFU
Markdown (which Lemmy supports) can do that, too:
confidence in~~confidence in~~I tried in the editor, but it failed for some reason. That's why I used this.
The editor sucks, in my not so humble opinion. Just type it out, that's the point of Markdown anyhow.
Oh, wow, now that democrats also want to Gerrymander, we see articles like this.
wait there was confidence in democracy?
Honestly, it was a long time coming. USA today is mirroring the fall of the Roman republic. People and its ruling elites became too complacent after their country became hegemons after emerging victorious from a major war. The ordinary folks became disillusioned with supposed democracy, and started to look for a strong man to get things done, by breaking the slow deliberation and bureaucracy, which only serves the oligarchs.
I didn't think I would agree with conservatives, but they are right about a society becoming too decadent and losing its moral fibre.
Rome was never a democracy. Rome didn't have a single war that made it hegemonic. Sorry this account is just fiction.
I refered to the republic as democracy to oversimplify the explanation, putting aside the pedantry.
And if you didn't know what Rome's war with Carthage was about, it was vying who will become the hegemon in the Mediterranean. Sorry you didn't know history.
The Punic Wars were another step in the endless grinding of the Romans against every region bordering their territories. Yes both Carthage and atomen were expanding into each other's sphere of influence, but I don't agree that either side considered it a struggle for ultimate power.
Remove every peaceful option, see what's left
People roll over and die? That seems to be the American response so far.
The vast majority of Americans are still too comfortable to meaningfully act to push back. As soon as people personally start struggling to afford living, food, shelter, etc. and/or see their community going to hell, that's when we get real action.
It's been like this in every single civil war/uprising/revolution/etc. in history. The state's monopoly on violence really is a strong suppressant on citizens taking action.
Almost sounds like a Sherlock Holmes quote.
Districts shouldn't exist, borders shouldn't have an effect on if you are represented.
1 person, 1 vote
That's a real, direct democracy
No shit
Gerrymandering erodes
confidence indemocracyUndemocratic thing is undemocratic.
Shocked Pikachu
That’s the point.
Study reveals thing working as intended
Once again a silly us centric article that just glazes over the facts. The state of democracy in the states is closer to that of a course.
Eroding confidence in democracy isn't a bug for them, it's a feature. It depresses election turnouts because more people think "what's the point in wasting my time voting? My vote doesn't matter."
Is this news? When I lived in ohio I knew my votes on state issues were a protest, not anything relevant. They drew the maps to guarantee their victory. The only votes that mattered were state constitution referendums, presidential votes (not primary because we were post super Tuesday), and local governance
Another obvious conclusion brought to you by the Common Sense Corporation.
You don't fucking say! Does water get things wet too?!
Where do we draw the line?
Yeah...but at this point there's more important things at stake :/ (referring to Newsom's effort)