But luckily for Democrats, Wisconsin still has a couple of escape hatches, one of which is the elected state Supreme Court. If Wisconsin voters elect enough pro-democracy judges, they can strike down the legislature's anti-democratic laws and maps. And the other safeguard that lurks in the political waters, unseen and unheard, is the amendment process for the Wisconsin Constitution. Wisconsin law stipulates that to amend the state constitution, the legislature must approve an amendment in two consecutive sessions of the legislature, and then the voters must approve it. Now, the part about the legislature needing to approve the measure is downright annoying, because without citizen-led initiatives, trying to protect the Constitution with a gerrymandered legislature becomes near-impossible. But the second half of that process is the most crucial safeguard to end all safeguards: The people of Wisconsin must approve it. If republicans in Wisconsin ever tried to install a permanent autocratic government by amending the state constitution, they might be able to propose all the amendments they want, but the voters would strike them down. In fact, voters in 49 states have this important power to be the last safeguard against dangerous amendments.
But not Delaware. Delaware's democracy is, without any shred of doubt, the most endangered democracy in our country. But because it's such a blue state, it never actually comes under any attack from republicans. The threat goes completely unnoticed and never talked about. But let me tell you how it could be in the future:
Delaware has been a blue state since the Bill Clinton era, and its liberal-lean comes from the fact that the northern part of the state, New Castle County, is essentially a large chunk of outer Philadelphia. Delaware has three counties, but New Castle County has 150% more people than the other two counties combined. In addition, Delaware has the 8th largest black population in the country by percentage, which gives Democrats a huge boost in the state. And for that reason, it has consistently voted for Democrats without any second thought since the 1990s. It has two democratic senators, a Democratic governor, and the Democrats have a firm grip on the Legislature. But as American history has taught us, with the small exception of some states like Idaho and Massachusetts, the political leanings of states do not usually last forever. There may come a day in out lifetimes that Delaware recedes into the status of a swing state, and when it does, its democracy will be in grave danger.
Article XVI of the Constitution of Delaware says that the state Constitution can be amended in the following manner:
"Any amendment or amendments to this Constitution may be proposed in the Senate or House of Representatives; and if the same shall be agreed to by two thirds of all the members elected to each House, such proposed amendment or amendments shall be entered on their journals, with the yeas and nays taken thereon, and the Secretary of State shall cause such proposed amendment or amendments to be published three months before the next general election in at least three newspapers in each county in which such newspapers shall be published; and if in the General Assembly next after the said election such proposed amendment or amendments shall upon yea and nay vote be agreed to by two thirds of all the members elected to each House, the same shall thereupon become part of the Constitution."
Notice something very important missing? The voters of the state have no control over this process - zero. The legislature in Delaware can write away entire chunks of democratic freedom, and there is nothing the voters of the state can do to stop it. Let me give you a hypothetical scenario of how Delaware could become a permanent autocracy in a process that could take less than 10 years:
At some point in the future, Delaware loses its blue shade, and becomes a new member of the swing-state club. During this time, republicans enjoy a red-wave election during a Presidential election, which is when the governor of Delaware is also elected. They sweep into control of the Delaware legislature, and with control of the state House, the state Senate, and the governorship, they have the power to redistrict the lines for the legislature. Just like Wisconsin did in 2011, they gerrymander the state so thoroughly that Republicans have control of 2/3 of the seats in the legislature. No matter how well Democrats do in the state - even if they get the most votes - they can't break the GOP's lock on power.
The GOP-controlled legislature then proposes a new Constitutional amendment abolishing the election of the governor of Delaware, and turning the state into a parliamentary system. The governor will now be elected by the legislature, but with the GOP unable to lose control of the legislature, the governor of Delaware will always be a republican. Middle-of-the-road voters are outraged, and cannot believe that republicans could possibly dream of doing such a thing (oh my, the thought of anti-democracy republicans, amiright). They come out to the polls in the following November and vote to throw out their representatives - oh wait. Sorry, the legislature is so gerrymandered that your vote means nothing. The Delaware legislature passes the amendment again, and it becomes law. Next, the legislature targets the judiciary of the state, and proposes a new amendment requires every state Supreme Court judge to serve at the pleasure of the governor. With the governor elected only by the legislature, he or she will always be a republican, and can appoint and fire the judges he wants at any time. Sure, a lot of voters might get very mad again, but they cannot overcome the impossible math of partisan gerrymandering. And with this move, Delaware officially becomes an autocracy. There is nothing that can be done. The state's voters go to the polls every election, and they might even cast more ballots for Democrats than the Republicans, but every year, 2/3 of the lawmakers have an R next to their name. They elect a governor who is completely unaccountable to the will of the people, and unaccountable to the law, because the state Supreme Court is his or her puppet. The state legislature could even pass a constitutional amendment outlawing presidential elections in the state forever, and having its electoral votes selected by the legislature. And the voters would have no power to stop it. Soon, the state legislature wouldn't even need to amend the Constitution anymore to pass tyrannical laws, because the state Supreme Court, appointed by the governor and accountable to him by the threat of being fired, will just green-light them. They soon pass laws suppressing the right to vote - hell, they might even try something like outlawing the Democratic party itself. And nothing can stop them.
While democrats and liberals have long been the party that can clean up a disaster after it happens, they have a very bad habit of not planning ahead to stop chaos before it happens. In 2022, democrats put a much larger emphasis on winning state legislatures, but it would've been nice if they had done this before the republicans took them over and gerrymandered the crap out of them. Democrats in every state should be amending Constitutions left and right to make sure that voters can have the power to change the laws of the state when someone like like Scott Walker leads a tyrannical takeover of a state's democracy. I wish democrats had a little more imagination and knowledge of things like this. Sure, I'm happy about Democrats in states like Minnesota writing new voting rights laws, but that will mean absolutely nothing if republicans take back control of your state, and you can't amend the state Constitution with a voter-led initiative. Sometimes it's actually valuable to be a nerd and know this stuff, so you can plan ahead and stop this before it happens!
Comments
Post a Comment