Republican politics: Because cheating works, people

A lot of ink, airtime, and pundit brain cells will be expended in analyzing what happened on November 4th. It would be easy to pass off election results as a clear and present mandate for Republican rule, while that’s the simplistic view, it’s by no means the correct one.

All one has to do is to go back to the 2000 Presidential election to understand that cheating in politics works. It’s not about the numbers; it’s about who can manipulate the numbers in a way that breaks to their advantage…which is why “gerrymandering” has become part of the American political lexicon. Seeking advantage to advance one’s own narrow interests over those of others is nothing new; it’s human nature. We all want to come out on top, and sometimes we’re not above tilting the playing field in our direction if that’s what it takes.

I’m not going to argue that Republicans are the only ones who cheat or who have cheated. Gerrymandering has historically been a bipartisan pursuit. What I do contend is that Republicans have elevated cheating to an art form. Even better for them, they’ve been able to open enough about it so that it’s become the norm. It’s what people expect, and so it barely attracts attention. They’ve become so adept at it that they *no longer even feel the need to camouflage their efforts*. They cheat, they’re open about it, and they don’t care who knows…because the only people who do (at least in the minds of Republicans) are losers and Liberals.

Republicans have engineered the creation of a system in which their candidates can often win an election while getting FEWER votes than their opponents. That’s right; even when Republicans lose, they may still win. The whole point of gerrymandering is snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, and it’s why Tom DeLay devoted so much time and effort to remaking Texas’s Congressional districts while he was in office. Nationwide, Republican gerrymandering has created a system which allows Republicans to win more Congressional seats with even if they secure fewer votes overall than Democrats.

“One person, one vote?” Right; because democracy only really works for losers and Liberals.

Cheating works. If it didn’t, Republicans wouldn’t do it.