From: Nick Slabaugh
Columbus
I had the privilege of speaking at the Aug. 6 Bartholomew County legislative redistricting tour stop. Despite the inconvenient timing during the work day, I was proud to see a standing-room only crowd for this key civic event. The event was a parade of citizens asking for fair, non-partisan electoral maps, while Republican committee members sat in silence.
Many here and across the state have asked, “Why won’t Republicans on the redistricting committee answer questions?”
The answer is simple: They know that what they’re doing is wrong, and they’re going to do it anyway. They don’t care that voters want independent redistricting. They don’t have to care what voters want, because they don’t need to win over voters any more — they have the maps.
Indiana is already one of the most gerrymandered states in America. Republicans in the state legislature have used their power of map-making to give themselves an unbreakable supermajority, and right now they’re doing it again.
I fear that we have already come to the end of democracy in Indiana. By “the end” I don’t mean that we’ll stop doing something that looks like democracy – we’ll still have campaigns, still go to the polls, still have yard signs and T-shirts. But I fear that none of that will really matter, because the outcome has been decided in advance; guaranteed by and for the ruling party.
The purpose of democracy is to create a link of accountability between voters and lawmakers. Gerrymandering destroys that crucial link. When a politician’s seat is guaranteed, and a party’s majority is similarly guaranteed, why should they care what voters think?
If not to voters, to whom do our legislators owe allegiance? The answers are bad for Indiana — wealthy donors, special interests, and the Washington DC party establishment.
There’s no need to wonder why Indiana Republicans won’t answer our questions. It is the guilty silence of a party whose guiding principle is, first and always, power.
