Ohioans voted to kill this monster

The ill effects of gerrymandering are readily apparent in Ohio, for years and right up to right now, about a week after gerrymandered Republicans in the 135th General Assembly forced through an $89.1 billion, two-year state budget chock full of provisions that have nothing to do with budgeting. The Gerry-Mander: political cartoon by Elkanah Tisdale. Source: Wikicommons. Much the same as they did with the mistitled "Stand Your Ground" law approved as an amendment to another bill late in the legislative session in 2020, Republicans got a lot of what they wanted this year by tucking in dangerous legislation into the budget bill so that they would not have to defend the changes they're making so that they would not get a proper vetting. There's no risk since the Republican majority successfully protected its gerrymandered supermajority and drew up district maps that overwhelmingly favor Republicans getting elected. They did that despite state constitutional amendments that outlaw the practice that was supported by 70% of voters just a few years ago. They don't have to be accountable for what they do because the districts they drew all but guarantee they will be re-elected, no matter how disastrous their leadership is, no matter how out-of-step they are with the majority of Ohioans with the majority of Americans. Ohioans, much like the residents in other states where Stand Your Ground laws have been enacted, don't understand that the gun rights expansions actually changed the definition of "self-defense" to include instances in which a person with a gun — if they fear for their life — can pursue and kill another person. It is a radical change that gets approved in gerrymandered statehouses because it's not understood. And because proponents aggressively suggest that only anti-Second Amendment people would be opposed to it. And because they tuck it into other legislation and, therefore, don't have to define it or defend it. Senate Bill 1 was introduced in January, but it's had previous incarnations going back years and years. Essentially, it eliminates the power and role of the state board of education and hands it to the governor. Why this is necessary — beyond the talking points and focus group hyperbole — is about as clear as mud, but alas, it's a done deal because it was included in the two-year $86.1 billion operating budget lawmakers approved. So, too, other education "reforms," including Senate Bill 117, which establishes think tanks at five state universities: Cleveland State University, the University of Toledo, Ohio State, Miami University and the University of Cincinnati. By inserting this into the budget, lawmakers avoided the need to vet or justify it. These think tanks are presented as nonpartisan and well-intentioned, but it's difficult to even imagine that is correct given the hyper-partisan language at its core and the unprecedented legislative interference in both higher education and public education K-12. Expanding the state voucher program — freeing up millions of dollars for private schools at the expense of public schools — is also included in this budget, which, in our view, shows the true loyalty of our gerrymandered statehouse, and it is not to public education. The quality of state government in Ohio will not improve — in fact, it will continue to be compromised, more and more — until the monster of gerrymandering is finally killed off, which is what Ohioans voted to do when they approved constitutional amendments outlawing it. * In a word The Gerry-Mander is a name for a creature that appeared in editorial cartoons in 1812 and 1813. Given how gerrymandering has shaped and can shape politics in the U.S., calling a Gerry-Mander a monster is no mere exaggeration. Gerrymandering takes its name from Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry. In 1812, legislators in Massachusetts' Democratic-Republican Party redrew the map of a senatorial district to concentrate voters of its party in certain geographic areas. The same map dispersed voters of the rival political party, the Federalists, to separate districts. Gerry signed this map into law in 1812. This map drew the wrath of the opposing Federalists and spawned the cartoon that criticized the redistricting. The practice and the cartoon gave us a term for politically based redistricting that political bodies still use. We continue to use the term because the practice continues to this day. Politicians still reshape voting districts to suit their political purposes, much as they did in Gerry's day. Creating electoral districts that skew political party representation contradicts democratic principles and human rights. Gerrymandering provides the illusion of democracy but actually denies it. — The University of Alabama at Birmingham Institute for Human Rights Blog