Gerrymandering

North Carolina has 13 Congressional Districts. In 2018, approximately 50% of voters voted for Republicans and 50% for Democrats. Ten Republican candidates were elected to Congress and three Democrats. This appalling imbalance resulted from Gerrymandering by the Republican-controlled legislature. Democratic-controlled legislatures have been guilty of this same offence. The Supreme Court recently ruled that Federal Courts are obliged to do nothing about it. Speaking for the four dissenters, Justice Elena Kagan correctly described the decision as one that “debased and dishonored our democracy, turning upside-down the core American idea that all governmental power derives from the people.” 

As the year wears on, American democracy slips into ever greater peril.