It Is Time for Ruthless Aggression
The national battle over gerrymandering should be just the first step. Next up: expanding SCOTUS.
Heads up: Bill Kristol and I will be live with Katie Couric today at 5pm in the East. You can watch us on Substack here or on YouTube here.
1. Virginia
Abigail Spanberger did not campaign on saving democracy at the federal level. But that might turn out to be the most important thing she does as governor.
As Bill discussed this morning, Republicans in Texas—at the behest of the president—violated a bunch of norms when they embarked on a quest to gerrymander more seats for their party in the middle of an election cycle.
This action was illiberal and anti-democratic but—and this is the key—it was also legal.
Democrats, to their credit, responded not by rending their garments but with ruthless proportionality: Led by Gavin Newsom and Spanberger, they counter-gerrymandered.
This is the way.
The road to preserving liberal democracy does not involve unilateral disarmament or faking normality in the hopes of making the world normal again. It involves meeting force with force while crafting a national remedy for nonpartisan redistricting, which would force everyone to behave according to standards of good government.
It’s classical deterrence theory. As some Roman general once said, “If you seek peace, prepare for war.”
This should be the model for the biggest piece of ruthless aggression of them all: expanding the Supreme Court.
Let’s get ruthless.
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