Reading this and this is more or less forcing me to remind folks of something: it is, in point of fact, perfectly legitimate for a political party to use its control of a state legislature to screw over the opposition party. Note the use of the term ‘legitimate.’ I’m not saying that it’s nice or decent or even smart; merely that this is the life that we have chosen.
Case in point: Illinois legislature was, and is, heavily Democratic. In 2010 the Republicans gained four federal Congressional seats, kept a fifth that they were expected to lose. In 2011 the state legislature, having to redraw the maps anyway because Illinois was losing a seat*, engaged in ruthless redistricting. In 2012 the Republicans lost five federal Congressional seats** And that is how it works. Partisan affiliation is not a protected class. You identify with a political party, you take the political party’s lumps. Simple as that. Don’t like that particular set of lumps? Switch parties: maybe the new set of lumps will be more to your liking. Continue reading I reserve the right for *my* political party to wreck the day of *your* political party.