DE TOCQUEVILLE WOULDN'T RECOGNIZE THIS

posted by Michael Chihak

The work of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission is worth watching closely, not only for what it will do to political boundaries in the next decade, but for what it says about the dystopian state of our political system.

The commission’s work, beyond its constitutionally mandated goals, serves as both a commentary on and a reflection of our state and nation’s attitudes about majority rule in a democracy.

An outside observer, perhaps a 21st century De Tocqueville, might look at America now and say that we no longer possess the sense of equality that De Tocqueville saw in the 19th century, but that we have retained our sense of religious conviction along with its almost constant companion – hypocrisy.

That religion, by the way, is from the i’m-right-and-you’re-wrong house of worship.

All this has the potential to leave people disenfranchised.

Just do the math: in Arizona, 35 percent of registered voters are Republican, 31 percent are Democratic and 33 percent are registered with neither party, most calling themselves independent. Those are the voters dissatisfied with the two major parties, although disgusted might be a better description of how many feel.

So how does the attention given to the redistricting commission reflect this? By the way the two major parties are striving to influence its independence.

Politicians on both sides are regularly making pronouncements to the media and the public decrying the process.

The attorney general, a Republican, is investigating how the commission has conducted business and has challenged the one requirement of the commission, that its work meet the dictates of the U.S. Voting Rights Act, which protects minority voters.

The American religion of partisan politics is hampering, if not obfuscating, the independence, and our democracy is the worse off for it.