# Maher says USA Democracy is in its death bed. How concerned are you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 9, 2022, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615 "2022-11-09T00:10:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/141 "2022-11-13T16:51:08Z")
Neither side is particularly interested in ending gerrymandering because it creates about 400 safe seats. I take issue with the Democrats not fixing this. I have given up on Republicans doing anything to make us a better democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/142 "2022-11-13T17:11:24Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > I take issue with the Democrats not fixing this. I have given up on Republicans doing anything to make us a better democracy. There are lots of Democrats working on this issue. The ones who are actually in office because of gerrymandering are not who is or realistically should be relied on for this. It’s a simple principle but it’s actually really really hard to implement. In Ohio which is gerrymandered to within an inch of its life, the Republican supermajority got tired of having to fight anti-gerrymandering referenda every few years. So the Republican leader went into negotiations with Democrats and political reform groups to enact a _constitutional amendment_ prohibiting gerrymandering. And the Republicans then proceeded to ignore it. The Republican majority Supreme Court ordered them close to a dozen times to stop gerrymandering but they just ignored it until they said they had run out of time. Also the Republican leader interpreted the anti-gerrymandering amendment to say that in a state with a roughly 55-45 aggregate Republican majority over the last ten years of elections that Republicans were due 70 percent of the safe seats. > **[Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Make Me a Map - This American Life](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/784/mapmaker)** > > How Ohio Republicans drew electoral maps that violated their own constitutional amendment. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/143 "2022-11-13T17:42:36Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > There are lots of Democrats working on this issue. The ones If you listen to that podcast episode one of the interviewees is the former head of the Ohio Democratic Party who has made anti-gerrymandering reform his full time job. So “the Democrats” isn’t a monolith. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/144 "2022-11-13T20:44:43Z")
It should be predictable that the strategy of “the election is rigged and voting is tainted so please vote for me” isn’t a very good one. I expect that they’re not going to try that very much in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615/145 "2022-11-14T16:26:31Z")
Some of them even tried “vote for me and I will ensure you can never vote again”. Didn’t seem to work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/maher-says-usa-democracy-is-in-its-death-bed-how-concerned-are-you/974615.md?page=7)