Rule by Minority
A design flaw in our constitution has resulted in American Apartheid
Pollster Stefan Hankin, who subbed for me when I was away on the book project with “The Day Data Died,” is back to explain the history of how we have come to be ruled by a minority of our population with “Rule by Minority.”
by Stefan Hankin
“I don’t care what they remember about me. I led South Africa on the right path. Order, prosperity. Problems too, but the problems were dealt with effectively”-- P.W.Botha, former Prime Minister of South Africa (1978-1984)
From 1948 till 1994, a minority of whites in South Africa ruled the majority Black population through the system of apartheid. While making up less than 20 percent of the population, white South Africans arranged a government that awarded them total control of the country both politically and socially. In Afrikaans, the language of white South Africans, apartheid translates to “separateness”.
In the late 1700s, our Founding Fathers designed a system of government intended to keep the power of the majority in check. Founding Fathers from the South hoped to safeguard the “right” of slave states to keep their slaves by preventing the more populous North from outlawing the practice. Though slavery was abolished in spite of this arrangement (it took a Civil War), the Founding Fathers’ initial design of minority protection has endured and, for the most part, secured the rise of a deliberative governmentthat helped create a global leader.
In the last few decades, however, the Republican Party has used the Founding Fathers’ blueprint to create an American version of separateness where the Republican minority -- comprised predominantly of white, Southern, and rural voters -- does not just protect its views from the majority, but allows them to place an undue influence on the country both politically and socially.
From the President down to the state legislative level, Republican politicians have used any means at their disposal to create scenarios where they can force their views onto the dissenting American majority. This is a majority comprised of a more racially diverse population from across the country which, as we have discussed in a previous piece , also happens to be responsible for the vast majority of our country’s economy. Unlike South Africa, the American version of separateness is not based solely on race (but suppression of Black and Brown rights is certainly an acceptable outcome for many Republicans). Instead the American version is focused on the ideology of social issues as well as economics: a yearning for the 1950’s when white men were at their peak of influence.
This did not happen overnight. It was a carefully constructed approach to government that started the second President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965. These efforts came to fruition after the election of President Barack Obama in 2008 and the subsequent redistricting after the 2010 census. And in 2016, President Donald Trump and Republicans fell into a perfect storm of economics, racism, the echo chambers of social media, and foreign interference to see this 40-plus year effort come to fruition.
Since Trump took office, they have been systematically dismantling our governmental and social norms at a blistering pace. The last four years have merely highlighted how far Republicans are willing to go to keep their power regardless of the cost to this country’s longevity.
THE (UN)POPULAR VOTE
In a system designed to protect the minority from the majority, the minority now brazenly runs the show. Since 1988, the Electoral College has put Republicans in the Oval Office three times despite winning the popular vote only once (George W. Bush in 2004). In 2016, President Trump lost the popular vote by 3 million votes—the equivalent of the entire population of Nevada, or both Dakotas, Alaska, and Vermont . In 2000, President Bush lost by half a million votes. If Trump were to win in November, he certainly will not win the popular vote.
While the Electoral College has done wonders to erode the facade of democratic representation, the manipulation of our political system stretches far beyond.
The strength of minority power in the Legislative Branch is arguably even more egregious. Indeed, in the 2018 midterm elections, 18 million more people cast votes for Democratic Senators than Republican Senators and yet the Democrats came away two seats less than they started with.
FEDERAL COURTS
In what is actually a horrifying reality, a majority in the uneven-by-design Senate coupled with a Republican President who lost the popular vote gives Republicans free rein to control the courts, thereby wielding their powers far into the future.
The ability to control the courts became evermore salient after the tragic death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Republicans are on course to succeed in ramming through another lifetime appointed justice to the Supreme Court, securing a conservative majority bench and projecting their values onto the unwilling majority of Americans for decades to come. Assuming Republicans are successful, there will be five conservative justices on the Supreme Court who were nominated by Republican Presidents who did not have the backing of the majority of American people when they came into office. These judges were approved by Senators who received millions of fewer votes than their opponents. Further, of the 179 Circuit Judges in this country, Presidents Bush and Trump will have placed 85 of the active judges to the bench (just under 48%) and 47% of District Judges, solidifying the power of the minority.
STATE LEGISLATURES
At the local level, Republicans preserve their power through coordinated gerrymandering efforts, which in conjunction with devaluing the votes of people of color across the country, has led to the Republican control of several state legislatures where Democrats are in the clear majority among voters. In Michigan’s 2018 election for State House, as an example, over 200,000 more people voted for Democrats than for Republicans and yet the Republicans still held control with 58 seats, 7 more than the Democrats. This translated to Democrats winning 52% of the votes, but only 47% of the seats. Similarly, in Michigan’s 2018 State Senate races, over 160,000 more people voted for Democrats but Republicans still secured the State Senate by a 22-16 seat margin. For the Democrats, that’s 51% of votes and 42% of seats.
The Wisconsin State Legislature numbers are even more deplorable. In the 2018 State Assembly races, nearly 200,000 more people voted for Democrats than for Republicans, but while the Democrats won 36 seats in the State Assembly, Republicans amassed 63. Percentage wise, this means Democrats won 53% of the vote and just 36% of seats. And do not be fooled that the judicial and legislative branches are separate given the Supreme Court’s many rulings on the topic recently including a 5-4 decision that gerrymandering decisions “are political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.” This decision included 4 justices (joined by Justice Clarence Thomas) who were appointed by presidents who did not receive the support of the majority of Americans, and whose decision is suppressing the representation of the majority of voters in many states.
CONGRESS
In addition to altering the balance of State Legislatures, gerrymandering has reduced the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. One example of why this happens is in Ohio, a solidly swingish state, where 4 out of the state’s 16 members in the House of Representatives are Democrats. However, in Ohio’s 2018 election, Ohioans voted for the Democratic candidates at close to a 1:1 ratio with Republicans. In the end, Democrats have 25% of the seats but won 48% of the votes.
CONCLUSION
Throw in rampant voter suppression and disenfranchisement that disproportionally impacts minority communities and our political system no longer resembles a beacon of democracy. The Republican Party did not create the rules we play by, but they have decided that instead of trying to broaden their base and appeal, they will use the mechanisms available to them to solidify their power regardless of the fact that they do not have the support of the majority of American people on any level.
Our nation was founded on a system that was designed to protect the minority. It has now been turned into a system ruled by the minority…our very own American system of separateness.
Follow Stefan Hankin on Twitter at @lpstrategies.
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