Some wins for minorities!
Aug. 16th, 2017 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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daily_liberalNot everything is the worst! A few good things happened between Tuesday night's rock bottom of US politics and today. Weirdly, good news came to us out of Texas.
Texas courts ruled that some of their gerrymandered districts have to be redrawn because they were inappropriately using race to draw the district lines. One of these districts, currently represented by a Republican, was ruled to be deliberately undermining Hispanic voters. The other district I'm not sure is a win for minorities: the district was ruled to have "illegally used race as the predominant factor in drawing it", but that doesn't actually say that the use of race was discriminatory.
Gerrymandering designed to consolidate the power of conservative voters and minimize the power of liberal voters is a huge, huge obstacle that Democrats need to overcome in order to take control of the House of Representatives. Every victory matters. Even if it's only the one district, good. (Source: x)
Also in Texas (Rs there had a bad day) a transphobic bathroom bill has been blocked. The significance and newsworthiness of this item is self-explanatory. But aside from the simple fact that there have never been any incidents of harassment that these bills claim to be trying to prevent, I appreciate the fact that this article describes a great deal of the economic downsides to passing stupid discriminatory legislation that nobody actually wants.
Like it or not, many Republicans are capitalists at heart and the only way to make them listen to what real people want is to tug at their purse strings. They don't care about whether or not the thing they're fighting is real, or about human rights, but the economic cost of boycotts can make them bend. That's why North Carolina eventually caved, and it's why states like Texas are balking. (Source: x)
Texas courts ruled that some of their gerrymandered districts have to be redrawn because they were inappropriately using race to draw the district lines. One of these districts, currently represented by a Republican, was ruled to be deliberately undermining Hispanic voters. The other district I'm not sure is a win for minorities: the district was ruled to have "illegally used race as the predominant factor in drawing it", but that doesn't actually say that the use of race was discriminatory.
Gerrymandering designed to consolidate the power of conservative voters and minimize the power of liberal voters is a huge, huge obstacle that Democrats need to overcome in order to take control of the House of Representatives. Every victory matters. Even if it's only the one district, good. (Source: x)
Also in Texas (Rs there had a bad day) a transphobic bathroom bill has been blocked. The significance and newsworthiness of this item is self-explanatory. But aside from the simple fact that there have never been any incidents of harassment that these bills claim to be trying to prevent, I appreciate the fact that this article describes a great deal of the economic downsides to passing stupid discriminatory legislation that nobody actually wants.
Texas could have lost about $5.6 billion through 2026 if it had enacted such a measure, said the Texas Association of Business, the state's leading employer grouping. [...] Texas-based energy companies Halliburton and ExxonMobil Global Services, [have] said the bills would make it hard for them to recruit top talent.
Like it or not, many Republicans are capitalists at heart and the only way to make them listen to what real people want is to tug at their purse strings. They don't care about whether or not the thing they're fighting is real, or about human rights, but the economic cost of boycotts can make them bend. That's why North Carolina eventually caved, and it's why states like Texas are balking. (Source: x)
