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Beto O’Rourke’s Message to Blue-State Governors on Redistricting: “Quit F—ing Around and Waiting”
(www.texasmonthly.com)
this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025
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politics
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What you're missing is that these traditions only exist as a peace treaty. Your attitude is precisely why that peace treaty has been broken. Your belief is why democratic norms have eroded so much.
Every democracy depends on both sides respecting democratic norms. It is impossible to write any law or constitution in a way that cannot be abused by bad-faith interpretations and bad-faith actors. Democracy only works if both sides come together and say, "well, we know we could find some twisted interpretation of the law to meet our goals, but the other side can do the same, so we'll both just agree to follow reasonable norms. If we both keep doing this, both keep escalating, eventually we'll end up killing each other."
Democracy is a peace treaty. And you have forgotten this. It was this balance of power that enabled democracies to start in the first place. Ultimately, democracy is an alternative to civil war. We're supposed to debate things in good faith instead of killing each other.
However, in recent years, Democrats have forgotten this. It's the Obama disease, and your disease as well, the cowardly "they go low, we go high." Well Republicans have realized that the balance of power no longer exists. They can violate any and every norm, and Democrats will simply turn around, bend over and take it, and never respond in kind. It's this spineless, sniveling, submissive attitude that is currently destroying American democracy. Republicans can break norm, violate any peace treaty, and Democrats will simply tut tut and never respond in kind.
The thing about democracy is that again, it is a peace treaty. If you want democracy to survive, both sides need to be willing to escalate things all the way to the point of civil war. You need to be willing to return any escalation, all the way to the point of literally killing the other side if need be. Otherwise you just get trampled. Democracy is a balancing act. A tug of war. And Democrats like yourself have forgotten how to pull the rope.
You are responsible for the decline of American democracy.