Republican hegemony and dogmatic governance are harmful to Tennesseans | Opinion
Republicans control all three branches of Tennessee state government. They hold the governor’s office, a “super majority” in the General Assembly, and four of five seats on the Tennessee Supreme Court.
The genesis of the Republican domination of state government, and its resultant dogmatic approach to governing, is two-fold: A Tennessee electorate, which is largely conservative, rural voters in gerrymandered Republican districts, and special interest PACs that fund the campaigns of the legislators and heavily influence their votes.
The Republican hegemony has turned a deaf ear to dissent and sought to crush it with punitive and retributive legislative actions. Through its radical redistricting, and its attempt to cut Davidson County’s representative government in half, it has in effect disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans and rendered them voiceless to their government.
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Gerrymandering has disenfranchised citizens
Legislative redistricting has long been manipulated by the majority party to maximize the number of legislative seats it can win. This “gerrymandering” has been sanctified by the Supreme Court of the United States, and both parties engage in it. However, in 2022 the General Assembly set a new standard of radical gerrymandering when it split up the 5th Congressional District and re-allocated its voters into Republican voting districts. The voters of the re-configured 5th District then elected a Republican to Congress for the first time in 150 years.
This blatant gerrymandering of the 5th district in effect disenfranchised the Democratic and independent voters who had consistently sent a Democratic representative to Congress. Sure, they can still vote in the congressional elections, but their votes are almost certainly immaterial to the outcome. The General Assembly has the legal right to do this, but having the right to do it doesn’t mean it is right to do it.
Similarly, the General Assembly’s passage of a law reducing the Metro Council from its current 40 members to no more than 20 members drastically dilutes the vote of every voter in Davidson County and will likely result in reduced racial and ethnic diversity in the Council. It is no coincidence this law effects only traditionally Democratic Davidson County. And the timing of the law’s passage, following the Council’s declining to bid on the 2024 Republican Convention, is likewise no coincidence. Whether the General Assembly has the constitutional authority to engage in this legislative mischief remains to be seen, but undermining the voting rights of Tennesseans to strengthen its hegemony is disturbing.
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Elected officials must serve all citizens
Although the Republican-controlled General Assembly seems to specialize in marginalizing the votes of Democratic and independent voters, its harm to Tennesseans doesn’t stop there. Its dogmatic, “scorched earth” governance has resulted in the passage of laws that are unnecessarily divisive and are often at odds with the opinions of a majority of Tennesseans.
A few examples are the refusal to expand Medicaid eligibility, “open carry” gun legislation, anti-LBGTQ laws, and the “no exceptions” abortion criminalization law.
Elected officials should represent all the people of their districts, including those who did not vote for them and/or who have dissenting views. To be worthy of their offices, our elected officials must allow for an open dialogue with the citizenry; listen to the concerns of their constituents - supporters and opponents alike; and take heed of an important principle of American democracy: “the majority rules, with protections for the minority.”
And above all, our elected officials must be willing to consider compromise – if not out of necessity, then out of civility, and in the interest of good government.
Jerry W. Taylor is an attorney in private practice in Nashville, and an adjunct professor of business law at Middle Tennessee State University.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Republican hegemony and governance are harmful to Tennessee
