Universal Writing: "Jerry Salamander" Is the epitome of the chronic disease of American democracy

Source: People's Daily News

The recent local elections in the United States are seen as a bellwether for next year's midterm elections. In these elections, the American "Jerry Salamander" monster was once again put in the media spotlight.

In 1812, Governor Jerry of Massachusetts signed a bill to divide an electoral district in the state into a very irregular shape similar to a salamander. This practice became known as the "Jerry Salamander", which helped the party gain an advantage in elections and win as many seats as possible through unfair division of constituencies. The U.S. Constitution and law stipulate that the state legislature has the right to divide constituencies, which provides room for the majority party in the state assembly to engage in "Jerry Salamander". The "Jerry Salamander" mainly relies on two operations, one is "concentration", that is, as far as possible, the opposition voters are concentrated in a small number of specific constituencies, sacrificing these constituencies in exchange for the absolute safety of other constituencies; the other is "dispersion", that is, splitting the areas where opposition voters are relatively concentrated into different surrounding constituencies, thereby diluting the opposition votes.

For more than 200 years, the "Jerry Salamander", a political operation peculiar to the United States, has intensified. Both Democrats and Republicans are accustomed to using the "Jerry Salamander" to manipulate elections in states controlled by their own parties. In September, the Democratic-controlled state of Oregon took the lead in completing the re-division of districts in the United States. According to the latest census results, the state can add 1 congressional district and increase the total number of constituencies to 6. Democrats have located the new district south of Portland, the state's largest and most Democratic city. After this rezoning, the number of constituencies firmly controlled by the Democratic Party has increased from 2 to 4, and the number of "swing constituencies" has been reduced from 2 to 1, which means that the party can control 83% of the state's congressional districts with 57% of the actual voters.

Recently, the Republican-controlled North Carolina Legislature finalized the state's congressional district map, which increased the number of Republican-leaning districts in the state from 8 to 10 by separating Democratic voters in the city. In October, Republican-controlled Texas divided new constituencies, "subtly" dividing democratic minority new voters into white-dominated constituencies, eventually increasing the number of constituencies firmly controlled by the Republican Party from 22 to 24, the "swing constituency" from the original 6 to 1, and the Republican Party with 52.1% of the actual voters, occupying 65% of the state's House of Representatives seats.

The "Jerry Salamander" is seen as a "malignant tumor" on the body of American democracy. The New York Times pointed out that almost every state is engaged in similar political tricks, and this distortion of regional and racial constituencies has increasingly overwhelmed the political influence of ethnic minorities. According to a Poll released by the Associated Press in March, 67 percent of people surveyed believe that the "Jerry Salamander" is a serious problem in the US electoral system. Former Wisconsin Sen. Dale Schultz said the "Jerry Salamander" effectively causes lawmakers to pick voters rather than voters to pick members.

The political polarization in the United States is increasing, both parties are trying their best to maximize their own interests, and the phenomenon of "Jerry Salamander" is even more difficult to return. In 2019, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill calling for a ban on "Jerry Salamander," but the bill did not pass in the Republican-controlled Senate. In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the "Jerry Salamander" was a political issue that must be resolved by an elected government department and refused to accept such cases. Since then, without fear that the state's constituency map will be overturned by the Supreme Court, the bipartisan manipulation of the "Jerry Salamander" has become even more unscrupulous.

The "Jerry Salamander" freak is a microcosm of the chronic disease of American democracy. "Money politics" is popular, checks and balances of power have become "veto politics", rule defects undermine fairness and justice, and institutional failures have triggered a crisis of trust... "Jerry Salamander" has eroded American democracy, resulting in its increasing alienation, taste, and deterioration.