The seven-year-long attempt by the Utah Legislature to overturn Proposition 4 is an excellent case study of the poison of partisanship.
Republicans at federal and state levels are currently crying foul over Judge Dianna Gibson’s latest ruling to choose an electoral map that keeps the largely liberal-leaning Salt Lake County in one electoral district. Yet there is little acknowledgement that it was the repeated attempts of the Utah Legislature to overturn voter-supported Proposition 4 that led to Gibson’s ruling in the first place.
Gerrymandering is a treasured weapon of partisanship. Most reasonable people agree that the creation of electoral maps to favor a specific political party is objectively unethical. Yet we often embrace overt gerrymandering when it benefits “our” political party, and in doing so we make democracy a means rather than an end.
Historically, Utah’s electoral maps have been some of the most gerrymandered in the United States. Proposition 4 passed in 2018 because Utah voters wanted to stop gerrymandering and fight against partisanship. The overt gerrymandering occurring in our state and country — on both sides of the political spectrum — is a travesty.
Too many of us succumb to the temptation to justify the unethical practices of our chosen political party. Embracing gerrymandering and conflating our ethical beliefs with political ideology means we lose vital capacity for nuance, compassion and rational thinking. Our country is corrupted when we seek to drown out opposing voices. By continuing to try to overturn Proposition 4, the Utah Legislature has embraced partisanship over democracy and morality.
They can do better and so can we. While so many of today’s political leaders tell us that it’s the other political party that’s the enemy, we would do well to remember that the actual enemy is partisanship itself.
Kelsey Smith
Provo