Across the pivotal northern swing states the GOP position is:
— You can’t start counting ballots when they arrive to provide an early count
— Quick results are so important that you can’t let late-arriving ballots be counted
Sit with that for a while.
The US constitutional system has had inegalitarian political institutions from its inception — albeit with a direction of change mostly leading in the direction of democratic equality.
Now in a unique way those big inequities all favor the GOP which has a secondary consequence.
Rather than the Senate, the Electoral College, and gerrymandering being odd quirks of the system the GOP has come to see them as a positive good and abandoned any normative commitment to the value of political equality.
One that top is popped, you don’t stop.
It’s clear that Republicans could win free and fair elections without much trouble by moderating their very extreme views on taxes and the welfare state while continuing to uphold the ideas that most motivate rank-and-file conservatives — but they prefer this other darker path.
Originally tweeted by Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) on October 27, 2020.
