Ohio voters just took firm positions on abortion and reproductive rights and adult-use recreational marijuana Tuesday, but gerrymandered Ohio lawmakers are already planning to flout, ignore, challenge, and abuse the voters’ wishes. This is what gerrymandering brings. This is why it’s a fundamental poison in the lifeblood of our republic.
Mere hours after Ohio voters passed the Issue 1 reproductive rights amendment with 56.62%, according to unofficial results, and the Issue 2 recreational marijuana law with 57% (both getting nearly 2.2 million votes), Ohio Republican legislative leaders signaled they would not respect the will of the people.
That’s what cracks me up the most. Republicans can hold a 1 seat majority and act like they were voted in on a tsunami wave of popular approval sent down by the Almighty himself. They’ll use the slightest majority to spin up committees and investigations and will railroad through every appointment or piece of legislation that they can.
But then when voters reject their ideas with an overwhelming majority, then it’s all “democracy is flawed” and “voters can’t be trusted to know what’s best for them.” Bunch of hypocritical bastards.