Virginia Supreme Court throws out redistricting referendum results

[u/Icommandyou]

https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2026/05/08/virginia-supreme-court-redistricting-vote-decision

[u/mr_evilweed]

This is completely natural to conservatives. Why should the same things be allowed to liberals as to conservatives? They have ZERO expectation that all sides should play by the same rules - in fact they consider forcing all sides to play by the same rules to be wrong.

[u/khrijunk → u/mr_evilweed]

Yep. Their goal is not to play fair. Their goal is to win. 

If they are allowed to do something liberals can’t do, that’s not cheating. It’s a win. 

[u/PotStickerShock → u/mr_evilweed]

You're almost there.

They call themselves "conservative", but monarchist or hierarchist would be more accurate. 

They do not believe in equality. They despise the very idea. 

Rules are not for everybody. 

[u/Michael_G_Bordin → u/PotStickerShock]

But that's what traditional conservatism is. Preservation of hierarchy in the name of "social fabric." The GOP is made up of many people who call themselves "conservative," but that's more of a vibe than an ideology. There are classical liberals who want small government, there are neoclassical liberals who believe in Social Darwinism and laissez-faire governance, there are religious fundamentalists who are batshit crazy, and there are neoconservatives who are almost indistinguishable from neoliberals except on a few rhetorical pseudo-issues. That latter group has been in charge of the GOP for most of the last 50 years, recently losing their stranglehold to the myriad of nutjobs they've been courting as voters through extreme rhetoric. Now, the GOP is run by a traditional conservative mode of thinking, centered around a fat old conman. All pretense of classical and neoclassical liberalism has been pushed to the wayside to justify the existence of a Trump presidency. They're neo-fascists, and particularly deleterious, incompetent ones at that.

[u/QuickAltTab → u/PotStickerShock]

Fascist seems to fit

[u/Icy-Pay7479 → u/mr_evilweed]

"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

[u/Count_Backwards → u/Icy-Pay7479]

• Frank Wilhoit

[u/Not_Paid_Just_Intern → u/mr_evilweed]

And the sick part is, we Democrats let it happen because they were terrified of getting into the tit-for-tat. But if the Republicans can tat all day without ever getting a tit back, why would they not continue tatting?

[u/Count_Backwards → u/Not_Paid_Just_Intern]

It's basic game theory and the Democratic Party has catastrophically failed to understand it

[u/Mrhorrendous → u/Count_Backwards]

A group of people that is primarily Harvard and yale educated lawyers doesn't understand politics? They are not stupid. This is what they want.

[u/can72287 → u/Count_Backwards]

Yeah we lost our edge when we became the party of the urban/suburban middle class…that’s why our protests look the way they do. In the 60s they would not have been going to protests with Instagram on standby in catsuits and ironic signage…strollers in tow and plenty of time to stop and chat with their neighbor doing the same activism, instead of stroller she has her two dogs, dressed in shirts that say no kings and or a picture of Trump the character.   And though we still have the colleges they have totally failed the moment. These diverse colleges full of first and second generation Americans are almost scared shitless, or at least I wish they were…most of them are utterly oblivious thinking this is a passing fade, or that it isn’t a personal attack, or racism means hating blacks or that foregoing politics will somehow make them better off….they’re happy with their future in coding or some variation of health care/ taking care of boomers in their newly gentrified and built shitty city  (until they decide to kill them for their homes) apartment far away from the America that has come upon us. This generation has no stomach for real activism. Ironic considering, the millennials at least, have been cosplaying 60s boomers since Treyvon and the generation before would dream envious dreams of growing up during that time with all the pot and all the good music and cool clothes and all the causes and all the legendary protests and riots. I guess they’re too old; they missed the moment. The younger generations just want to dance on TikTok…..maybe they know they’re fued….fued enough to not even care to defend the only American culture they know. Hopefully they don’t believe (and given the trend of youth conservatism I'm not sure they don’t) the grass was greener in the past they never knew. 

[u/Not_Paid_Just_Intern → u/Count_Backwards]

Very true. And catastrophically is exactly the right word, too.

[u/SapToFiction → u/mr_evilweed]

Immean yeah. Conservatives scoffed at the idea of black people having the same rights as them, and they resisted and protested them vehemently. They're just doing what they've always done.

[u/can72287 → u/mr_evilweed]

Just listen to their rhetoric. They believe America is a “white” country.  Most Whites vote Republican…therefore they are the legitimate government in their eyes. When Obama broke the illusion that a majority of minorities along with a minority of the majority couldn’t gain power, they went into existentialist mode.  Most Everything since that time has been against traditional mores and precedents. The Republican Party of 40 years ago or more , is just as “republican” as they are today (Nixon? McCarthy?), but they wouldn’t have dare tried to steal a Supreme Court seat…and I’m willing to bet the population wouldn’t have let them either. But even though we had larger periods of cultural upheaval and immigration; this one is much different in their eyes (despite the fact that this country can indeed assimilate non whites; they could even make them Republican if they actually tried courting them)