Well, He Did it First!

The kids are playing in the backyard. The three-year old boy reaches out and hits the seven year old sister. The bigger kid retaliates. The younger one is crying. The big sister gets caught and punished. And her defense, “Well, he did it first,” is of little consequence. 

In the NFL, the guy who throws the second punch usually gets the yellow flag. “Well, he did it first.” 

Last year the President suggested Texas should re-map its Congressional districts. Now, Virginia has a special election to gerrymander its 11 congressional districts and Democrats hope it will give them a 10-1 advantage in Congress. Governor Spanberger’s justification…“Well, he did it first.”

Tit for tat. Eye for an eye. Measure for measure. There are many phrases for retaliation, but it all adds up to revenge. But history has taught us that revenge leads us to three things:

• Escalation: Most conflict never stops with one tit-for-tat. It usually escalates. 
• Legal Consequences: If the conflict escalates, parties can be prosecuted or sued for damages.
• Reputation: Often the party seeking revenge looks worse than the original offender. 

What we’re witnessing is all three consequences of revenge; 

Virginia is escalating the grievance. Virginia has seen four lawsuits already and more to come. Virginia’s reputation is suffering.

Proponents of the gerrymandering amendment argue that it’s simply about fairness, but “fair” is subjective, isn’t it? It’s a straw man argument. If Texas disenfranchises many of its voters, Virginia has the moral justification to disenfranchise many of its citizens? That doesn’t seem like fairness. “Relax Dave. It’s just temporary,” a friend told me recently. Never trust a politician that says something is “temporary.” The tax to pay for the War of 1812 (BPOL), was also temporary, yet I write a big check every year.

I’ve met former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder on several occasions. At 95 he is fit, feisty and mentally sharp. He thinks gerrymandering is tyranny. At a forum last year he talked about a path forward in Virginia politics. He advocated for doing things “the Virginia way.” Once upon a time, Virginia’s elected officials worked to find common ground. They knew governing was more important than playing politics. Both sides got stuff done because they agreed to disagree. 

The words of the late, great Mahatma Gandhi ring true today, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”