Not every state with one-party rule is an example of hyperpartisanship or gerrymandering. The government in my home state of California is solidly blue, but its Democratic officeholders are arrayed on an ideological spectrum. Our primaries are open -- any voter can vote for any candidate in the primary, and the top two vote-getters advance to the general, regardless of their party affiliations -- incentivizing a broad appeal to as much of the constituency as possible. And districts are redrawn not in smoke-filled rooms by legislative hacks, but in the open, by independent citizen commissions that are charged to create compact districts of like communities, without regard for partisan or incumbency concerns.
This is not to dispute your overall point. The deleterious effects of hyperpartisanship and gerrymandering in red states are very real, thanks to the intensive years-long campaign by Republicans (Operation REDMAP), which successfully achieved exactly the results you describe.
Not every state with one-party rule is an example of hyperpartisanship or gerrymandering. The government in my home state of California is solidly blue, but its Democratic officeholders are arrayed on an ideological spectrum. Our primaries are open -- any voter can vote for any candidate in the primary, and the top two vote-getters advance to the general, regardless of their party affiliations -- incentivizing a broad appeal to as much of the constituency as possible. And districts are redrawn not in smoke-filled rooms by legislative hacks, but in the open, by independent citizen commissions that are charged to create compact districts of like communities, without regard for partisan or incumbency concerns.
This is not to dispute your overall point. The deleterious effects of hyperpartisanship and gerrymandering in red states are very real, thanks to the intensive years-long campaign by Republicans (Operation REDMAP), which successfully achieved exactly the results you describe.
May there be more states like California. Good results with no gerrymandering.