Thread by @AriMelber

Wisconsin Republicans are undercutting a core premise of our democracy — that the people leaving office have an obligation to transfer their powers peacefully and professionally. This is not normal.

My new @washingtonpost piece:
washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/1…

The GOP ploy in Wisconsin, echoing Republicans in N. Carolina, is *not* part of a “cycle of partisan warfare.” It is not “another round” of political payback that pundits can debate through the narrow lens of clever strategy.

It is antithetical to democracy.

Some argue the WI legislature has the power to reform these offices. That may be technically accurate, but misses the point. The legislature has powers to organize the gov.

The issue is whether explicitly legislating to undermine election results is an *abuse* of those powers.

Republicans in WI also deploy gerrymandering to rig the outcomes of their elections.

More WI voters backed Democrats in their state assembly races last month -- but the GOP was still able to “win” control of 64% of the district seats.

Put ethics to the side, and perhaps it's not surprising that a party struggling to achieve national electoral majorities — Republicans won *fewer* votes than Democrats in *6 of the past 7* presidential races — is using tricks to cement power that cannot be won at the ballot box.

To protect democracy, these anti-democratic schemes must not only lose in the courts and in public opinion. They must be punished so aggressively, by judges and voters, that this is no longer considered any kind of legitimate option in the first place.

washingtonpost.com/outlook/2018/1…