Quick Thoughts On Gay Marriage and the VRA
A while back, there was a little internet squabble over the social conservatism of African Americans. Andrew Sullivan, as he is wont to do, argued that African Americans were socially conservative, especially on questions of gay rights. Serwer pointed out that “Black folks continue to elect representatives who favor gay rights, they vote for the party that supports gay rights in national elections, and they are more likely than whites to favor anti-discrimination laws protecting gays.” This is all true – the Congressional Black Caucus is consistently in support of socially liberal legislation, including wide-ranging anti-discrimination laws that protect gays.
But one could argue that the socially liberal cast of the CBC is just another artefact of our screwy VRA-mandated repersenational system, where we herd black votes into huge blocks so as to elect black members of Congress. This system makes it so black repersentatives don’t have to feel any heat, except the occasional primary. So, they can form their policy views in response to interests besides those of their voters. This can mean taking a weirdly pro-corporate line sometimes, or it means courting to the Democratic doner base by not reflecting the full range of social conservatism in their voters. Now, this system obviously “works” if your goal is to elect a permanent class of liberal, African American congressmen. But if your goal is to repersent the views of black voters or to make congressmen responsive to their constituents, then it probably isn’t the best set-up.
