Will Cynical Fearmongering Bite Back?

It’s still too early to know how this will all play out, but it’s nice to even envision the possibility that catering to the wackiest fringe elements of your base for short-term political gain may have negative consequences: “Some Republicans are worried that an anti-government surge among conservatives will lead to lower participation in the U.S. census, which they fear could reduce the number of Republican seats in Congress and state legislatures.” Again, who knows if it’s going to actually come together, but the idea that Republicans may spend the next decade being underrepresented because they’ve catered to their crazies would indeed represent a certain sort of poetic justice. It would also be pretty toxic for our system of government, in that not having a voice in state and federal legislatures commensurate to your actual numbers does provide a valid grievance, but that doesn’t seem to have bothered anyone on that side before.