Identifying a failed democracy is a bit like classifying a film as pornography. One might argue endlessly about the defining characteristics of each, but as the late Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart put it, “I know it when I see it.”

It’s no surprise, then, that despite years of ignoring the many undemocratic tendencies of the United States, international governance rankings are finally coming around. Since 2016, the Economist Intelligence Unit has classified the United States as a “flawed democracy,” a mark that seems unlikely to disappear given the events of January 6, 2021. Yet what the drama of the Capitol riot concealed is an arguably deeper democratic rot, one rooted in the mundane actions of state legislatures.

Since the 2010 midterm elections, which saw the GOP flip 660 state legislative seats, Republican lawmakers across the country have deployed an array of tactics to undermine core democratic protections — from partisan gerrymandering to attacks on voting rights. And despite pushback through a handful of state ballot initiatives, this anti-democratic political program is continuing unabated through the 2020 redistricting cycle.