To explain gerrymandering....it's the practice of setting up 'lines' and saying that you can manufacture a certain outcome (based on past polls) and build a district to get a result in every single election.
Gerrymandering was haphazard until you get to after WW II.....where numbers start to be collected and project things.
First, it's not illegal. While various political groups will say (from the left and right) that it's unethical and illegal....both are untrue.
Second, judges are in a hopeless situation. If you say x-situation in Ohio is wrong, then y-situation developed for Florida is also wrong.
Resolving or fixing this? All you'd have to do, as Congress....is write a two-line solution that says you can only make district 'lines' along a county line. Rivers and roads won't be accepted in this construction anymore.
Wanting to fix this? I would suggest of the 1-million-odd problems that exist in America today....this is probably near the bottom 300, and really not regarded as a big deal.
How bad can gerrymandering get? Look no further than Californian with their gerrymandered democrat control of the state. And look what it's done to/for the state. Once the called the Golden State. Now the broken state.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people discuss the decline of California, and think that the start began with the suggested corrupt voting for the SF mayor's election 1975 (I'll just say that this story has a lot of angles to it). Afterwards, the 1979 assignation of Mayor Mascone and city councilman Harvey Milk fell into play. Since that period, state politics has been on a general decline.
ReplyDeleteThe spiral (very similar to Detroit) has created a shortfall on tax revenue, and inability of the state/counties/cities to cover responsible debts. If you expected some bright future upon retiring in Cal, it's mostly a easy-to-forget fantasy at this point.
I think some federal rescue of the state will eventually have to occur, but in return...it'll end up under federal control until they resolve their revenue/tax/debt mess.