Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to I like alcaray's idea

Stuck inside the box
Robert — (archived)

The idea of an objective mathematical distribution is so obvious that one has to wonder why it hasn't been done already...which statement is, I admit, a setup on my part.

Gerrymandering...er, let's use the formal term, "redistricting", is never done explicitly to rig party control of a district, it's always done to accommodate the wishes of the electorate, which are always social in nature. That is, an existing district boundary cuts across a social affinity group, racial or economic or religious or whatever, and the "bisected" group demands that the boundary be moved to make their group whole again and "preserve their representation" as a group. That the group has a known tilt to one party or another is just an opportunity for politicians of that party to accommodate the group when the party has the power to gerrymander, in a satisfying quid pro quo.

I think that "objective" mathematical distribution of voting districts wouldn't last long in the face of public discontent over breakup of social affinity groups. I have to call this a worse solution than what I propose, because implementing it would create nostalgia for the good old days of gerrymandering, simply because gerrymandering can be made to seem like it's accommodating the wishes of the people. It would end up making the practice look attractive by comparison.

After all, the power to redistrict doesn't exist without a reason; it's there because the idea of geographical voting districts requires it. Eliminate geographical voting districts and you eliminate the need for that thumb on the scales.

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