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> Therefore, in my view gerrymandering doesn't really have a negative effect on democracy. Sure - one party might use it to win one election, but they can't get

> Therefore, in my view gerrymandering doesn't really have a negative effect on democracy. Sure - one party might use it to win one election, but they can't get ahead in the long term using it. Read up on “cracking and packing”, it’s pretty obvious that gerrymandering provides a distinct benefit to the party that controls the map. Gerrymandering causes another major long-term problem that you’re overlooking: it creates mathematically safe seats that the opposition party can’t reasonably win, even when they gain support. This is a major reason we are seeing more extremists in office, because they no longer need to win by aiming for the center, they win by being as extreme as possible because the party already controls the seat. The election becomes a de facto purity test, and you see this play out over and over again.

j33zusjuice 3y ago
That only matters to people who are alive today and for the next several hundred years. On a long enough time line, things will balance out, or humanity will go extinct. Either way, you’re dead way before it happens, so why care about silly things like gerrymandering?
- LapsangGuzzler 3y ago
  Because democracies aren’t guaranteed to survive if they don’t remain democratic, and this has played out many times in history. E.g. Germany was a parliamentary democracy before it fell to the Third Reich. There is zero guarantee that just because we have a democracy today means that it will be there forever.
- smolder 3y ago
  Why care about anything if you're just going to die? Are you suggesting we should all go full on hedonism and give up civilization-building? What if people enjoy civilization-building and caring about things that "don't matter"?
- InCityDreams 3y ago
  I've never voted, never will (and before anyone starts, I'm very, very proud of that. One of the reasons I don't vote is because of gerrymandering. I don't see it as a 'silly thing' as it affects me, mine, and those around now, because of actions in the past. The dead people left a game for the living to live with.

j33zusjuice 3y ago

That only matters to people who are alive today and for the next several hundred years. On a long enough time line, things will balance out, or humanity will go extinct. Either way, you’re dead way before it happens, so why care about silly things like gerrymandering?

LapsangGuzzler 3y ago
Because democracies aren’t guaranteed to survive if they don’t remain democratic, and this has played out many times in history. E.g. Germany was a parliamentary democracy before it fell to the Third Reich. There is zero guarantee that just because we have a democracy today means that it will be there forever.
smolder 3y ago
Why care about anything if you're just going to die? Are you suggesting we should all go full on hedonism and give up civilization-building? What if people enjoy civilization-building and caring about things that "don't matter"?
InCityDreams 3y ago
I've never voted, never will (and before anyone starts, I'm very, very proud of that. One of the reasons I don't vote is because of gerrymandering. I don't see it as a 'silly thing' as it affects me, mine, and those around now, because of actions in the past. The dead people left a game for the living to live with.