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The economic explanation is good; the conclusion that the country needs legislation to take control of the Gerrymandering makes you want to smack yourself in th
by jmadsen 13y ago
The economic explanation is good; the conclusion that the country needs legislation to take control of the Gerrymandering makes you want to smack yourself in the face.
Yes, we KNOW that. Except, the only people who can pass that legislation are the people benefiting from the current situation.
The fact that even a such an august publication as the Economist can't come up with a better solution than that is terribly depressing.
- gizmo686 13y agoGerrymandering helps in the main elections, but it does not give some people a systematic advantage in the primary elections. It is theoretically possible that politicians would work against Gerrymandering to win points in the primary elections.
- Steko 13y ago"but it does not give some people a systematic advantage in the primary elections." Gerrymandering can be used for many reasons. Generally you're correct it's used to maximize general election seats. It can and has been used to make districts even ________-er though and it has been used for other reasons such as to force two incumbents from the ________ party to run against each other.
- pmorici 13y agoWouldn't the obvious solution be a constitutional amendment proposed by the states through a constitutional convention leaving congress out of it altogether?
- bilbo0s 13y agoHeh... The people benefiting from gerrymandering in the State Houses would then need to propose the convention though wouldn't they? Article V still depends on elected officials... it's just that it depends on officials elected in the State houses.
- wwweston 13y agoIf I understand correctly, the problem is at the state level. The national congress doesn't draw district boundaries, mostly state legislatures do (though there are exceptions who have independent redistricting committees). As the state-originating path to a US Constitutional amendment requires the participation of state legislatures, it's unlikely it could be used to fix the problem.
- dragonwriter 13y agoGerrymandering is an overblown issue; there's no way of assigning districts for FPTP elections that would substantially change the problem, as is evident from the fact that the places in the US that have moved redistricting into the hands of "nonpartisan" commissions may not have partisan gerrymandering, but still have the same essential problems. What we really need is a better election system than FPTP in single-member districts for legislative bodies at the State and Federal levels.