Gerrymandering of congressional districts is one of the central reasons why extremism has overtaken both political parties. Too many districts are 'safe' for one party or the other and so even extreme candidates can get elected and say and do crazy stuff with little fear of losing their seat. Senate candidates are elected by the entire state and therefore tend to be less extreme. I suggest eliminating gerrymandering completely! Why not let the districts be drawn as close to rectangles as possible (keeping the populations proportional). This would move things towards the center, and there would be more compromise and more things would get done. There are of course other ways to deal with the issue of gerrymandering, but it is not helping our country and needs to be reformed!
In a perfect world with a perfect distribution of residents along geographic and demographic lines, this is the only solution. Except reality is far from perfect and there is nuance and complexity involved. Diluting radicalized voters is not gerrymandering, it’s hygiene.
Thanks for the reply Steve. I wasn't disagreeing with your point about breaking up the GA 14th CD...that sounds good to me. I was making a larger point about the problems with gerrymandering in general. This larger issue is sometimes debated and discussed in political forums, but personally I feel it needs to be discussed and debated more. If enough people recognize, discuss and elaborate on the dangers involved with gerrymandering, perhaps it will generate a groundswell of support to finally tackle the issue.
Gerrymandering of congressional districts is one of the central reasons why extremism has overtaken both political parties. Too many districts are 'safe' for one party or the other and so even extreme candidates can get elected and say and do crazy stuff with little fear of losing their seat. Senate candidates are elected by the entire state and therefore tend to be less extreme. I suggest eliminating gerrymandering completely! Why not let the districts be drawn as close to rectangles as possible (keeping the populations proportional). This would move things towards the center, and there would be more compromise and more things would get done. There are of course other ways to deal with the issue of gerrymandering, but it is not helping our country and needs to be reformed!
In a perfect world with a perfect distribution of residents along geographic and demographic lines, this is the only solution. Except reality is far from perfect and there is nuance and complexity involved. Diluting radicalized voters is not gerrymandering, it’s hygiene.
Thanks for the reply Steve. I wasn't disagreeing with your point about breaking up the GA 14th CD...that sounds good to me. I was making a larger point about the problems with gerrymandering in general. This larger issue is sometimes debated and discussed in political forums, but personally I feel it needs to be discussed and debated more. If enough people recognize, discuss and elaborate on the dangers involved with gerrymandering, perhaps it will generate a groundswell of support to finally tackle the issue.
I think the unintended consequences of years of GOP gerrymandering are evident. The 14CD is one of them.