Gerrymander: To divide or arrange (a territorial unit) into election districts in a way that gives one political party an unfair advantage.
Would you like your congressman to represent your interests? That’s a rather quaint notion – don’t you think? Unfortunately, far too many politicians have other ideas, and they’re using gerrymandering to pursue what THEY want rather than what WE want.
When our elected “public servants” began serving their parties first and their constituents as an afterthought, it was inevitable that they’d look for ways to remain in power without winning the “debate of ideas.” Competing for the votes of those they wish to represent is hard work after all. Hence, gerrymandering is used as a legal way to maximize a party’s representation in Congress by making it nearly impossible for an opposing party to win a given district.
The party which controls a state’s legislature, merely needs to redraw the district boundaries of that state to incorporate enough of their supporters to make the target district “safe” for their party. That’s why so few congressional districts look like logical rectangles.
Massachusetts is a prime example of gerrymandering. Approximately 42 percent of the state’s population identifies as Republican. Yet not a single one of its nine Congressmen are Republican. Every single district snakes around the state in a way designed to ensure that the Democrat party enjoys a majority.
Until the Commies Democrat Socialists of America manage to consolidate their power, Americans can and do move about the country – generally favoring the states with maximum freedom and minimum cost of living. As the population shifts, electoral district boundaries must be redefined from time to time to ensure that each Congressman represents roughly the same number of constituents.
Texas has recently had an explosive growth in its population, so a few months ago it redrew its congressional districts. But California’s leadership accused Texas of gerrymandering to benefit the Republicans. So, Cali decided to fight back by re-gerrymandering its districts … to benefit the Democrats. Now, a full-blown gerrymandering war is underway, with 9 more states working to gerrymander their congressional districts, to counteract the changes being made in either Texas or California.
But here’s the thing: Gerrymandering is good for whichever political party controls the state, but bad for the district’s voters, regardless of their political affiliation. Since gerrymandered districts are “engineered” to benefit one party, that party faces little meaningful future opposition. Holding office becomes a lifelong entitlement and incumbents are emboldened to disengage from the contest of ideas, and service to their constituents – with little risk of electoral consequences for doing so.
Representation becomes more dependent on boundary lines than the wishes of the voters, and elected representatives are empowered to trade in their “public servant” hat for a “public master” crown. Citizens still get to vote, but their votes have declining influence over government operations.
The only way to stop proliferating gerrymandering from undermining our ability to self-govern, is to break the protection of incumbency with term limits. However, that requires one of two things to happen,
- Either those who enjoy lifelong incumbency must sponsor an amendment to end it, or
- The states must take matters out of Congress’ hands with an Article V convention.
Amending the Constitution is an enormous undertaking, creating an uphill climb for both options. But only one of those options has any chance for success, and it isn’t the one that requires Congressmen to give up that which they cherish.
Author Bio: John Green is a retired engineer and political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He spent his career designing complex defense systems, developing high performance organizations, and doing corporate strategic planning. He is a contributor to American Thinker, The American Spectator, and the American Free News Network. He can be reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
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I heartily agree with your identification of Gerrymandering as and evil, and I agree that a Consitutional Amendement is necessary; however,I disagree with your solution.
You said,
“The only way to stop proliferating gerrymandering from undermining our ability to self-govern, is to break the protection of incumbency with term limits. However, that requires one of two things to happen,
– Either those who enjoy lifelong incumbency must sponsor an amendment to end it, or
– The states must take matters out of Congress’ hands with an Article V convention.
Amending the Constitution is an enormous undertaking, creating an uphill climb for both options. But only one of those options has any chance for success, and it isn’t the one that requires Congressmen to give up that which they cherish.”
Term limits are NOT the solution. Limiting time in office of the disgusting, semi-accountable animals who pose as leaders only transfers power to the completely unaccountable shadow government, sometimes referred to as the Deep State. Term limits will only work if 90% of Congressional, Supreme Court, and Executive Branch staff positions are eliminated FOREVER at the same time, and the amendment creating the term limits also places Constitutional limits on the size of the federal government and the number of staffers. I have worked with staffers. Some are good. Most are arrogant and speak ill of the members of Congress they supposedly serve. They “serve” their members the same way DC “serves” the People. They don’t.
If you are going to go down the fantasyland concept of a Constitutional Amendment in our fractured and corrupt government and a proletariat brainwashed by Leftists who have taken over our schools and our once-respected and respectable institutions, there should be four:
1) Get rid of all the precedent, case law, and stupidity behind Gerrymandering. Redistricting needs to be based on the voter rolls. If 47% of a state identifies on the voter rolls as Demonic Democrats, then approximately 47% of the so-called Representatives in the House should be Demonic Democrats. If 37% of the voter rolls are Republican Republicans, then approximately 37% of the “Representatives” in Congress should be Republican Republicans. Period. The only factor should be voter affiliation. Not race, creed, color, sexual orientation, degree of acceptable wokeness, worship of the state instead of God, etc. This would make every state a battleground state.
2) Now and then, that Email circulates with a proposed amendment that would make Congress live by the same laws as the rest of us, with no special health care, retirement, etc. Eliminate retirement for Congress, Staffers, etc.
3) Eliminate ****ALL**** Federal taxes and instead institute the Fair Tax (go buy the book and learn about it), which is essentially a National Sales Tax. Income tax, Property tax, and Inheritance tax are evil constructs exacerbating the class warfare that the Left likes to use and punishing citizens who act responsibly.
4) Restrict the budget of the Federal Government to some percentage of the GDP. Dismantle almost all Federal programs and move them to the States, where, as Milton Friedman pointed out, the People are more able to determine if they are getting their money’s worth. Make it clear in this amendment that redistribution of wealth is Unconstitutional at the Federal level.
I’d also like to see some restrictions on the franchise to vote. Too many voters have no skin in the game and behave as if elections were episodes of American Idol. While idolatry has become the dominant religion in the US, this needs to stop. Robert Heinlein had the right idea in Starship Troopers (the excellent book, not the ridiculous movies). The idea that propery ownership is necessary to vote leaves a bad taste in people’s mouths because the Democrats tied to use this to disenfranchise black people, it too, is on the right track.