July 4, 2006

Gerrymandering's impact

The more I read about this, the more I think that gerrymandering is really undermining our republic. And from both sides. Here is a good take on it: "What Would Thomas Jefferson Do? As Juliet Eilperin noted, Rep. John Tanner, a thoughtful Democratic congressman from Tennessee, has proposed legislation to require every state to take the politics out of redistricting. Under Tanner's plan, each state would have to appoint an independent commission that couldn't take partisan outcomes into account."

Eilperin's book looks intriguing on this, though depressing. Obviously gerrymandering has a long history, but it appears to be worse in the last couple of decades. I was thinking about this the other day remembering the big "term limits" craze of the, what, early 90s. The argument was that absent limits, you ended up with professional politicians. Of course then, most of those were Republicans trying to overturn the Democratic control of the House. Once Repubs took over, they naturally dropped the call for limits. If they were serious about stopping professional politicians, they should look at the districts.

They won't however.

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