End Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering - drawing of district borders to benefit a political party - has plagued politics since our earliest days. It’s unfair to voters. I offer a legislative plan beautiful in its simplicity and logic: legal boundaries strictly based upon existing counties made as "rectangular or square as physically possible." I call it, "The Fair Square Districting Act."
A recent New York Times analysis concluded that only 40 of the 435 congressional seats are competitive due to gerrymandering. Less than 10% competitive - an embarrassment to democracy. Ten years ago it was 73… it just gets worse. How many politicians actively oppose this? The answer, apparently, is few.
Gerrymandering harmed Democrats in Wisconsin and Republicans in New York State, lately, in Staten Island. I wish to help my political party, but as an American I acknowledge that honest democracy is more important than loyalty to political party.
The Fair Square Districting Act could eliminate corrupt gerrymandering by requiring district borders be drawn according to legal county/city borders. It would create districts “as square or rectangular as physically possible” as opposed to the bizarre shapes that are now so common.
It will take courage by politicians to implement this solution, but all politicians (hacks, namely) must act in the best interests of America. Make politicians, by law, earn votes the right way - not by bizarrely shaped districts.
FYI The origins of the gerrymander term were from early America in Massachusetts, where a district was drawn so bizarrely that it looked reptilian. See the above picture. Perhaps “reptilian” is a good way to describe this practice that needs to end.