'As a mapmaker, I can have more of an impact on an election than a campaign, than a candidate,' says Republican consultant David Winston, who drew House seats for the GOP after the 1990 U.S. Census. 'When I, as a mapmaker, have more of an impact on an election than the voters, the system in out of whack.'One can hope that there will be some courageous politicians that will put principle ahead of pure partisan gain before the redistricting cycle starts again.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Does Redistricting Threaten Democracy?
Is it possible that the greatest threat to democracy in our country is our redistricting processes? Juliet Eilperin has a good article on Slate.com which explores ways to fix the system. One of the great quotes from the piece:
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3 comments:
Do you really think politicians will draw a district that gives the other part an advantage. It sorta like "the pen is mighter that the sword" or "the ballotbox"
Roger
I don't think Democrats would draw districts that favor Republicans or vice versa. I do think, however, they could agree before hand to a more impartial system.
I should do a longer post on this, but the state of Iowa has a system in which political factors can't be taken into consideration. Part of this can be done by stating that a district must be compact and should not unnecessarily separate existing political boundaries (cities, counties, etc.)
The result was that Iowa had more competitive congressional races than Texas or California did. Such plans are good for democracy.
Iowa seems to have a pretty good plan, but part of competition is ballot access, too. Getting "ballot" status is pretty tough in most states, so there is no real choice -- just pick between the two extreme wings of the ONLY party (money) on the ballot. Open it up, let a hundred parties on the first few years, it will sort it self out and you'll find true, competitive, third party options. When enough votes go to a third party that the "favored" party suffers a defeat because of it, we can THEN start to believe there is true choice, and we can THEN get the attention of the parties to keep politics where politics belongs and keep it out of redistricting.
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