My view is that Gerrymandering is on of the more serious threats to American democracy. Other countries don't seem to have this issue, so maybe we should look abroad for a solution.
Can we repair this political damage? One problem is what kind of pressure the Federal Government can put on States that engage in this bullshit.
To get off my high horse and make a welcome appeal to Rick and Morty, i.e., is there an objective way to distinguish toxic redistricting from healthy redistricting? I was going to say that packing is harder to spot than cracking (or the reverse?), but if you look at the map of North Carolina, probably neither is more subtle than the other.
So we can tell the difference between ridiculous redistricting and could be good, could be bad redistricting. We need:
0. Number of districts matches Congressional seats.
1. Same population per district.
2. The Congressman should represent one or more "connected communities"
2.1. How do we define a "connected community"?
2.2. If a "community" is too small or too big, how do we combine it with one or more other communities?
Ex.1. If Raleigh-Durham is too big to be a single district, does it make sense to split the urban center in half, each attached to some surrounding areas, or maybe make the urban center one district with a surrounding "ring" another district, i.e., "the suburbs"?
Ex.2. The City of Austin, Texas, the only real left-wing voting geography in Texas, is currently split into three pieces, each attached to areas which extend far away from the city, so instead of one Democrat Party Congressman from Texas, there are none, a classic "cracking" Gerrymandering strategy.
Does it make sense to define a "community" as people who poll and vote similarly? Should people vote as to which district they want to be in.
This might be a similar voting problem to this TED-Ed talk about voting.
Good running around with you this morning! Looking forward to next week (or whenever).
Jay
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My study of re-districting is that - whether stolen or won, power is not easily given up or seized from one who has it.
I just watched two programs in the last twenty for hours that HP arranged for me to consider:
1) how to get large African crocodile to stop eating people, especially young children whose only place to work and play is next to the water which allows crocs to do their thing. So some croc and people loving scientists of many color are using electrical shocks and bells {Pavlov} give the wise old crocs who rule sections of the African rivers where they are abounding big time.
Some of their experiments show promise even with roaming crocs. seems that crocs are governed by LARGE cosponsors who warn against bells now being tested to make the crocs wary of shocks.
So can we do some Pavlovian experiments to see how to give pause to large political "crocs" so that they decide to "compromise" instead of eating [stealing power] - what is needed is a recovery program for people addicted to stealing, dominating, etc. [DOMINATOR: but it is my right to try to have more power, especially so that others won't steal from me - it is a dog eat dog world out there - you don't understand!!!!".....
2) Big program this afternoon on Rick Steve's show about how the Dutch have found a compromise with the sea -patience, hard work, engineering, LUCK, keep coming back kind of attitudes - because if the Dutch don't work their program - THEY DROWN....
SOOOO MY CONCLUSION IS:
1) there has to be CONSEQUENCES - DEATH is a non-political consequence - no government runs death.
2) there has to be government that works which no one wants to have, to pay for, to trust, to change their minds or anything else....
3) to be brief - since one and two are not likely to change until the fear of death rises exponentially,
we have to wait and die and be unhappy and in pain.
4) So the only real approach to redistricting is Living the Serenity Prayer [approach to anything else.......]
WE COULD PRAY FOR OBJECTIVE WAY TO DISTINGUISH TOXIC REDISTRICTING SINCE DEFINING TOXICITY REQUIRES OBJECTIVE, CRITICAL THINKING. There is no hope in my heart about improvement in critical thinking until I have transformed.
AA has been a big help, Jay. My HP changed my mind by a most incredible intervention which I still do not have an objective understanding of. HP just - as Rob H says - picked me up by the nap of the neck and put me in my first meeting and slowly everything changed.
So is Obama's AG finding ways to gather together powerful folks to clarify what could be a BALANCING, MEDIATING power to create common understanding?
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So maybe it should be based on counties? You only split a county where you have to?
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