When our legislative system was created, each state was designed to be divided into several different districts, the number of which depending on how many representatives that state has in the House of Representatives. From these districts a dangerous practice has emerged, a practice which goes directly against the design of the Founding Fathers. Elbridge Gerry, a Massachusetts politician signed off on a plan to rearrange district boundaries in order to fit the needs of a particular party (The Democratic-Republican Party). After a newspaper editor commented the new district look like "a salamander", the slang "gerrymandering" got its infamous name.
The usage of this process in order to favor a particular party has choked up legitimate representation of many cities and areas, and created several monstrosities in the process. Districts which were designed to be perfectly square have ended up like this:
Illinois' 17th District
Florida's 22nd District
Arizona's 2nd District
Maryland's 3rd District
The act of Gerrymandering is justified by the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was initially established to ensure that all races were equally represented in Congress, was later twisted to fit much more political logic.
Looking at the city of Austin, Texas, it is known as the extremely liberal and progressive blueberry-city in the tomato soup sea that is Texas. However, despite Austin's population's overtly liberal attitude, it has five Republicans representing the city in the House of its six total representatives. This is because of the extremely butchered state of Austin's districts. Austin's 10th District starts in the middle of the city and expands 160 miles east to Houston, while Austin's 25th District, also beginning in the center of the city, reaches out a full 214 miles to Dallas. All this in the name of preserving a conservative friendly Texas, but is that equal and just representation?
The answer is simply no. And this issue does not solely rise from the right aisle of Congress. True equal representation does not rely on butchered up drawings to maintain a party's hold on an area.
While they may have their reasoning behind it, any source looking for the true common good of a functional republic would agree that this is simply not justifiable. I cannot help but wondering what one of the United States' founding fathers would have thought about the process of gerrymandering.
That's all I have to say today. I apologize for not writing as frequently, as I have been making adjustments to my website and working on new methods of writing. I will be writing on a regular schedule again soon.
"The day a child realizes all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself he becomes wise." -Alden Nowlan
Looking at the city of Austin, Texas, it is known as the extremely liberal and progressive blueberry-city in the tomato soup sea that is Texas. However, despite Austin's population's overtly liberal attitude, it has five Republicans representing the city in the House of its six total representatives. This is because of the extremely butchered state of Austin's districts. Austin's 10th District starts in the middle of the city and expands 160 miles east to Houston, while Austin's 25th District, also beginning in the center of the city, reaches out a full 214 miles to Dallas. All this in the name of preserving a conservative friendly Texas, but is that equal and just representation?
The answer is simply no. And this issue does not solely rise from the right aisle of Congress. True equal representation does not rely on butchered up drawings to maintain a party's hold on an area.
While they may have their reasoning behind it, any source looking for the true common good of a functional republic would agree that this is simply not justifiable. I cannot help but wondering what one of the United States' founding fathers would have thought about the process of gerrymandering.
That's all I have to say today. I apologize for not writing as frequently, as I have been making adjustments to my website and working on new methods of writing. I will be writing on a regular schedule again soon.
"The day a child realizes all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent; the day he forgives them he becomes an adult; the day he forgives himself he becomes wise." -Alden Nowlan
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