Elbridge Gerry, ye knew not what ye wrought. Or perhaps ye did. Anyway, the legacy to which you lent your name, gerrymandering, lives on...... and on ....... and on .... as politicians of both parties continue to redefine political boundaries in a way that is calculated to benefit their party's election chances. It's become so common a practice that our elected representatives don't even pretend to be shamed by it; in fact, they announce their intentions to commit it.
In the U.S., of course, a whole new wave of gerrymandering (no, I will NOT call it a tsunami) is being generated by the census of 2010. In many states, adjustments will need to be made as varying regional population growth rates cause a few states to lose or gain a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Many more changes will occur at state levels. Such is the case in Virginia, where the process is off to an early start because we will be electing state officials in November 2011.
Here (and possibly in other places as well) there's a laudable new effort afoot to do away with the legacy of Eldridge Gerry. University students have been invited to compete in producing sensibly defined electoral districts without the strange-looking and confusing borders that have become typical. I'm also glad to hear that Virginia Governor McDonnell has a bipartisan commission working to produce guidelines for redistricting that should be made public next week.
Hopeful as these steps are, unfortunately there is no guarantee that the recommendations produced will be taken into account. Incumbents already have one built-in excuse for continuing business as usual: With elections pending just seven months from now, there will be a rush to complete the redistricting process, so that tweaking the existing (and badly gerrymandered) district maps can be billed as a necessary timesaver.
Still, sponsors of the student competition, and of the state commission, hope that publicizing their efforts to produce a clear and better alternative will make it more difficult for politicians to create safe seats for themselves. This would be a great stride forward.
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