Hazard, the gerrymander has a long an illustrious history in the United States. Just like voters choose their representatives, the representatives too have a right to choose their voters.
What changed is that it used to be done with pen, paper, and guesswork. But with the advent of GIS software and massive sets of statistics, we no longer had to deal with primitive methods without voter metrics. As 2010 was an good year for Republicans, they got the first crack at new census reapportionment and the power of big data. No longer would an elected have to suffer from poorly targeted districts -- now they only see voters that are relevant to their interests.
But here's the thing -- in the decade 2000-2010, Republicans were trying to remove the power of districting from Democrats, alleging unfair districts. In 2010-now, Democrats are alleging the same thing -- but the districts are somehow worse. But both sides are guilty. Disqualifying the entire government from staying in power sounds like a recipe for more Donald Trump types to me.
What changed is that it used to be done with pen, paper, and guesswork. But with the advent of GIS software and massive sets of statistics, we no longer had to deal with primitive methods without voter metrics. As 2010 was an good year for Republicans, they got the first crack at new census reapportionment and the power of big data. No longer would an elected have to suffer from poorly targeted districts -- now they only see voters that are relevant to their interests.
But here's the thing -- in the decade 2000-2010, Republicans were trying to remove the power of districting from Democrats, alleging unfair districts. In 2010-now, Democrats are alleging the same thing -- but the districts are somehow worse. But both sides are guilty. Disqualifying the entire government from staying in power sounds like a recipe for more Donald Trump types to me.
"Kitto daijoubu da yo." - Sakura Kinomoto