Why is gerrymandering legal?
- Thread starter OfTheCross
- Start date
The simple answer is that American democracy has always been built around the idea of allowing the people at the top to determine how everyone else gets to be governed.
Secure Da Bag
Veteran
There's no way founding the right to vote to only white landowners (who were in fact rich enough to also get an education) could lead to that, right?
That's not entirely true.
The wealthy have always been wealthy. American militarism allowed for a shaking of traditional hierarchical multiple times early on and during un certainty.
Bloodshed and wealth in this country go hand and hand. Which is why law and order is important because he maintains the power ratio.
American politics are getting more extreme and more divided. Congress is so gridlocked they can’t even pass the most basic laws to improve the lives of everyday Americans.
We all know it, we can feel it, but these 3 charts really show it – and sometimes the reality is even more stark than your imagination:
These charts show members of Congress who worked with the other party to pass a law. The gray lines represents their collaboration – the more lines you see, the more times they crossed party lines to pass a law.
So how’d we go from the bipartisan cooperation of 1967 to the extreme division of today’s politics? It all comes down to a broken system where 86% of house races are decided before the general election even starts.
Part of this is due to the disastrous practice of gerrymandering, which allows politicians to pick their voters instead of the other way around. It happens in red and blue states – for example in North Carolina, Republicans have drawn the map to ensure 10 of the 13 congressional seats go to their party every election, regardless of who runs. Likewise, in Maryland, Democrats have drawn the map to give them 7 of the 8 congressional seats every cycle.
That means that all the competition is in the primaries, where as few as 14% of voters participate. Primary voters tend to be more partisan than those who vote in the general, so the most partisan candidates win the primary, and then they’re virtually guaranteed to win the general, so you can guess what happens next.
Over time, the parties move further and further apart, politicians become more extreme, Congress fails to cooperate, and Americans suffer.
We all know it, we can feel it, but these 3 charts really show it – and sometimes the reality is even more stark than your imagination:
These charts show members of Congress who worked with the other party to pass a law. The gray lines represents their collaboration – the more lines you see, the more times they crossed party lines to pass a law.
So how’d we go from the bipartisan cooperation of 1967 to the extreme division of today’s politics? It all comes down to a broken system where 86% of house races are decided before the general election even starts.
Part of this is due to the disastrous practice of gerrymandering, which allows politicians to pick their voters instead of the other way around. It happens in red and blue states – for example in North Carolina, Republicans have drawn the map to ensure 10 of the 13 congressional seats go to their party every election, regardless of who runs. Likewise, in Maryland, Democrats have drawn the map to give them 7 of the 8 congressional seats every cycle.
That means that all the competition is in the primaries, where as few as 14% of voters participate. Primary voters tend to be more partisan than those who vote in the general, so the most partisan candidates win the primary, and then they’re virtually guaranteed to win the general, so you can guess what happens next.
Over time, the parties move further and further apart, politicians become more extreme, Congress fails to cooperate, and Americans suffer.
Controversy
Superstar
It's messed up we know how the supreme court will vote on these issues before it even hits their docket
Another archaic rule from the 18th century that never got modernized. 
People were less partisan and politics were much more local focused instead of national platforms like it is today. The internet made the country a lot smaller.
People were less partisan and politics were much more local focused instead of national platforms like it is today. The internet made the country a lot smaller.
the dems act in better faith, but the bottom line is that both sides do as much as they can 
its probably not changing
i was rooting for the dems to gerrymander elise stefanik out of office in NY
its probably not changingi was rooting for the dems to gerrymander elise stefanik out of office in NY
We may not even have to get rid of gerrymandering if we had open primaries and ranked-choice voting.