The Beginning of the End of Gerrymandering?

[carpedm9587]

Yes, perhaps you are right, and perhaps if the gerrymandering shoe were on the liberal foot, one promoting a more progressive agenda, I wouldn't mind it so much either. But if you believe in democracy, gerrymandering would be wrong in either case whether one minds it or not. I'm coming to the conclusion that the problem is in the tribal nature of our democratic system of governance, if only we could do away with political parties there would be no republican party out there, owned by the wealthy, to target and recruit all of the poor idiots out there and get them to vote against their own best interests.

I think you would not like the government that would result...

[Quantum Weirdness]

*emphasis mine.

Sorry, I don't follow - do you mean the House or state legislatures?

Meant the people who go up for the house of representatives. Maybe it could be used for state legislatures as well though.

[Teallaura]

Meant the people who go up for the house of representatives. Maybe it could be used for state legislatures as well though.

Okay, congressional reps then - got it! Yeah, many states have bicarmel legislatures so it can get confusing. Usually 'state representative' will refer to a member of a state legislature, not Congress - but that's just convention and it's perfectly rational to refer to congressional representatives that way.

Thankfully, counties generally have commissions and not legislatures - otherwise we'd never know who we were talking about!

[JimL]

I think you would not like the government that would result...

Why? It certainly wasn't the original intent of the founding fathers, and G. Washington himself warned against it. Looks to me like he was spot on.

[carpedm9587]

Why? It certainly wasn't the original intent of the founding fathers, and G. Washington himself warned against it. Looks to me like he was spot on.

The "original intent' of the founding fathers is open for debate - as is the question...."should their original intent be our sine qua non?" Or perhaps we should be thinking for ourselves...?

[Terraceth]

George Washington definitely had a strong dislike of political parties. I'm not so sure about the others, though. The initial political parties were created by some of the founders, such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison founding the Democratic-Republican Party. Now perhaps they only did so due to necessity, but the point is they still viewed it as necessary to have a party.

[JimL]

I think you would not like the government that would result...

Why, what makes you think so? Political parties obviously bring partison dysfunction, it becomes a sort of tribal warfare rather than a mutual process of tackling and solving problems, not to mention political parties are more susceptible to special interests.

[carpedm9587]

Why, what makes you think so? Political parties obviously bring partison dysfunction, it becomes a sort of tribal warfare rather than a mutual process of tackling and solving problems, not to mention political parties are more susceptible to special interests.

They do not HAVE to bring partisan dysfunction. They ARE bringing partisan dysfunction today largely because the electorate is dysfunctional. We can point to many sources: the polarizing effect of the modern media, the tendency for people to sort themselves into partisan groupings (demographically), the polarizing effects of the Internet - the list goes on.

[Sparko]

Yeah, so, when did I say any different? You're comprehension abilities really seem to be waning, Sparko.

Right here numskull:

Republicans took it to a whole new level which is why the courts are involved.

[JimL]

Right here numskull:

I said that republicans took it to a whole new level Sparko, not that democrats weren't guilty of it as well. You really need to brush up on those comprehension skills there Sparko, if you want to stop making yourself look like a numbskull.

[JimL]

They do not HAVE to bring partisan dysfunction.

But they do.

They ARE bringing partisan dysfunction today largely because the electorate is dysfunctional. We can point to many sources: the polarizing effect of the modern media, the tendency for people to sort themselves into partisan groupings (demographically), the polarizing effects of the Internet - the list goes on.

Or perhaps you have it backwards, perhaps the source of the polarization is the parties themselves.

[rogue06]

Right here numskull:

No fair using jimmy's own words against him.

[Sparko]

I said that republicans took it to a whole new level Sparko, not that democrats weren't guilty of it as well. You really need to brush up on those comprehension skills there Sparko, if you want to stop making yourself look like a numbskull.

And I said that they both have been doing it at the same levels. This is nothing new.

[Sparko]

No fair using jimmy's own words against him.

[JimL]

And I said that they both have been doing it at the same levels. This is nothing new.

Yes, and I agreed that they are both guilty of gerrymandering. The point I made in refutation to you was that republicans took it to a whole new and ridiculous level.