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    rigatoniHamilton Nolan
    7/29/13 9:47am

    And what angels of justice and objectivity are gonna make up this fantasy committee?

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      Hamilton Nolanrigatoni
      7/29/13 9:57am

      Maybe those imaginary angels in one of the many nonpartisan governmental organizations that already exist, like the CBO.

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      CARedistrictingrigatoni
      7/29/13 10:03am

      The best answer so far is the model set up in California:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Californi…

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    PuffynuggetHamilton Nolan
    7/29/13 4:05pm

    Gerrymandering had been around forever.,.. and the concept of a non-partisan anything is non existent these days. Mist states use population as well as ideology to draw districts.

    All of you who are outraged about this should ask yourselves: do you know who your congressional representative is? Do you know the name of your state rep and state senators? What district are you in?

    The outrage is a bit too precious when none of you-the self-proclaimed plugged in-can answer all those questions.

    And yes, I work the politics and am a former hill staffer.

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      Hamilton NolanPuffynugget
      7/29/13 4:11pm

      "This stuff has been going on a long time. Why worry that it's a travesty against basic fairness? The public is dumb."

      You do sound like someone who works in politics.

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      PuffynuggetHamilton Nolan
      7/29/13 4:53pm

      I'm not saying the public is dumb, I'm saying that if you're outraged you shouldn't advocate for a change to this system, you should advocate that people become more involved at the un-sexy level of politics: city councils, mayors, county commisioners, state legislatures. Talk about under-funded candidates.

      Instead, you and the majority of commenters only get involved when it's a big ticket race. When I was on the hill, members-including the congressman I worked for (who, by the way, is dumb as a box of rocks)-were incensed that they didn't get more media coverage. The truth is, not many people care enough to find out facts on the issues or even have a basic understanding of how the system works. I would spend hours on the phone with reporters explaining that we couldn't Comment on a senate bill because it would be different when it got to the house.

      Ask your neighbor who their congressman or congreesswoman is.....easily 80% won't know and just pull the lever for D or R....and that's why gerrymandering works.

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    septembergrrlHamilton Nolan
    7/29/13 9:52am

    If I were ever somehow made Supreme Ruler of America for a day, the *first* thing I would do is mandate all electoral districts were designed by a computer and based only on population and geographic boundaries. The current system serves nobody except the party that got to draw the lines.

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      blank111septembergrrl
      7/29/13 10:25am

      Weird that the solution to a more perfect democracy here involves somebody being named supreme ruler for a day.

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      septembergrrlblank111
      7/29/13 10:37am

      True. But I don't see gerrymandering ever being stopped in the real world as there's basically no incentive for politicians to change it, so I had to go to my little thought experiment in which I'm omnipotent.

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    65tosspowerfapHamilton Nolan
    7/29/13 9:54am

    Have a troublesome liberal bastion in the midst of your conservative kingdom? No problem! Just devide that sucker up into 3 districts, each being the edge of an easily won mass of sycophants.

    Thanks Tom DeLay!!!

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      PeteHawk65tosspowerfap
      7/29/13 10:13am

      Both parties use gerrymandering to their advantage. That's the problem.

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      65tosspowerfapPeteHawk
      7/29/13 10:16am

      I agree, but this is the one that effectively removed my right to congressional representation, and thus the example I went with.

      This one better illustrates the "pinwheel" of Texas districts.

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    JorgeHusebyHamilton Nolan
    7/29/13 10:11am

    And this is how you get someone as bat-shit crazy as Michelle Bachman elected 3 times.

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      AmericanRefugeeHamilton Nolan
      7/29/13 10:14am

      The worst gerrymander of all? The equal proportioning of Senators by state, so that the vote of a citizen in Wyoming is worth approximately 50 times that of a citizen of California, when it comes to the Senate.

      Americans in 2012 elected, by popular vote, a Democratic House of Representatives. In a functioning parliamentary democracy, the Democrats would control both houses of the legislature, since they won a popular majority.

      America is not a functioning democracy, it's a leftover hybrid system from when governments in the West were still trying to transition from rule by aristocracy to rule by majority. That's why these silly rules that should have been tossed a hundred years ago.

      Constitutional Convention, anyone?

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        rigatoniAmericanRefugee
        7/29/13 1:09pm

        But the Senate was designed to be unfair in that specific way, and that's why the issues they handle are mostly related to foreign policy (making sure each state gets an equal hand in how the country is represented to the world) and not budgetary (where it's most important that the more populous states have a larger say).

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        edubyaAmericanRefugee
        7/29/13 1:21pm

        In theory, Senators represent the States, not the 'people', which is why each State has 2 (and why they used to be appointed by Governors).

        I think the bigger issue is the fact the we once had 1 rep:45,000 people. Now it's 1:785,000 or so. Representation isn't necessarily proportional and if people were better represented (maybe at a max 1:250,000) gerrymandering would be far less of an issue.

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      TrumanCablowmeHamilton Nolan
      7/29/13 9:46am

      My favorite is NC's 12th District.

      Gerrymandered as all hell. At least the career politician that has ruled over it didn't just get tapped by Obama as the new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. And didn't get investigated by the ethics committee for throwing a Goldman Sach's fundraiser, then tried to cut ethics investigation funding in response.

      Wait what's that? Oh. Oh no.

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        PowersurgeonTrumanCablowme
        7/29/13 10:11am

        Here it is, in all it's gerrymandered glory!

        GIF
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        FghhyghhjjhgfTrumanCablowme
        7/29/13 10:14am

        Pretty sure that's a VRA mandated minority majority district.

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      MelHamilton Nolan
      7/29/13 9:56am

      The shit that we tolerate in this country boggles the mind.

      consumerism is the most potent placebo mankind has ever experimented with. it's a bottomless pit of masochistic stupor that, at least for the foreseeable future, castrates any nation wide cry for political reform.

      There is absolutely no chance that Congressional leaders will ever push for a system that might actually resemble a true representative democracy. Why would they? As it is, they can virtually guarantee their own solid career path.

      gerrymandering is a minefield for mainstream political dialogue because you can not address it without talking about race and class.

      the republicans have taken something that is a relic and utilized the shit out of it to maintain their death grip on the congressional seats because they've been consistently losing in national elections. they've thoroughly neutered the Obama Administration with this strategy.

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        DuffinHamilton Nolan
        7/29/13 9:53am

        Yeah, Gerrymandering is really bad. Here in Ohio, we had a bill on the ballot this past election which would have put an independent non-elected official panel together to decide districts. Obviously all politicians were against it and pushed hard for people to vote it down, claiming "We don't know who these people are! They aren't elected!" which was...the whole point, since they would supposedly have "no dog in the fight" and all. Of course, it got voted down, and now they can continue to decide their own districts to manipulate the system. Good job, Ohio voters.

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          BrassyBibliophileDuffin
          7/29/13 10:19am

          This! That's exactly what happened to Dennis Kucinich. He served his district for 20+ years and then they changed the district and boom, he's gone.

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          DuffinBrassyBibliophile
          7/29/13 10:27am

          Yeah, I think one problem is that most people don't understand the point of districts or how we use them. Hell, I don't even know a lot about them, but I know enough to get the jist of it. And since seeing a really informative video on Gerrymandering, I understand how they're being manipulated to move things around to ensure Republican or Democratic victories. Here's the video if you're interested:

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        Hokie WartoothHamilton Nolan
        7/29/13 10:44am

        Texas's 35th Congressional District

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