“What's at stake, after all, is citizens'
representation in Congress. Partisan gerrymandering undermines the whole notion
of a representative government.”
What the author is
explaining in this part of his passage can be easily understood. The politician
has created a system to stay in power. But, at what cost? Are the constituents actually
being looked after? One district the author mentions is the Sevenths district
in Pennsylvania. The shape of the district has transformed from 83rd to the 113th
Congress, It is unrecognizable. As he said, “While a compact district may be
desirable, it doesn’t necessarily reflect how people live or what county and
city boundaries look like." Or, as John succinctly puts it,
"Representation is about people, not polygons."
I believe gerrymandering
is an issue that has a solution. Like any law, citizens or politicians will do
their best to make the law benefit them as much as possible. Democracy is being
hurt by this because the politicians are focusing more on reshaping the districts
on the map instead of serving the people who placed them in power. The problem
is that the office-bearers understand that to control, they must gerrymander or
at least understand it. I can understand why this action is being taken and it
is because it is an old game that the rules has not been changed. The government
needs to be more progressive with actions to benefit the people and change the
rule of this old game in the political arena.
Democracies in America has
matured in many ways and there is still a lot that can be done to improve it.
The system has to be pegged to the interest of the people, not map making.
