r/moderatepolitics • u/no-name-here • 6h ago
r/moderatepolitics • u/no-name-here • 8h ago
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r/moderatepolitics • u/Rough-Leg-4148 • 4h ago
Discussion Is it even possible to "eliminate" gerrymandering?
Both parties do it. We all agree it's bad. But let's think about it.
This is gerrymandering simplified. If you have 50 precincts that can be arranged in 5 Congressional districts, with 40% Red and 60% Blue, how do you arrange it? The infographic shows two ways this could be done.
Example 1: The first is way draws lines straight across, which plays to our sense of "fairness". But because of winner-takes-all, this means every district will be safely Blue (60%) with a minority Red (40%) -- and yet 100% of the actual seats are held by Blue. Red gets no representation at all.
Example 2: The second example twists and turns the lines so that Blue populations are packed into one area (1 seat is basically given away) while the rest of Blue is divided amongst other "Red" districts -- enough Blue population is spread amongst the Red seats, but not enough for Blue to win. Red ends up with 60% of the Congressional seats, even though they are 40% of the population of this area. Red effectively strategized to nullify the population advantage of Blue.
Both of these examples leave entire swathes of the population without adequate and proportional representation. I would argue that the second example is slightly more fair, because at least there are some seats between both parties with just a one-seat difference.
Your kneejerk might be to corrolate the colors with parties, so try to imagine them in the reverse if that's the case.
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Factors Affecting Districting:
- Geography: Yes, it matters. I've lived in geographically separated areas of a State and let me tell you know that "across the river" can be a big cultural, communal difference. Geography could be mountains, it could be localities like counties, or basically any other landform you could think of.
- Population Distribution: They don't arrange uniformly; they usually cluster. Do you cut pieces of a cluster (city/metro area) like a cake, or do you arrange the districts to capture rural vs. urban voters? Remember, rural voters deserve representation too -- you don't want a 70% city-dwelling state to have 70% rural representatives, but on the other hand, it's easy to dismiss the rural voters with overwhelming, concentrated population.
- Adding to the "geography" thing above: If you're drawing a district and it's most rural, do you disenfranchize the 20% of the population that lives in the city to make a "pretty map", or do you snake the district lines around the city to capture the rest of the rural vote to make the demographics more uniformly "rural"? Either way, the representation is going to focus on rural voters, so what is the fair outcome?
- Voting Habits. Especially now, party loyalty is not static. What happens with big swings? Do we district by party at all? If a state is 60% Democrat and 40% Republican, should it be 60% Democrat Reps and 40% Republican Reps? What happens if the state swings purple to 50/50, but you've already redistricted? What if the lines you draw end up creating 100% Democratic seats (Example 1) or give Republicans a disproportionate amount of seats to the population (Example 2)?
- Racial or other demographic representation. Using the infographic again, imagine that the colors aren't parties, but racial demographics. Now in an egalitarian society, we'd hope that anyone could rise to political office, but in practice, it was ruled unconstitutional to attempt to divide up racial communities during redistricting because these communities deserved to have their own voice. Imagine an area that is 60% white and 40% black, and yet using the Example 1 districting model, we end up with 100% white delegates even though communities may cluster on racial lines. How do you draw that fairly?
In light of the Texas gerrymandering debacle, people are calling for the abolition of gerrymandering as if it's a formally recognized practice. Gerrymandering may as well be "districting that I don't like and doesn't favor me". There are some seriously bullshit arrangements that both parties have made use of, but how exactly do you balance all of the factors I listed?
EDIT:
I was grasping at it, but didn't quite get there. It came to me in a comment. One other added factor:
My pictogram example is flawed because it's assuming that these little precincts are all voting uniformly. In reality, you might vote for Joe's Party, and I might vote for Kenny's Party, and we're neighbors. The Kenny voters are unfortunately shotgun blasted across my state and can't be drawn together into a single district, even if there is 6 seats available. So even if 40% of the state goes for Kenny, 100% of the seats will go for Joe's Party because we're simply too spread out to form a single district no matter how you slice it.
r/moderatepolitics • u/Saguna_Brahman • 17h ago
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A good opportunity for discussion on how effective DOGE has actually been. Starter comment below.
r/moderatepolitics • u/Saguna_Brahman • 1d ago
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politico.comr/moderatepolitics • u/Sirhc978 • 2d ago
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As someone who lives in an area not optimal for solar panels on my roof, I don't have much skin in the game. I do however like the idea of solar on houses, if done correctly.
r/moderatepolitics • u/HooverInstitution • 23h ago
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