04-11-2016, 05:23 PM
[FONT=&]One easy way to end gerrymandering: Stop letting politicians draw their own districts[/FONT]
[FONT=&]By ChristopherIngraham[/FONT][FONT=&]June 2, 2014[/FONT][FONT=&] - [/FONT]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk...districts/
![[Image: attachment.php?attachmentid=8694&stc=1]](https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8694&stc=1)
[FONT=&]I've written a bit lately about the phenomenon ofgerrymandered House districts, in the 113th Congress and the decades leading up to it. It's pretty clear thatgerrymandering leads to lopsided party breakdowns in Congress, which underminesthe whole notion of representative government. Just as important, it underminesvoters' faith in the democratic process.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The burning question, then: can we do better? Thesimplest and most obvious reform would be to take redistricting out of thehands of politicians completely. Several states havealready set up independent commissions to handle their redistricting -California, Arizona, Washington and Idaho.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]And now U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), whowas behind the effort to bring an independent redistricting commission to hisstate, has introduced legislation in the House that would do the same for therest of the states. I spoke with him recently about the process of getting thebill passed in California, and the likelihood of doing the same nationwide.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Lowenthal's "Let the PeopleDraw the Lines Act" would create independent panels consistingof five Democrats, five Republicans and four Independents. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]"These would be people who haven't run foroffice, who aren't paid by either party, and who haven't contributed to eitherparty," Lowenthal says. "That group would follow set criteria fordrawing maps, and would hold public hearings throughout the state. Thecommission would approve the maps, and would not require legislative orgovernor's approval. If there was a legal challenge it would immediately go tofederal district court."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Congress has tried to tackle the redistrictingissue previously, without much success. Democrat Bruce Braley of Iowa currently has abill out that would establish redistricting commissions asindependent agencies of state legislative branches, but keeps authority forapproval of the plans with the legislatures. Since politicians would still bevery much in the driver's seat, it's hard to see how this would be much of animprovement over the current situation.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]In the early 2000s, Lowenthal introduced a billsimilar to his current House bill in the California legislature, when he was astate assemblyman representing the city of Long Beach. Redistricting from the2000 Census was happening at the time. Lowenthal says the process was marked bya lot of "horse-trading" happening behind closed doors: Republicansand Democrats got together to divvy everything up, with the primary aim ofprotecting incumbents all around.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]"There was tremendous interest fromWashington," Lowenthal recalls. "Both parties wanted to make suretheir incumbents were protected."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]In 2003 Lowenthal, along with a group of otherassembly Democrats and Republicans, first introduced legislation to create anindependent redistricting commission. "Nobody wanted to support it,"Lowenthal said. "We couldn't even get a second in committee."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]After a long uphill slog through the legislativeprocess, a version of the bill passed in 2010, seven years later. Two factorswere key: growing popular pressure, and the support of then-governor ArnoldSchwarzenegger.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Elected to the U.S. House in 2012, Lowenthalpromptly introduced the "Let the PeopleDraw the Lines Act" to create similar independentredistricting commissions for the rest of the states.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The bill currently has only two co-sponsors, bothfreshman Democrats from California. If California's bill was a tough sell, anational bill will be even harder: according to govtrack.us, it has a 1 percentchance of being enacted.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]"Here, just getting everyone's attention in anenvironment where so little gets done, I think it's gonna be much moredifficult," Lowenthal says. "It's going to take a lot ofpressure from the media, from editorial boards, from communities, and from thepeople."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Wonkbook newsletter[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Your daily policy cheat sheet from Wonkblog.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Sign up[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Getting a bill like this passed would requireconvincing legislators to vote some degree of power out of their own hands. Andif there's anything we know about congressmen, it's that they try to hold on topower at any cost.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]"There is such distrust in governmenttoday," Lowenthal says. "This would be one small step of many toreestablish that trust."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]But if the California bill is any example,politicians aren't going to budge on the measure without a huge amount of popularsupport behind it - not to mention the efforts of a strong executive to pushthe bill across the finish line. Voters seem to be stuck in a vicious cycle ofcynicism and apathy - they believe nothing will ever change in Congress, sothey're disinclined to try to bring about change.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]One telling statistic? Voter dissatisfaction withincumbents is at record highs. But so far, only one incumbenthas been voted out this primary season.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]What do you think about turning redistricting overto independent committees? Let me know in the comments. Tomorrow, I'll look ata solution that takes redistricting out of human hands completely.
[/FONT]ENDE
![[Image: attachment.php?attachmentid=8695&stc=1]](https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8695&stc=1)
![[Image: attachment.php?attachmentid=8696&stc=1]](https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8696&stc=1)
These people are arseholes.
[FONT=&]By ChristopherIngraham[/FONT][FONT=&]June 2, 2014[/FONT][FONT=&] - [/FONT]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk...districts/
[FONT=&]I've written a bit lately about the phenomenon ofgerrymandered House districts, in the 113th Congress and the decades leading up to it. It's pretty clear thatgerrymandering leads to lopsided party breakdowns in Congress, which underminesthe whole notion of representative government. Just as important, it underminesvoters' faith in the democratic process.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The burning question, then: can we do better? Thesimplest and most obvious reform would be to take redistricting out of thehands of politicians completely. Several states havealready set up independent commissions to handle their redistricting -California, Arizona, Washington and Idaho.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]And now U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.), whowas behind the effort to bring an independent redistricting commission to hisstate, has introduced legislation in the House that would do the same for therest of the states. I spoke with him recently about the process of getting thebill passed in California, and the likelihood of doing the same nationwide.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Lowenthal's "Let the PeopleDraw the Lines Act" would create independent panels consistingof five Democrats, five Republicans and four Independents. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]"These would be people who haven't run foroffice, who aren't paid by either party, and who haven't contributed to eitherparty," Lowenthal says. "That group would follow set criteria fordrawing maps, and would hold public hearings throughout the state. Thecommission would approve the maps, and would not require legislative orgovernor's approval. If there was a legal challenge it would immediately go tofederal district court."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Congress has tried to tackle the redistrictingissue previously, without much success. Democrat Bruce Braley of Iowa currently has abill out that would establish redistricting commissions asindependent agencies of state legislative branches, but keeps authority forapproval of the plans with the legislatures. Since politicians would still bevery much in the driver's seat, it's hard to see how this would be much of animprovement over the current situation.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]In the early 2000s, Lowenthal introduced a billsimilar to his current House bill in the California legislature, when he was astate assemblyman representing the city of Long Beach. Redistricting from the2000 Census was happening at the time. Lowenthal says the process was marked bya lot of "horse-trading" happening behind closed doors: Republicansand Democrats got together to divvy everything up, with the primary aim ofprotecting incumbents all around.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]"There was tremendous interest fromWashington," Lowenthal recalls. "Both parties wanted to make suretheir incumbents were protected."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]In 2003 Lowenthal, along with a group of otherassembly Democrats and Republicans, first introduced legislation to create anindependent redistricting commission. "Nobody wanted to support it,"Lowenthal said. "We couldn't even get a second in committee."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]After a long uphill slog through the legislativeprocess, a version of the bill passed in 2010, seven years later. Two factorswere key: growing popular pressure, and the support of then-governor ArnoldSchwarzenegger.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Elected to the U.S. House in 2012, Lowenthalpromptly introduced the "Let the PeopleDraw the Lines Act" to create similar independentredistricting commissions for the rest of the states.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]The bill currently has only two co-sponsors, bothfreshman Democrats from California. If California's bill was a tough sell, anational bill will be even harder: according to govtrack.us, it has a 1 percentchance of being enacted.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]"Here, just getting everyone's attention in anenvironment where so little gets done, I think it's gonna be much moredifficult," Lowenthal says. "It's going to take a lot ofpressure from the media, from editorial boards, from communities, and from thepeople."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Wonkbook newsletter[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Your daily policy cheat sheet from Wonkblog.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Sign up[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Getting a bill like this passed would requireconvincing legislators to vote some degree of power out of their own hands. Andif there's anything we know about congressmen, it's that they try to hold on topower at any cost.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]"There is such distrust in governmenttoday," Lowenthal says. "This would be one small step of many toreestablish that trust."[/FONT]
[FONT=&]But if the California bill is any example,politicians aren't going to budge on the measure without a huge amount of popularsupport behind it - not to mention the efforts of a strong executive to pushthe bill across the finish line. Voters seem to be stuck in a vicious cycle ofcynicism and apathy - they believe nothing will ever change in Congress, sothey're disinclined to try to bring about change.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]One telling statistic? Voter dissatisfaction withincumbents is at record highs. But so far, only one incumbenthas been voted out this primary season.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]What do you think about turning redistricting overto independent committees? Let me know in the comments. Tomorrow, I'll look ata solution that takes redistricting out of human hands completely.
[/FONT]ENDE
These people are arseholes.
Martin Luther King - "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
Albert Camus - "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion".
Douglas MacArthur — "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
Albert Camus - "Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."
Albert Camus - "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion".
Douglas MacArthur — "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."
Albert Camus - "Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."