I just read a column by Juan Williams about the evils of Gerrymandering and why America needs to do away with it. Gerrymandering, of course, is the process of drawing the lines of legislative districts so that one party benefits at the expense of the other. According to Williams, it is Gerrymandering and not the will of the people that has given Congress a Republican majority. Put another way, Juan Williams is either a moron or a liar. He must know that it was not gerrymandering that gave us a Republican House (which would make him a liar) or he actually thinks that the claim is true (which would make him a moron.)
Let's look at this for a moment. Does the US House have a Republican majority because of where the district lines were drawn? The obvious answer is no. For those who believe the opposite, then maybe they can explain why the US Senate has a Republican majority when there are no district lines in that chamber.
So why is there a GOP majority in the House? The key is not so much where the district lines are drawn, but rather (1) where the voters live, and (2) the results of the Voting Rights Act. The areas across America where Democrats live tend to be heavily Democrat. New York City, for example, has 2.7 million registered Democrats and 400,000 Republicans. All but one of the city's representatives in the House are Democrats, and they all win by very lopsided margins. On the other hand, Republicans tend to represent districts that have a much more significant Democrat presence. Because the Democrats are so clustered, they end up in districts together and leave the remainder to tend towards the Republican. On top of this, the Voting Rights Act requires states to try to create districts in which the majority of voters are minorities. African Americans are just over thirteen percent of the population, but they are over a quarter of the Democrats. When the states create districts with black majorities as required by the Voting Rights Act, they are using up a big chunk of all Democrats in the state. That leaves the other districts with more Republicans and fewer Democrats.
Neither of these causes for a Republican majority is anything like Gerrymandering. Gerrymandering involves the creation of bizarre, strangely shaped districts to lump together unrelated neighborhoods and regions. That is not what has happened across the country.
The problem that Democrats like Juan Williams cannot seem to understand is that voters have selected Republicans to control Congress. For the Democrats, the only reason that their party could have lost is that something was done to rob them, but it wasn't. The damage done by commentators like Juan Williams, however, is that they tell people who don't really know the facts that they are being wrongfully disenfranchised. They didn't lose the election fairly; it was stolen from them through gerrymandering. This nonsense does great damage to our political system. We don't have two parties vying for control by presenting issued and ideas to an informed electorate. No, for the Juan Williams types we have one party that tries honestly to win and another which just steals elections even though their ideas are rejected. Nothing delegitimizes our system more than claims it is rigged.
Let's look at this for a moment. Does the US House have a Republican majority because of where the district lines were drawn? The obvious answer is no. For those who believe the opposite, then maybe they can explain why the US Senate has a Republican majority when there are no district lines in that chamber.
So why is there a GOP majority in the House? The key is not so much where the district lines are drawn, but rather (1) where the voters live, and (2) the results of the Voting Rights Act. The areas across America where Democrats live tend to be heavily Democrat. New York City, for example, has 2.7 million registered Democrats and 400,000 Republicans. All but one of the city's representatives in the House are Democrats, and they all win by very lopsided margins. On the other hand, Republicans tend to represent districts that have a much more significant Democrat presence. Because the Democrats are so clustered, they end up in districts together and leave the remainder to tend towards the Republican. On top of this, the Voting Rights Act requires states to try to create districts in which the majority of voters are minorities. African Americans are just over thirteen percent of the population, but they are over a quarter of the Democrats. When the states create districts with black majorities as required by the Voting Rights Act, they are using up a big chunk of all Democrats in the state. That leaves the other districts with more Republicans and fewer Democrats.
Neither of these causes for a Republican majority is anything like Gerrymandering. Gerrymandering involves the creation of bizarre, strangely shaped districts to lump together unrelated neighborhoods and regions. That is not what has happened across the country.
The problem that Democrats like Juan Williams cannot seem to understand is that voters have selected Republicans to control Congress. For the Democrats, the only reason that their party could have lost is that something was done to rob them, but it wasn't. The damage done by commentators like Juan Williams, however, is that they tell people who don't really know the facts that they are being wrongfully disenfranchised. They didn't lose the election fairly; it was stolen from them through gerrymandering. This nonsense does great damage to our political system. We don't have two parties vying for control by presenting issued and ideas to an informed electorate. No, for the Juan Williams types we have one party that tries honestly to win and another which just steals elections even though their ideas are rejected. Nothing delegitimizes our system more than claims it is rigged.
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