Modest Proposal: Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is a process political districts are redrawn to suit the political party curently in power. It is generally considered a fairly underhanded way to increase one's advantage over one's political opponents...and sadly, it's pretty widely practiced. Currently there is a proposition on board to regulate or isolate the gerrymandering process, California's proposition 77. (apologies for the biased web-site, but that's what google pulled up and I concur with some of their analysis).

There are two issues with anti-gerrymandering legislation. First, it is never in the interest of the governing power to reduce their influence. (Although, occassionally you'll have a party split between the Executive and Legislative branches... like California). Second, why should any individual state take effort to reduce its national clout? This is fundamentally the same problem with fixing the electoral college to be more representative...no one wants to do it first. However gerrymandering propotes bad things, such as:

1: Cronyism and abuse of power. Certain people otherwise at risk can be "protected" while opponents districts can be split or two opponents can be moved into the same district and forced to run against each other. Obviously this does not result in better government.

2: Reduction of the number of competitive seats: Redistricting tends to create strongholds, wherein people are guaranteed reelection (because officals like guaranteeing reelections). The downside is this makes them less competitive, less responsive, and generally less acountable. Obviously this does not result in better government.

Here's a slightly unique proposal for state legislatures: I propose a bill that turns the gorvernance of electoral districts over to some impartial body (and by impartial, I'm thinking a computer algorithm that divides the population as evenly as possible), BUT...explicitly write the bill to not go into effect until anti-gerrymandering bills are established in 35 other states. Ditto for splitting electoral college votes.

Maybe once freed from the onerous responsibility of being the first person to do the right thing, state politicians can level the playing field in a bi-partisan manner.