Gerrymandering is a dirty way to split up votes in the US. This method should not exist for many reasons. For one it is used to prevent change in the US because of one political party having too much power preventing change to occur. Second this method prevents votes from mattering if the vote is being taken and basically put in with an opposing parties district votes. Third giving the right to draw the district lines to a party is giving too much power to the political parties. If you look on a map today of any state in America there is evidence of Gerrymandering everywhere. A great example of this is Austin Texas which has been split apart in four different ways because of the way people tend to vote. Austin is known for being a hip city and being mostly democratic. The Republicans know this as well and have drawn the district lines so that Austin voters would not matter as much because the power of their vote has been watered down so in the long run they can have most of the seats in the House of Representatives. Is it too much to have a fair chance to win in this great country of ours? This method just makes things even harder for there to be change in America. This should not exist for all the reasons listed in this blog because it is hurting America. Change is slow in America already but this just prolongs it much more.
After reading my fellow classmate Elijah's blog post about gerrymandering, I have to say I couldn't agree more with their points as to why gerrymandering should not exist. Drawing district lines to include or exclude certain groups of people is extremely unfair and malicious. After watching the U.S. Senate election race just this past week, I got to truly see how gerrymandering can affect the way votes are split up and conducted.
ReplyDeleteLike we’ve seen in class, if redrawing district lines was done using an algorithm rather than doing it by hand, the split up of political parties in each voting district would be far more fair, resulting in the elimination of some of the incumbency advantages seen in elections. Politicians often talk about the necessary change that we need to see in America, but with unfair voting districts, how can we see change if the Republican party is almost always favored (speaking in terms of the state of Texas)? If we were to eliminate gerrymandering and create district boundaries with equal political party representation, we would get to see a true reflection of who turns out at the polls, and that each districts votes should matter the same.
As they mentioned the city of Austin, I agree that the unair split up of voting districts is extremely evident in our city. Austin is indeed majority Democratic, but with the way lines are drawn, Republicans tend to have the majority vote. Once again, if districts were drawn with equal representation of both parties, problems with voter discrepancy would be eliminated almost completely. We need this to happen in order to see the change we want to see in our country.
I agree with your blog post. I don’t believe gerrymandering should be allowed. It is unfair the way cities and towns are divided to fit a political party’s agenda. It should be split in a way that everyone’s voice is able to be heard. Voters should be able to feel they have a voice and gerrymandering hinders those voters. Like you had stated in your post voters vote can be water down due to gerrymandering and can also discourage voters. I also feel that because incumbency advantage as well as gerrymandering it is even more difficult to see change in our country. I completely agree it should not be allowed and we should generate change.
ReplyDelete"Gerrymandering is a dirty way to split up votes in the US," Elijah Gilmore stated on his blog "Government Today," as a colleague of Mr.Gilmore, I can say he most definitely is right. The idea behind this political strong hand is evil and downright spiteful. To split cities into divisions to keep power has to be one of the most intelligent and disgusting ways to reassure that no other political party takes control and move the scales of justice that have been set into play. To quote Mr. Gilmore, "...giving the right to draw the district lines to a party is giving too much power to the political parties. If you look on a map today of any state in America there is evidence of Gerrymandering everywhere" there is strong evidence to support this for instance, specifically all over the city of Austin, Texas. However, one issue that has been left untouched is Racial Gerrymandering. Perhaps the only true downside to political power is not allowing minorities to vote for their elected officials to elicit social and economic change and growth. AS Gilmore said "change in America is slow," and to be quite frank, the process to remove gerrymandering is going to be even slower. Parties will not want to give up this strong hand, not even if they do not have the power to shift the scales. This is the true destructive power of being able to split the vote into a parties favor, a true damaging experience that has been left untouched for too long. This is an issue that must be addressed and corrected for a true and fair ruling of the United State's politics to be chosen fair and by its people.
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