Redistricting Mess

 

As the Redistricting season begins it is amazing how blatantly partisan politicians are about it.  Speaker Batchelder stated specifically: “My sense is we will try to retain as many Republican congressman as we can.”  He further said “It’s a question of protecting our own. 

How is this reasonable.  We have politicians blatantly discussing gerrymandering districts to ensure they stay in power.  How is that democratic or remotely sensible?

It does not take a genius to realize that our districts are drawn specifically for the purpose of enshrining power in one party in a district.  The giant districts that stretch across Ohio dancing around metro areas always go red, and the little tiny city districts, and the long lake bound districts make make up the only blue districts.  I understand the desire to protect our parties, but this outrageous, how can politicians blatantly talk about disenfranchising voters without any backlash.

Anthony Weiner sent a picture of himself, that got more news coverage than any of this ever will.  Yet we have politicians specifically stating that they will be punishing liberals in this state, by attempting to “crack” their strongholds or “pack” them together so they only get one house member and not two.

Luckily organizations are trying to stop this. Draw the Line Ohio is attempting to call on Ohio citizens to draw their own maps.  If Ohioans draw their own maps we can possibly force the Republicans to take a more sensible approach.  However, ultimately the best option would be if Ohio took the bold step of California and created an independent committee and takes it out of politics.

In the meantime I suppose we just have to wait and pretend that this is democratic.  IN the meantime if you would like to learn more and draw your own maps, play this game.  It is hilarious, and educates you about the ease of gerrymandering in our current government.