RSSPolitics in Wonderland
October 24th, 2005 | View Comments
This editorial on redistricting initiatives in California and Ohio in the Washington Post reminded me of an article I read way long ago from Mother Jones. The year? 1998. The context? Me, in AP US Government (ahh, high school), learning about gerrymandering for the first time.
The article begins with a rather amusing parody of Alice in Wonderland and how electoral politics might work in such a bizarre society of tea parties and Jabberwocks and, uh…Gerrymanders.
Want to see some real-live gerrymandering? Check out some fun Congressional District shapes as illustrated on Wikipedia.
“Please,” Alice begged, “I’ll do my best to learn about the electoral system of Wonderland, if only you will explain it.”
“Very well,” the Queen said. “But I must warn you, the more I explain about Plurality Voting, the less you will understand it. For example, the most important part of our system of Plurality Voting by Single-Member Districts is the shape of the district.”
And it only gets better (and truer) from there. I highly recommend reading it; it’s a great piece, even if you, unlike me, don’t have an undying love of all things Alice.
The Queen gasped. “Little girl, what does democracy have to do with majority rule? In Wonderland, democracy means the Rule of the Largest Minority, helped out by a minuscule Swing Vote, in a Gerrymandered Single-Member District. Majority rule, indeed! Off with her head!”
While I’m no political scientist, I really believe that problems like gerrymandering arise primarily when politicians lose sight of what democracy is - majority rule with minority representation - in their blind grabs for political power. How else would you wind up with situations like that described in the WaPo editorial I linked above?
In California, the [redistricting reform] proposal is being championed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and fiercely opposed by Democrats. In Ohio, it’s being pushed by Democrats and fiercely opposed by Republicans.
People always seem to forget that these pesky rules of democratic process don’t exist to thwart you in your majority rule, but they exist to protect you when you’re stuck with minority representation. People find it so inconvenient to have to listen to the needs and concerns of the other side that they’ll do anything to rig the system in attempts to ensure that they’ll never have to relinquish majority rule.
But that’s not democracy. That’s dictatorship-by-political-party.
And frankly, any American politician who has lost sight of what democracy is needs to be removed from office, regardless of his or her political affiliation. I cannot imagine why any of the voters in California or Ohio would not vote for redistricting reform, which would at least begin to pry political power from the craven claws of the political parties and return it to the hands of the people, where it rightfully belongs.
The way I see it, competitive districts could only help serve the American people. If free economic competition is supposed to result in more innovative products that better serve the consumer’s needs, why wouldn’t free political competition result in the election of more intelligent legislators that better serve the constituents’ needs?
Yvonne posted this on October 24th, 2005 @ 10:24pm in News/Politics | Permalink to "Politics in Wonderland"
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