The Supreme Court of North Carolina struck down the state’s heavily gerrymandered districts that would have given Republicans at least ten, and possibly eleven, of fourteen Congressional seats. The legislative redistricting might have given the GOP veto proof majorities in both houses. In a state that has statewide races routinely decided by less five points, and often less than two, that’s clearly extreme gerrymandering.
Republicans are screaming that they’ve been wronged. They contend that redistricting is an inherently political process and that the General Assembly is in its right to do whatever it wants. Democrats argue that maps the Republicans drew violate free and fair elections. A majority of the court agreed with them.
A lot of Democrats want the legislature to draw maps that reflect the partisan divide in the state. I don’t agree with that, though. I agree that redistricting is a political process, but I also believe that maps can be drawn that reflect the competitive nature of the state. In fact, I believe we should be competing heavily. The exchange of ideas is what should be driving our political campaigns, not appeals to the base in districts safe for one party or the other.
The New York Times reports that fewer than 40 of 435 Congressional seats will be competitive next year. Both parties are locking in as many seats as they can across the country. As former Republican Congressman Tom Reynolds said, “The parties are contributing to more and more single-party districts and taking the voters out of the equation.” That’s not the sign of a very democratic nation.
The gerrymandering contributes to the extreme polarization we’ve seen. Candidates in both parties worry more about primary opponents than general election opponents. They are more concerned about their base voters, many of whom are out of step with the majority of the country, than swing voters who tend to be more moderate. On both the left and right flanks, compromise is a bad word, but our system of government depends on it. Gerrymandered districts produce extremists like Madison Cawthorn and Marjorie Taylor Green on the right and Ilhan Omar on the left. These people thrive on keeping the country divided by insisting some of their fellow Americans are enemies.
Personally, I don’t like the courts getting involved in redistricting. I want the legislature to act responsibly, but that’s not going to happen. I want to believe that people in government would prefer compromise to division, but that’s not happening today, either. Both sides believe in ramming as much stuff through legislatures or Congress with little regard for the will of the people or good government. Maybe if there were political consequences for such behavior, it would be a little less common.
There’s clearly no perfect way to draw districts. Redistricting commissions have done a far better job than legislatures, but they have also been far from perfect and certainly no less controversial. With the marriage of GIS and database technology in the early part of this century, redistricting became increasing extreme, allowing map-drawers to pick and choose voters down to the household. It would be nice if we could expect elected officials to act more responsibly, but that’s probably asking a little too much.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
You know, I will be criticized by both Republicans and Democrats alike, but discrimination based on racial grounds injures us all. It allows the political scam artists to profit and gives both side a reason to hate their fellow man or woman. The end results everybody loses something, but biggest loss occurs to this country. We play with this voting process hoping we can exclude a minority from having a voice thereby having in how this country is operated, run, or manipulated. What ever your word choice may be. If we decided to enrich-en the military industrial community ( as Ike used to call it ) we call heavily on these minorities to spill their blood in the name of patriotism, and the American way, to save democracy. We do this to white folks also. But everything changes when they come home. They become minorities again. A group of folks we must treat like lesser human beings. Some, including white folks commit suicide, others eventually die by neglect or mental illness, take up the time-honored profession of crime. We allow politicians to crack a voting district and draw a map that packs them into a small district that can produce one representative against the two created by cracking. We have one hundred counties in thus state, why not only allow two to elected from any single county, in lieu of creating this voting these districts that appear to more like a medieval dragon. Granted some counties have higher populations, therefor deserve a louder voice in the legislature. This requires representation based on population. Of course, if the number counties were said be reduced combining say three counties into one, allocating representation based on population simplifies everything. We need to get these Gulf War vets regardless of their race integrated into a notion of rebuilding this county. Repairing and giving them a reason to better their education to fit into an improved world. This may involve putting aside political differences.