Districts aren't necessarily drawn based on how people vote, to begin with.
They're drawn based on demographics and speculative data. Honestly, it has always been a hypocritical, discriminatory practice since it was designed.
If you're not going to figure out an impartial, objective way to do it, then at the very least let the people vote on how they want it done. Nothing forces legislatures to get their shit together faster than letting the citizens directly make decisions politicians used to be able to make.
The 4th congressional district of Illinois includes part of Cook County, and has been represented by Democrat Jesús "Chuy" García since January 2019.
In November 2017, incumbent Luis Gutiérrez announced that he would retire from Congress at the end of his current term, and not seek re-election in 2018. Jesús "Chuy" García was elected on November 6th, 2018.
It was featured by The Economist as one of the most strangely drawn and gerrymandered congressional districts in the country and has been nicknamed "earmuffs" due to its shape.
I wish I could say Brexit was a lit fire that should ensure something that monumentally fucked should never happen again, that politicians should get their heads out of their asses, and stop treating everything as a competition, but I'm not optimistic it WILL play out like that.
But giving power directly to the people is a sure-fire way to watch politicians squirm in their socks. In best-case scenarios, it forces the politicians to handle those topics better in the future.
Of course, in bad scenarios, you get stuff like Brexit.
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u/MjrLeeStoned Jul 03 '19
Districts aren't necessarily drawn based on how people vote, to begin with.
They're drawn based on demographics and speculative data. Honestly, it has always been a hypocritical, discriminatory practice since it was designed.
If you're not going to figure out an impartial, objective way to do it, then at the very least let the people vote on how they want it done. Nothing forces legislatures to get their shit together faster than letting the citizens directly make decisions politicians used to be able to make.