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Old 09-25-2012, 07:40 AM   #37
glatt
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
That web based game where you get to draw districts in a fictional state to learn how gerrymandering works was really good. I learned a lot from that.

If you make each district reflect the same proportions as the whole state, then the majority will always defeat the minority party and the minority will have no representation at all in government. That's very bad. By gerrymandering the districts, you can set it up so that the minority party is able to win at least a representative or two, and have some influence in government. The down side is the extremism you mention.

I'd like to see districts that have only a very slight edge in one direction or another so that candidates have to be moderate to win, but also so that the minority party in the state has a district where things are leaning their way, so they can get some representation too. Basically, you need a benevolent dictator to draw those lines, and that kind of misses the point.
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