(Fred Weinberg/The Penny Press) – I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of Nevada’s political party hacks of all flavors trying to influence the redistricting process for their own short-term political gain. Redistricting is supposed to be the exercise of redrawing the lines of voting districts so that changes in the census are reflected and each voting district has roughly the same number of residents.
This isn’t aimed at one party or one ideology.
This country is a one-man one-vote nation and the concept that you can create a state Senate district, as an example, that has a bump drawn into it so as to include the sitting Senator’s new house is absolutely repugnant. As is the concept of drawing a congressional district intentionally so that it is 50% Hispanic. Or 50% ranchers. Or 50% casino workers.
There is and there should be no such thing as a Republican, a Democratic, a Hispanic, or a Black district.
It is the most un-American thing I can think of — the thought that a Hispanic could not win an office unless a district was juiced to include a majority of Hispanics.
We have, in case you haven’t noticed, a black President, a Hispanic Governor and a fairly evenly split state congressional delegation — not to mention a fairly evenly split state legislature. I might not agree with the positions of some or all of those elected, but you cannot deny the diversity of the election results.
Here’s an idea:
Take a piece of software which matches population counts to geography. You can buy that kind of software very inexpensively.
Tell it to draw four, evenly populated districts and enact those districts into law here in Nevada. Boom. Four congressional districts. What’s so hard about that?
Oh, you think we need a Hispanic district? Why? We managed to get a REPUBLICAN Hispanic Governor without catering to any voting block.
Screw the parties and all that politically correct crap.
If you want to win an election, here’s another idea:
Run on the basis of what you will do when you get elected. Show us that you have some good ideas. Show us that you are not an incompetent twit — like many of those who are now trying to rig the new districts in this state to their advantage — and maybe you won’t have to juice the population of the district to get elected.
I’ve run this concept past some political types of both parties.
“That’s crazy talk,” most of them say.
No, crazy talk is the thought that you can rig ten years of elections by screwing around with district boundaries.
Crazy talk is drawing districts which, in order to get one minority a majority, run wiggly lines all over the state.
We need for elections to be about ideas.
One of the reasons that politicians make Mafia dons seem reasonable is that, for the most part, they worry more about getting elected than what they will do if they win. And their performance in office at all levels usually reflects that.
The fights we have over redistricting, public employee unions, campaign finance laws and other things that are directly related to the funding of election campaigns are symptomatic of a system that places more emphasis on the campaign than the governing.
Nothing will change that mentality until the voters have had enough.
With some luck, that day is approaching.
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