Commentary: Independent Maps Won’t Fix Our Problems
Via the Chicago Tribune
Let’s state some incontrovertible facts about the government landscape. There are more laws, rules and regulations concerning transparency, money in politics and ethics in government today than ever before. The Internet has given us more day-to-day coverage of politics and more outlets to promote political speech than at any time in history.
Yet satisfaction with government is at an all-time low and politicians are more partisan than at any time in the past 80 years.
So, what to make of this? According to the Independent Maps coalition, politicians insulate themselves from the people by creating new electoral districts every 10 years to pick their own voters. The coalition’s solution? End this alleged cause of today’s hyperpartisanship by taking that responsibility away from politicians. Give it to ordinary people and charge them with drawing districts without political factors in mind.
The problem is that this won’t work.
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