Gerrymandering...

Raise your hand if you can define the term "Gerrymandering."

Here... this may help.

Having done very, very well with regard to winning governorships and control of key state's legislatures the GOP - as a partisan political organization - is looking forward to "locking in" Republican victories for the next decade via control of much of the post-Census once a decade "redistricting" process.

I beg Republicans in power to look at the bigger picture and use their temporary clout not to manipulate the redistricting process (as is normal behavior for BOTH parties when such opportunity arises)... not to treat this power as simply another spoil of victory... but rather to take this historic opportunity to truly reform the way political lines (districts) are drawn in this country.

I'm not a "math guy." I'm certainly not equipped to opine on the pros and cons of various computer modeling algorithms...

(Heck... I had to look up the correct spelling of "algorithms!")

...but I'm quite capable of laying out concepts:

Here's what we want - districts that are as "square" (or perhaps triangular... rectangular... whatever! Basically, I'm talking "as uniform as possible" fitting within an obviously non-uniform set of state and municipal boundaries...) as possible with as close to equal population as possible and which are "anchored" (as far as possible) to the taxing authorities which most directly effect said voters.

What we don't want is the continuation of the partisan or racial gerrymander that is now the norm.

Folks... a free and just society shouldn't continence - let along require - "black" districts or "Hispanic districts" or "Republican" districts or "Democratic" districts...

(*SIGH*)

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm championing the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s color blind dream... not self-imposed segregation... and certainly not "minority candidates for minorities" vs. "white candidates for whites."

(You'd think this would be common sense, but it's not. Indeed, federal law is in large part responsible for the purposeful "race anchoring" of much specific district creation!)

Understand, folks... certain politicians will actually defend purposeful voter segregation by race! They'll tell you it's about "minority rights," but it's not; it's about power and artificially picking individual partisan winners who will exercise this power.

Understand, folks... the politicians of both parties by and large want to retain their power at all costs and gerrymandering is a part of the incumbent protection racket.

Anyway... (*SIGH*)... I'll leave it to anyone interested to explore the topic further.

As always... I'm just trying to get good ideas out there.