Time to end extreme gerrymandering

Gerrymandering, on trial in the U.S. Supreme Court, has been around for a long time, and Democrats have done their share of it.

But in recent years conservative Republicans have engaged in a well-funded campaign to establish a permanent Republican majority in Congress, using gerrymandering and systematic voter suppression to tip the scales. “Project Redmap” has been underwritten by the Koch brothers and other wealthy conservatives to cement Republican control of Congress and state legislatures.

The idea of a permanent Republican majority — or a permanent Democratic majority, for that matter — is contrary to democracy, and it’s un-American to try to rig the political system. Sophisticated computer models have made gerrymandering a precise art, and this should be banned immediately. The redistricting that needs to be done after each national census should be done by bipartisan committees in each state, to ensure fairness.

Gerrymandering and voter suppression undermine the principle of “one person, one vote” on which democracy depends.

If you live in a country where the voting system is rigged to keep one party in power, you’re not living in a true democracy.

This story was originally published September 16, 2017 at 8:30 AM with the headline "Time to end extreme gerrymandering."