Redrawing the Will of the People

Gerrymandering is a clear cut example of corruption in the government that has been operating with the knowledge of many for over a hundred years. Gerrymandering is the act of redrawing electoral district lines to give a party an advantage in elections. There are solutions that could stop this but only if Congress decides to put them into action. These solutions go so far as to eliminate district boundaries or even a computer software that has already been created to outline districts fairly.

Gerrymandering needs to be fixed, because with it elections are becoming less and less decided by the will of the people and rather using the known will of the people as a tool for specific parties. Whether or not you agree with the electoral college is irrelevant to this discussion because it becomes meaningless in interpreting the will of the people when the will of the people isn’t being accurately represented. In America’s electoral system this is especially effective in swaying the vote because the overall vote count isn’t weighed heavily and actually the electoral district majorities are heavily weighed in determining what the state majority is which in turn affects the presidential election as a whole. If gerrymandering isn’t stopped the citizens of America will be pushed out of the election for their own president. Their votes wouldn’t be used to determine the president but rather as a tool to help politicians know how to fix the district lines to benefit their party. This could undermine the basis of our government.

Gerrymandering is a clear-cut example of corruption, because the district lines that have been drowned has been blatantly unjust. Politicians are unfairly drawing these district lines and the public is aware of it. This is clearly shown in North Carolina’s 12th district where the district lines have been redrawn to compact a large section of African-American Democrats so their votes wouldn’t impact other Republican regions. This section is famous, because it had been taken several times to Supreme Court and been forced over and over to redraw these lines without race being a factor because it violated the equal protection clause of the constitution. Laws like this aren’t in place for district lines being drawn based purely on politics though. This is happening in many places all across the map, the people are aware of this, and if Congress doesn’t do anything we are powerless to stop it.

This wouldn’t be a difficult problem to solve. If district lines are eliminated completely and the people’s votes would just go to the majority of the states then this wouldn’t be an issue at all. If it is absolutely essential to have district lines then there is also a computer software that can fairly draw and redraw district lines. The only obstacle to these solutions are Congress. Congress needs to agree on if action is needed and how it will be fixed.

We the people do not have the power alone to fix this but we can voice our ideals by writing to our Congressmen. Write your Congressmen; tell them you oppose gerrymandering and support any laws or regulations put in place to prevent it. Congress needs to pass one of these rules or regulations. Until gerrymandering is stopped, America loses control of their own elections.