Thursday, January 5, 2012
Politics Are the New Districts Really That Bad? In General, No.
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Thu, Jan 5, 2012 at 5:39 AM
Folks, you know me. I'm about as stereotypically leftist as you can find in this state, outside of The Farm. Just within the past week, I've been accused of hating the police, supporting drug use, and not caring about children. Plus I'm a political junkie.
And I just can't get that worked up about the new legislative districts. Yes, Senate Districts 19 and 21 look like a possibly interesting court fight about whether they've lumped all the minorities into one district in order to prevent them from being powerful voting blocks in two. And there are some other things that make me kind of raise an eyebrow.
But when I look at the maps (House here, Senate here), nothing about it strikes me as having the appearance of complete ridiculousness.
And if I, political junkie and crazed leftist, can't see obvious monkeying around, the general public is never going to look at these maps and say "Oh, the Republicans are dicking us over!!!!" They might think certain districts are strange or stupid, but they don't look like complete bullshit.
So, if I had any advice for my fellow Democrats, it would be this. Check for districts in which minorities may have been lumped into one sure district instead of being spread over two districts in which they might plausibly have majorities (if not of people, perhaps of voters). Be outraged about that. Check to see if certain voting blocks are being neutralized.
But please, I am begging you. Keep the focus on whether VOTERS are being treated fairly. Not on whether Democratic politicians are being treated fairly. You're not owed a district. And complaining that districts that look OK are somehow not fair just because you don't like them is going to go over like a lead balloon with the general public. It's going to make you seem like babies who can't accept the results of the last election.
So please, don't do it.
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