ongated, sinuous district resembled a salamander; the editor of the Boston Weekly Messenger opined, even more waggishly, “Salamander? Call it a Gerrymander!”, dubbing it with the a portmanteau composed of the last name of the then-current governor (Republican Eldridge Gerry, who signed the plan into law) and the word salamander. Weekly Messenger cartoonist Elkanah Tisdale ran with it, and produced the first known picture of the now-famous political animal.
Gerrymanders in the Modern Political Bestiary
The concept of such an arbitrary divison, combined with the mercies of the USA’s political systemâ€“in which to the victor go all the spoils of powerâ€“have made the word gerrymander a verb as well as a noun, and have fueled some recent controversies, as was the case when the Texas legislature, in control of the Republican party, endeavored to redraw the Congressional district boundaries of the state some eight years early in order to create a preponderance of districts with Republican majorities, thus making a robust Republican majority in that state much more likely.
The 4th US Congressional district in Illinois, a peculiarly-shaped piece of land (courtesy nationalatlas.gov)
Since the majority party is usually in the driver’s seat, majority during a time of reapportionment is frequently viewed as a tool that can help make that majority longlasting, if not permanent, and these days, with the assistance of computers (the mass of population information making automated assistance necessary), many amazing examples of sprawling districts have happened. Many examples of areas that are sometimes called “helicopter districts” (because that’s what you have to use to go straight from one end to the other without lengthy detours) can be found without too much effort; to create majorities some district boundaries follow mere rights of ways of roads, forming areas that look like attenuated dumbbells.
The map illustration depicts Illinois US Congressional district 4, which seems to be riven in twain and then connected by a long, straggling runner which appears to follow local arterials and a regional Interstate highway, and may well in places be not much wider than that highway. It is hard for the observer not to want to conclude that the population in the middle was excluded from this district for one partisan reason or another.
Is It Possible to Kill the Gerrymander?
Whether or not one thinks gerrymandering has a deleterious effect to public policy making in the USA most likely depends on what side one is on. To a Democrat, a permanent Democratic majority might be worth whatever drawbacks that it may bring, and gerrymandering to the aim of ensconcing percieved advantages has the potential of making those alignments real.
A fair number of proposals have been advanced in order to remove the power of the gerrymander. There are technical aspects, such as establishing fixed districts or using more objective criteria, such as rigid rules on the “compactness”â€“or tendency to have districts that do not have outliersâ€“of districts.
In as much as the party in power strives to remain in power, however, most schemes ought at least to excise the partisan tendency of the majority party to have the driver seat.
- Wikipedia entry on Gerrymandering: goes into great detail on methods of gerrymandering
- Drawing the Line, Mark Monmonier, Henry Holt pub, 1996, pp 196-201