Congressional Districts

Every ten years we take a census of the population, and every ten years the Congressional districts are revised to reflect changes in the population distribution.  Some states gain representatives, some lose.  That's all well and good; the problems occur when it becomes necessary to draw new districts, and politicians -- being the slimeballs they are -- work very hard to come up with creative methods of slicing up the territory to consolidate the power of their own party while scattering supporters of the opposing party among various districts so that they can never matter in an election again.

We could ask these politicians nicely to quit being slimeballs.  Or, to seriously address the problem, we could adopt the following amendment:

Proposed Constitutional Amendment:

Each Congressional district shall consist of a single, contiguous land area bounded only by state lines, county lines, shorelines, rivers or interstate highways.

With the possibilities for district boundaries limited in this way, there will be more variation in the number of people living in each district.  So be it.  One representative representing more citizens than another is a far, far lesser evil than the scandalous districting schemes popular today.



Return to Kirby Palm's opinions page.

Return to Kirby Palm's home page.

Of course, if you have questions or comments, you are welcome to send e-mail to me at "palmk at nettally dot com".