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Health & Fitness

Who is Jerry Mander?

Where did all these legislators come from that are bent on getting their way even if they close the government or cut public investments down to where agencies and their missions are rendered ineffective? Many got there by the drawing of districts that only included a majority of their own Party people that would vote for them. The recent redrawing of Districts across the country by legislators clearly shows an intent on enhancing political careers over serving their constituents. Along with these newly redrawn Districts has come corporate lobby money, funding from Citizens United and favors from many Governor’s offices to create this new power infrastructure instead of investing in job growth and the financial security of our citizens. It's a practice that's been done by all Parties over time, but it's not right and it creates walls between and around voters. It's called gerrymandering and it exists only to provide advantage to particular Parties.

A Massachusetts Governor Gerry started it all in the 1812 elections by redrawing the State districts into areas that resembled a salamander to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. The opposing Federalists weren't pleased and in some areas were marginalized as voters. The word "gerrymander" stuck and continues to be used by ruling Parties to set the boundaries of their own constituencies. This practice has been outlawed in most civilized countries where they've set up non-partisan organizations with a defined set of rules by which to create voting districts using proportional representation.  A few States have also moved to using non-partisan commissions to draw the lines. Otherwise, these voting boundaries can be used to divide people by income, religion, race, political party and other characteristics.

This is a critical time in America's history. A large segment of our population is experiencing hard times and for many, the hope for a brighter future seems uncertain. It should be a time for all of us to join together in the work of restoring democracy and economic fairness in our country. American people pay taxes while large corporations make maximum use of loopholes to avoid their fair share of taxes - all while taking more jobs overseas. The only spending taking place by corporations is for lobbyists and legislators, instead of hiring American workers. This lobbying manifests itself by keeping certain people and political parties in power to pass laws in their favor.

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Georgia has grown in population by 18% in the last 10 years. This growth entitles us to more Federal resources and more legislative representation. However, we’re the only advanced democracy in the world that allows our legislators to draw our voting district lines. The redraw requires no skills other than to pay attention to balancing the number of citizens in each District. You may ask why legislators, as untrained statisticians, are involved at all in drawing districts.

Horse trading has now been made worse by the precision of software. Why should legislators be in charge of drawing the lines for their own new Districts – are they picking their own voters?

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The non-political Georgia Redistricting Alliance’s (GRA) goal was for a fair and transparent redistricting process. The GRA wanted the following standards to be upheld during the redistricting process:

· No plan or district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.

· Districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of minorities.

· Districts shall consist of contiguous territory; and to the extent feasible, districts shall be compact.

· Pursuant to the principle of “one person, one vote”, districts shall be as equal in population as possible.

· Where feasible, apportionment plans shall make use of existing city, county, and geographical boundaries, and similar communities of interest.

Our Georgia lawmakers, who stated publicly that the redraw would be a fair and transparent process, never agreed to GRA requests, but they would have failed to come close to fair according to the GRA guidelines. In Georgia, our legislature alone draws the redistricting lines - no oversight or independent advisory or commission.

It's difficult for a citizen to see the transparency and fairness in a process run by legislators. This isn't American democracy in action. Even Patrick Henry drew James Madison's home out of his District until Thomas Jefferson intervened, allowing Madison to run for Congress. Rent “Gerrymandering, the Movie” (www.gerrymanderingthemovie.com) to see how politicians are taking power away from citizens to solve the real problems we face here in Georgia.

We the people may not have money like the large corporations and lobbying firms, but we are many and we vote. We should demand campaign finance reform that includes preventing legislators from having their hand in drawing voting districts. Otherwise, we're reducing competition, killing transparency and accountability, and preventing fair representation according to the Constitution. When lawmakers dominate a district, there's no incentive to do anything other than stay in office and collect lobby checks. This also makes incumbents more responsive to their Party and not their constituents. Have you seen our legislators sponsor laws to make proportional representation a valid solution - no - this is why we're stuck with unresponsive representation.

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