Time to spiff up - politicians are about to choose their voters

Soon after the November elections, legislators all over the nation will engage in one of the most destructive and demoralizing crimes against representative government. When the Census figures are in, state legislatures will begin to redraw congressional and state legislative districts to make these legislative districts as near to equal in population as practicable. In most states, this will be a process of protecting incumbents, especially incumbents whose party controls the state legislature. By letter, these politicians choose their voters.

Gerrymandering helps insure that members of the House of Representatives and members of state legislatures do not really need to worry much about what voters think. Ominously for Americans who want their elected officials to listen to them, very sophisticated computer software almost allows the gnomes who redraw legislative boundaries to decide elections in many districts by the very careful selection of which voters will be in which politician's district. This is great if we want government that ignores us, filled with self-important nabobs who feel safe passing up town halls and debates, but the situation is awful for Americans who want politicians to listen to them.