"This election year we can expect to hear a lot about Congressional district gerrymandering, which is when political parties redraw district boundaries to give themselves an electoral advantage.
Gerrymandering is at least partly to blame for the lopsided Republican representation in the House. According to an analysis I did last year, the Democrats are under-represented by about 18 seats in the House, relative to their vote share in the 2012 election. The way Republicans pulled that off was to draw some really, really funky-looking Congressional districts."
Gerrymandering is a technique political parties have increasingly used over time to gain control of the government. By gaining electoral advantage they get more votes which in turns gives them more power. It is quite extrodinary how theyshift control which wouldnt ordinarily be theirs by moving boundry line for districts giving the other party seats while giving themselves enough seats to gain control.
I chose this passage because it shows directly one of the reasons Americans don't trust the government. Politicians are constantly legally and illegally change things for their personal gain. When you have to use these tactics in order to win instead of gaining the vote by normal means it make us the people feel manipulated. Even though gerrymandering in sweetheart situations can be beneficial to parties who are under-represented or who have been gilted in the process before. More often this practice of gerrymandering just misrepresents an area and makes the people feel manipulated.
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