Hacker News Reader

Comment by politician | Hacker News Reader

Ah, the good ole boy 21st district candidate. This corrupt politician has free reign as long as his district remains gerrymandered. Just throw a few bones to the rednecks and a few kickbacks to the rich white folk and then collect checks from the MPAA/RIAA.

Seriously, look at this map: http://lamarsmith.house.gov/District/InteractiveMap.htm

View on HN

I just want to clarify my definition of corruption. I believe a politician is corrupt when his or her district looks like the end-game of a round of Go. Or two simultaneous rounds as is the case in district 21.

It's particularly insidious when you see that a large part of tech-friendly Austin is under the district as well. We are but a drop amongst the sea.

Off-topic: I can't help but to note how meta your username is right now.

It is utterly mindboggling to me that gerrymandering is legal in the US.

Not only legal, but required. It's another example of how something that was intended to ensure the voice of minorities, has turned into a tool for entrenching the powerful.

Required? This I did not know, I'm about to learn something. Can you go into a little detail?

From the Wikipedia article [1]:

After the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed, some states created "majority-minority" districts. This practice, also called "affirmative gerrymandering", was supposed to redress historic discrimination and ensure that ethnic minorities would gain some seats in government. Since the 1990s, however, gerrymandering based solely on racial data has been ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court under the Fourteenth Amendment, first in Shaw v. Reno (1993) and subsequently in Miller v. Johnson (1995).

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#Voting_Rights_A...

Is this similar to the reservations in India (in jobs, educational institutions, voting etc)? If it is, then nothing good will come out of it.

Thanks for this!

Well, as the name tells you, it goes way back.

Iowa, I believe, has a fairly rational process for redistricting. Civic virtue? Lower stakes?

brilliant observation

Reply on news.ycombinator.com