Jim Hightower: With Gerrymandering, Your Local Rep. Isn't Local -- And Isn't Yours

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/jim-hightower/114762/with-gerrymandering-your-local-rep-isn-t-local-and-isn-t-yours

With Gerrymandering, Your Local Rep. Isn’t Local — And Isn’t Yours
by Jim Hightower | August 30, 2025 - 4:41am

— from OtherWords


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Far from being just another corrupt hyper-partisan political manipulation, this GOP ploy is stripping away America’s fundamental principle of representative democracy.

Instead of grassroots communities sorting out their differences and choosing their own governing representatives in local elections, political hacks in Washington and the state capital are cynically relocating people’s political “locality” (with no participation at all by the people).

Instead of constituents choosing their members of Congress, gerrymandering lets members choose their constituents. So “your” representative doesn’t need to know you, much less serve you.

Thus, the issues that Congress considers don’t percolate up from local communities. They’re chosen by national and state political operatives and multimillion-dollar campaign donors. It’s the nationalization of local elections, ignoring the real needs of hometown people.

Why shouldn’t you have a representative who’s at least from your community, maybe even knows your name — and cares about something more constructive than Trump’s anti-democratic, plutocratic agenda.