Re: Texas redistricting & fairness

[Bill Lear <rael@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Friday, December 12, 2003 at 14:33:22 (-0500) Michael Hoover writes:
>>>> mpollak@xxxxxxxxx 12/12/03 10:14AM >>>
>>From today's Washington Post:
>Judge Patrick Higginbotham, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th
>Circuit and one of three federal judges hearing the case, seemed
>skeptical
>of the Democrats' suggestion that redistricting had ever been a
>scrupulously fair undertaking. ...
>...
>surprise, surprise, courts (or 2 major parties for that matter) have
>adequately addressed integrity of competitive electoral process as
>constitutional matter...so-called good-clean gov't/fair election types
>correlate competitive and meaningful which, i suppose, has some
>validity...of course, choices in competitive contest may/may not
>themselves be meaningful...

I'm surprised that on a progressive econ list such as this, the
motives of the gerrymanderers (er?) to escape competition have not
been compared to those who undertake corporate gerrymandering of
markets to avoid dread "ruinous competition" and how thereby a large
percentage of our so-called market economy is anything but.


Bill