Blog #8

Ola Omar
                                                                            Blog #7
        The quote that I chose is from "What 60 years of political gerrymandering looks" by Christopher Ingraham. The quote that I have chose is "gerrymandering undermines the whole notion of a representative government." (Ingraham, 2004).
        Gerrymandering is a strategy used to divide districts in each state to benefit a certain party. This quote means that since the districts are already being divided to benefit a particular party, then how are the people really suppose to chose a person that they believe is best fit to represent their government. The people who are representing us are using the power that they have to their advantage by dividing districts for their own well-being. Congress members being more receptive to their districts is one of the reasons why gerrymandering undermines the main point of having a representative government. All of the districts are being divided by the government and the government is trying to better the problems of the districts that they are benefited from and this strategy divides not only the districts, but the people of the different districts from one another. The government is manipulating the people of their districts to get them on their side and this is robbing the people of picking an honest leader to represent them.
         I chose this quote because I for one believe that gerrymandering does rob people from the whole point of what a representative government should be. For example, I believe that the government divides districts up because they get something out of it. If the government did not get anything out of dividing the districts up, I do not think that they would like the idea of gerrymandering. However, I do believe that the people can chose how gerrymandering effects them. If the people of the districts are letting the government manipulate them, then they can not complain about something that they do not like, but if the people of the districts do not let the party that divided them have a power over them, then the government will start representing their people in a way that their people want to be represented.