I’ve been attending meetings of local government officials in Carbon County on behalf of Fair Districts, a group dedicated to reforming the methods by which Pennsylvania draws legislative districts. I don’t know if Pennsylvania is the worst gerrymandered state (it might be North Carolina), but it is definitely in the top five.
I encourage the township supervisors or borough council members to adopt a resolution calling for an independent commission to draw the lines and to support legislation that would do this. So far I’ve visited Towamensing, Lower Towamensing, Mahoning, East Penn and Franklin Townships and Bowmanstown, Lehighton, and Nesquehoning Boroughs.
The first thing I would note is that I can’t tell who are the Democrats and who are the Republicans. The second thing I would note is that some of the meetings are not exactly well run. Discussions wander and get side-tracked, and the agenda is sometimes not helpful.
The most important thing I noticed, however, is that these are ordinary citizens doing their best to govern their communities. They may not get everything right, they may stumble a bit, they may argue, but they are making a good faith effort on behalf of their fellow citizens.
If you are as disgusted as I am with Mitch McConnell and Trump and his toadies and sycophants in Washington, go to a local government meeting. It may help to restore your faith in democratic government.
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