Fair Districts Pennsylvania ran an amazing campaign to rid Pennsylvania of gerrymandering. Tabling, rallies, visits to local government bodies, letters to the editor, mailings to legislators, personal visits to legislators (I made one to Doyle Heffley), editorials–it was a full court press that went on for three years.
And we lost.
It is incredibly difficult to get legislators to change the system under which they have been elected. It is incredibly difficult to get incumbents to end a system which almost always benefits incumbents. It is incredibly difficult to push legislation against gerrymandering when the average voter has no idea what gerrymandering is.
The fact that gerrymandered districts result in one-party elections (Doyle Heffley in the PA 122nd is running as a Republican and a Democrat, just like the Stalinist system), increased polarization (very left safe Democratic districts and very right safe Republican districts), very little turnover (over 90% of incumbents win election) doesn’t matter to legislators. They are interested in one thing. It is not democratic government. It is election and re-election.
So I am somewhat bitter. However, I am not surprised we lost.
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