To the Victor, Goes the Spoils

There's an interesting article in the St. Petersburg Times today I wanted to briefly highlight. Apparently, with the census not even completed and state legislative and congressional redistricting over two years away, a group of Florida Democrats is attempting to block Republicans from controlling the next round of redistricting by trying to pass state constitutional changes which would "require that voting districts be compact, contiguous, respect city and county boundaries whenever possible, and not favor incumbents or political parties."

State Democrats are concerned that Republicans, who control both houses of the state legislature, as well as the governorship (which looks very likely to remain in GOP hands if Gov. Charlie Crist seeks a second term in 2010), will draw maps that are decidedly unfavorable to Democrats in Tallahassee and in Congress, similar to the current maps which were put together by Jeb Bush and legislative GOPers in 2001.

While Democrats are rightly concerned by the specter of another round of harsh redistricting in 2011, I don't really agree with their efforts. Republicans deserve to be in charge of the process as they control Tallahassee with an iron fist. Democrats have had 10 years to retake the legislature, and they have failed, and they have not won the governor's mansion since Lawton Chiles was re-elected in 1998. Republicans have held on to their political power in fine style, and redistricting is one of the key plums that comes from their political consolidation in the Sunshine State. Similar efforts by both parties have been sprinkled across the national landscape in recent years, and I abhor each of them. If you are a staunch party member, and in your state your party has strong minority status, then you should not be able to draw the lines. That's just how it is. To the victor, goes the spoils.

In the article, several Dems loudly complain that the weird shapes of the districts themselves not only illustrate the fierce partisanship inherent in the process, but also that they make no sense and plainly look ugly. I find this line of argument more silly than anything else that is generally said in the fights that surrounds redistricting. The fact is that any districts, no matter how aesthetically pleasing their ultimate shapes turn out, are themselves arbitrary. There is no correct way for a district to be drawn or how it should look. Since the Founding, redistricting has been a political process, and districts themselves have very often not been "compact." The argument that a district is in some way offensive because of an odd shape is foolish; even if all districts were perfect shapes of equal size, they too would be arbitrary, even if they look nice and compact.

If Dems and Republicans don't look the way redistricting is happening in their state, they should work harder to take over their states' political positions and machinery so that they can draw the maps the next time around. This has been going on for hundreds of years, and it should not just change today because the losers are upset.