Being extremely cautious about reposting what a million people have already posted, I've spent the last 20 minutes searching for stories or diaries about CA Prop 11, I've found it to be a subject that people seem to be extremely NONpassionate about! Why?
Kos wrote about the subject four years ago, and what he said then applies now, essentially that even though (in California) the current redistricting system benefits the Democratic party more than it hurts it, it's wrong. If you think about it, its unhealthy for our democracy and needs fixing. as Kos put it:
Non-partisan redistricting -- depending on who does the redistricting (in other words, not a Governor-appointed commission) -- would force some of our incumbents into difficult reelections. Good -- that's the essence of democracy, not 70% Democratic districts.
Now I usually vote "NO" all the way down the list of propositions, as I think that laws should be made by elected lawmakers, and signed by an elected governor. You know, that whole representative democracy thing but I'm making an exception* this time for Prop 11, because protected lawmakers from both parties simply will not be that enthusiastic about making their districts competitive again.
Having representatives in charge of their own redistricting is a conflict of interest even bigger than the more blatant voting on their own pay raises. It benefits individual representatives, not their parties, or the system. If I were them, I'd probably have "Make my district more competitive" at the bottom of my to-do list as well, wouldn't you?
It's been interesting to see the ads her in California against Prop 11, in one, goofy professorial types stand in front of an impossibly complex diagram and mug about how "confusing" it is...
"Don't worry your pretty little heads about it" they say, you don't want just anyone choosing your districts!
That ad is condescending enough as it is, and notice how it completely changes the subject away from Gerrymandering? Entrenched powers are against it, as it threatens their power... "kindof" even the anti 11 forces don't seem to be that passionate! But they are sneaky check it out: they're telling democrats that prop 11 is good for Republicans and telling Republicans it's good for "Liberal Democrats" (Link to Sac Bee "No on Prop 11 Democrats send mixed message")
If you're still worried about it potentially backfiring, here's a pretty good article from the LA times,
Think tank debunks idea that Prop. 11 would hurt minority communities That addresses the problem of the commission not representing the diversity of California::
"There's no mechanism to guarantee that the commission will reflect California's diversity," says Nancy Ramirez, western regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "And just because the legislative committees haven't been diverse in the past doesn't mean it's OK."
Kathay Feng, state president of Common Cause, disputes that. She points to Prop. 11 language that requires the state auditor to select "voters in a manner that promotes a diverse and qualified applicant pool." The final selectees must be "chosen to ensure the commission reflects this state's diversity, including . . . racial, ethnic, geographic and gender."
"Short of quotas, which are illegal, we couldn't put in stronger requirements," Feng says.
Ok, well that's pretty wonky for me, but it sounds better than what we have now.
The article also delineates the various groups for it (AARP, League of women voters) and those against, worth the read.
It just seems to me that this is a year that we're going to start fundamentally changing things, we need to fundamentally change things, even if some changes are not completely in our political favor. The health of the system itself will reap bigger rewards, I know it.
As Kos said in 2004:
And best case scenario? The move spurs a nationwide effort to eliminate gerrymandering, a move that would ultimately benefit Democrats (just look at Texas, Florida, Illinois and Pennsylvania).
I know it's not as exciting* or controversial as other props but it could eliminate one of the nagging core problems with our system and could really make waves. It's a stealth "Change" kinda thing... Everyone agrees it's wrong, lets do something this time.
So, Californians, I'm voting NO on everything except prop 11!*
Vote YES on Prop 11!
cheers,
-Paco
*oh yeah, I'm totally voting Yes on the Supertrain thing too (Proposition 1A), Cuz Supertrains are wicked cool! ELECTRIC BULLET TRAIN?!?!?! HELL YEAH!
What is gerrymandering? http://en.wikipedia.org/...