All this back and forth over re-districting is a political distraction contrived by members of the phony “two-party” system, dividing up the state to lessen one group or another’s political strength. This is nothing less than disenfranchisement by design, completely defeating the strengths and values of members of our state who are not of those two parties! And this is being done by a so-called “non-partisan” commission made up of only TWO of the several political parties that exist in Montana! Pretending to be “fairness” in action, it is nothing but fraud.
For example, many past presidential election fields were made up of three, four or five political parties, each reflecting the wishes of its particular constituency. This wealth of difference did nothing to hurt the electoral process. The Republic survived!
But, in the current methodology, only two parties are represented.
When gerrymandering occurs, guaranteeing one party a majority edge in subsequent elections, we then really only have one party. This will not help our Republic survive, and will do more to discourage voters than encourage “participation.” Why would anyone try, if they know ahead of time that their vote “won’t count?”
The political boundaries of the state districts are already established by the Constitution of Montana, each managed by county commissioners placed there by those who have stake in the outcome of those elections. County boundaries should be the State Legislative Districts, since those within a county generally have interests in common and a common local government to which they may turn for redress of grievances. If this is something urbanites don’t like, that’s too bad; they chose to live where they are. But to deny rural folks their chosen representation by diluting their votes around densely populated urban areas is to deny them the right to lawful, fair representation.
This is no different than the push for a National Popular Vote, which would eliminate the electoral collage that was put in place to ensure low populated states are capable of being fairly represented in Congress.
Gerrymandering around certain populations and voting proclivities – guaranteeing majorities in perpetuity for only two political parties, and therefore fraudulently based – is in direct conflict with our Constitutional guarantee of a Republican form of government, in which the people may fairly obtain a semblance of real representation. “All government of rights originates with the people” – there is no mention of political parties (Art. II Sections 1, the Constitution of the State of Montana).
Lark Chadwick
Thompson Falls