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Gerrymandering In The United States Essay

1399 Words6 Pages

The United States of America has long stood as the greatest nation in the world, and life within it has been more pleasant than life within most other countries. Life in America is not perfect however; the United States is no utopia. There are many potential inhibitions which stand in the way of the United States ever becoming a utopia. Whilst there may be a multitude of potential causes, there are some in particular which are more dire than others. Two key obstacles which inhibit the United States from becoming a utopia are special interest groups and gerrymandering. Special interest groups serve only to corrupt American politics; with interest groups, it is the will of whichever sponsor spends the most money that is done, not the will …show more content…

Drutman argues in his work that gerrymandering is not the issue, but it is instead single-member districts: “But the real problem here is not that districts have funny shapes. The real problem is that voters are sorted by partisanship and geography in ways that makes it hard to draw competitive single-member districts” (2017, para. 27). This argument is incorrect due to the false belief that gerrymandering and single-member districts are mutually exclusive issues. Single-member’s winner take all structure is arguably detrimental in many circumstances, and its flaws do compound with politicians redrawing electoral maps as they see fit. However, even in a proposed multi-member district structure, politicians could still redraw the districts to favor their party; corrupt action on the part of politicians would be less harmful in a multi-member district system, but they could still draw a district to favor their party and net them more representation. This all leads backs to gerrymandering itself being the main issue, with the single-party district certainly remaining as a sub-issue. Gerrymandering cannot be ignored, even if its harmful effects are lessened in a different system; as long a gerrymandering remains, politicians can satisfy their corrupt desires for power. They will inhibit any form of American Utopia as long as they serve their party’s goals rather than that of the

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