(03-05-2022, 08:51 AM)mikesez Wrote:

(03-05-2022, 08:28 AM)Sneakers Wrote: Term limits for Congress.  Power is the root of all evil.

How long?  Wouldn't it be better to just set a maximum age?

---

(03-05-2022, 06:48 AM)The Real Marty Wrote: Congressional districts have to be drawn in a compact way, without regard to race or political leanings.  No more gerrymandering.

If you don't keep an eye on race while drawing the lines, and you have a racial minority that consistently wants candidates that the majority doesn't like, you will consistently disadvantage that racial minority.  Is that OK by you? It's not OK by me. 
And if you don't pay attention to political leanings while drawing lines, you will randomly give an advantage to one political side over another. You have to actually pay attention to the political leanings on the map in order to make a balanced map.
The problem we have today is that the mapmakers use the race and political data to make maps unfair.  The data should be used to make the maps fair.

If there is a sizeable minority population in any district, the candidates will have to pay attention to them.  As it is now, the Republicans love majority-black districts because it keeps a lot of Democrats out of their district, so they get re-elected over and over.   They create nice safe seats for themselves- both parties.  Congressional elections are basically uncontested because of that.  It contributes to polarization because the real election is in the primary.  The general election is a non-event.  

And beyond that, why should we guarantee any number of seats to any ethnicity?  That presupposes that white voters won't vote for a black candidate.  In fact, it actually institutionalizes that idea- that white voters are racist.  

My amendment would eliminate gerrymandering of that type.

---