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{"id":5760,"date":"2016-12-23T11:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T17:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=5760"},"modified":"2016-12-23T11:00:22","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T17:00:22","slug":"imagine-country-without-segregation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/12\/imagine-country-without-segregation.html","title":{"rendered":"Imagine a country without segregation (more on the election system)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Consider that there is a well-established requirement that states, when determining Congressional districts, set district boundaries in such a way as to ensure that there are likely to be, considering the black population of the state as a whole, a roughly proportionate number of black Representatives in Congress. \u00a0Similarly, there are Hispanic districts drawn around predominantly-Hispanic areas \u2014 in Chicago this means pulling together two separate parts of the city<\/a>\u00a0into one C-shaped district. \u00a0(I had always understood this to be an intentional means of creating a majority-Hispanic district to secure the election of a Hispanic Representative; Wikipedia labels this as an instance of \u201cpacking\u201d or intentionally diminishing Hispanic influence in other districts. \u00a0Whether that\u2019s true or not depends on whether you believe that, as a minority ethnic group in other districts, Hispanics would have had power that they lose in the present situation \u2014 but what is true is the the long-time Representative, Luis Gutierrez, views himself very much as primarily a representative of Hispanics, and immigrants and immigrant causes specifically.)<\/p>\n

Now imagine that those racial concentrations, and ethnic concentrations, didn\u2019t exist. \u00a0Imagine that Blacks were 12% of the U.S. population, and 12% of the population of every county, city, township, and neighborhood. \u00a0Would the courts and the federal government abandon the idea of trying to preserve a means of ensuring \u201cblack districts\u201d? \u00a0And, separate from what they would or would not do, should there be anything other than government indifference?<\/p>\n

Now, further imagine that the working class, the evangelicals, and every other subgroup that tends to vote Left or Right, were evenly spread out, in such a manner that, if the country tilts Republican, we have a fully Republican House and Senate, and if the country tilts Democratic, it\u2019s the reverse.<\/p>\n

Would our system of representation by district still make sense?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"