The Washington Post reports on a Republican push to take back state legislatures. That is fine, except the article quotes Ed Gillespie as saying the main purpose is to control redistricting and gain back Congressional seats. He says,

“Targeting 35 to 40 state legislative races this cycle could translate into 25 to 32 U.S. House seats over the next five cycles,” Gillespie said. “It makes a lot of sense to get this right.”

This is a big problem. Gerrymandering every ten years to create politically safe seats for one party or the other is a big part of what repels most Americans from politics. Such incumbents don’t have to worry about reelection so they stop listening to the people.

Ending gerrymandering is more important than term limits. There are models for how it can be done, especially in Iowa.

I hope the grassroots Tea Parties and other efforts will pay attention to this and reject such manipulations from the GOP as well as from the Dems.