Your call for a bipartisan redistricting commission obviously refers to the proposal of State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, but although well-intentioned, it is fatally flawed. First, it would be unconstitutional. Contrary to popular perception, there is no provision in the Texas or U.S. constitutions that dictates that the two leading parties should have special privileges at law, or be treated equally for legal purposes when in fact they do not enjoy equal levels of support. There are three parties on the ballot, and there have been more in and past, and may be more in the future. It is possible one of those will displace one of the current leaders. Second, the experience of other states that have tried such schemes show they don't work. The Ds and the Rs vote as a bloc on every question. If there is no tiebreaker member, they can't reach a decision at all. If there is, that tiebreaker makes all the decisions. The solution is to stop letting maps be drawn and selected by human beings, whether they be legislatures or judges. It is a job computers can do better, at random, without human intervention, and they should be allowed to do so. The software already exists. We need to take humans out of the loop, leaving them only to select the rules according to which the computers draw the maps, not the specific maps. The problem is the process. See http://www.constitution.org/reform/us/tx/redistrict/cnpr.htm for the alternative I offered to the U.S. District Court as intervenor. No one has come up with a better process.
-- Jon ---------------------------------------------------------------- Constitution Society 7793 Burnet Road #37, Austin, TX 78757 512/299-5001 www.constitution.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------- ForumWebSiteAt http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Libertarian/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
