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Simple math can help scheming politicians manipulate district maps and cruise to victory. But it can also help identify and fix the problem.
Imagine fighting a war on 10 battlefields. You and your opponent each have 200 soldiers, and your aim is to win as many battles as possible. How would you deploy your troops? If you spread them out evenly, sending 20 to each battlefield, your opponent could concentrate their own troops and easily win a majority of the fights. You could try to overwhelm several locations yourself, but there's no guarantee you'll win, and you'll leave the remaining battlefields poorly defended. Devising a winning strategy isn't easy, but as long as neither side knows the other's plan in advance, it's a fair fight.
Now imagine your opponent has the power to deploy your troops as well as their own. Even if you get more troops, you can't win.
In the war of politics, this power to deploy forces comes from gerrymandering, the age-old practice of manipulating voting districts for partisan gain. By determining who votes where, politicians can tilt the odds in their favor and defeat their opponents before the battle even begins.
Anyone for a game of RISK?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2017, @03:30PM (3 children)
Hey dummy, they were trying to "solve" your naivety. Your series of voluntary contracts will boil down to one group with more power and they absolutely will renege on the co tractual terms as soon as they can make their coup. But you're too blind and throw all your problems into "naturally evolves to the optimal balance." It is like you're not even human...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2017, @05:34PM (2 children)
You've explained exactly why there's One World Government for the entire planet. Thanks for the insight.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2017, @06:46PM (1 child)
Except there is not OWG, but there should be. Nations should become more like states, with limits on their abilities to violate human rights. It is a shame upon our entire planet that places exist like North Korea, Somalia, and other bastions of dictatorship and abuse.
(Score: 2) by etherscythe on Monday October 23 2017, @08:27PM
...as defined by whom, exactly?
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"