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posted by martyb on Sunday October 22 2017, @07:03PM   Printer-friendly
from the safe-borders dept.

From Quanta Magazine:

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?


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Monday October 23 2017, @06:16PM (1 child)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Monday October 23 2017, @06:16PM (#586468) Journal

    Hey, dumbfuck...who enforces contracts when someone welches in the Peoples' Republic of Ancapistan?

    Anyone else get the feeling Mr Violently Imposed Monopoly's actual purpose is to derail any discussion on the real issue of Gerrymandering?

    Certain interested are not served by a more representative political structure in the US.

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  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday October 24 2017, @07:29PM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday October 24 2017, @07:29PM (#587035) Journal

    No, i think he's a medium-to-high-functioning Aspie with an axe to grind. If someone actually hired this idiot for disinfo purposes I suggest they get a refund.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...