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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: 2) by Spook brat on Tuesday October 24 2017, @02:56PM
Re-reading what I wrote, I realize that it's far too close to Poe's Law for my comfort. For the record, I can recognize a zero-sum game when I see one, and have no interest in becoming the most ruthless and bloodthirsty contract enforcer in AC's anarcho-capitalist dystopia.
I'm much more likely to survive the apocalypse of voluntary contractual agreements by making sure I have an indispensable skill that society needs [xkcd.com] regardless of who's in political control.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]