We should choose our politicians, rather than them choosing us

It is a historic decision, which could go a long way to putting power back in the hands of the people. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case from Wisconsin which could change the way political boundaries are drawn, for the better. Under current law, whatever political party is in charge at the time of the census is charged with drawing new political boundaries. Those maps, now in use, have been declared to be unconstitutional by a federal panel of judges. They were drawn to give one political party a better chance of winning elections because the districts they created were stacked with voters in their favor. The numbers prove that is true. While more people voted for democratic legislative candidates, republicans still captured 60 of the Assembly’s 99 seats. Clearly the maps were created to favor one political party. That goes beyond being unfair, it also may be unconstitutional, so the nation’s highest court has agreed to take the case. We don’t know how the court will rule, but this case has the potential to return fairness to the voting process. Lawmakers shouldn’t be able to bend the rules to give themselves an unfair political advantage, which undermines the integrity of our elections and our democracy. We should be able to choose who represents us, rather than having the politicians choose who gets to vote for them.