BEWARE THE GERRYMANDER

With apologies to Lewis Carroll you can sort of substitute the Gerrymander for the Jabberwock but I still don't know what a Jubjub bird or a bandersnatch looks like. But beware the gerrymander anyway. 

 “Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

      The frumious Bandersnatch!”

From the Public Policy Website, UMass at Dartmouth.

Ugly bugger isn't it. Gerrymandering isn't new. It's almost as old as the nation. 1812 wasn't exactly the best year in our early history what with the war and all. 

"In 1812 Elbridge Gerry, the Democratic- Republican Governor of Massachusetts, did something practically unheard of. He let Democratic-Republicans in Massachusetts use their political power to redraw district lines to ensure a victory for the Democratic-Republican Party in the state senate election. After Gerry signed a bill to make this kind of redistricting legal, a cartoon was put into a local newspaper that made the Boston district he had drawn look like a salamander. The name “gerrymander” comes from a combination of Elbridge Gerry’s name and the famous salamander from the cartoon. Ever since then, politicians have been altering district lines to fit their needs." Liz Anusaukas.

Gerry was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It's a pity that a man who served his country well in many ways is mainly remembered for that ugly amphibian. The Democratic Republicans came into being in opposition to the Federalists.