"Jerry's Salamander", the epitome of the ills of American democracy (Universal Pen)

　　The recent local elections in the United States are regarded as the weather vane for next year's midterm elections.

In these elections, the American "Jelly Newt" bizarre was once again placed under the spotlight of the media.

　　In 1812, the governor of Massachusetts, Jerry, in order to pursue the interests of his party, signed a bill to divide an electoral district in the state into an extremely irregular shape similar to a salamander.

This practice was later known as the "Jelly Newt", that is, through unfair division of electoral districts, to help the party gain an advantage in the election and win as many seats as possible.

The U.S. Constitution and laws stipulate that the legislature of each state has the power to divide electoral districts, which provides room for operation of the state legislature’s majority party to engage in "Jerry salamanders."

"Jerry Newt" mainly relies on two operations. One is "concentration", that is, as far as possible, the opposition party voters are divided into a few specific electoral districts, and these electoral districts are sacrificed in exchange for the absolute security of other electoral districts; Areas with relatively concentrated voters are split into different surrounding electoral districts, thereby diluting the votes of the opposition party.

　　For more than 200 years, "Jerry Newt", a unique American political operation, has intensified.

Both the Democrats and Republicans are accustomed to using "Jerry Newts" to manipulate elections in states controlled by their party.

In September of this year, Oregon, controlled by the Democratic Party, took the lead in completing the rezoning of electoral districts in the United States.

According to the latest census results, the state can add 1 congressional district, increasing the total number of districts to 6.

The Democratic Party set up this new electoral district in the south of Portland, and Portland is the state's largest city with the largest number of Democratic voters.

After this redrawing, the Democratic Party’s firmly controlled constituencies have increased from the original 2 to 4, and the “swing constituency” has been reduced from 2 to 1, which means that the party can control 57% of the actual voters. 83% of the state's congressional districts.

　　Recently, the Republican-controlled North Carolina State Assembly finalized the state's congressional constituency map. By separating the Democratic voters in the city, the number of constituencies in the state that tend to be Republican increased from 8 to 10.

In October of this year, the Republican-controlled state of Texas divided new electoral districts, and “smartly” divided the newly added minority voters who favor the Democratic Party into electoral districts dominated by whites. In the end, the Republican Party’s tightly controlled electoral districts increased from 22 to 24. The number of "swing electoral districts" has been reduced from 6 to 1. The Republican Party can occupy 65% ​​of the state's House of Representatives with 52.1% of the actual voters.

　　"Jerry Newt" is regarded as a "malignant tumor" in the body of American democracy.

The New York Times of the United States pointed out that almost every state is carrying out similar political tricks. This distorted geographical and ethnic constituency division has made the political influence of minorities increasingly overwhelmed.

According to a poll released by the Associated Press in March this year, 67% of the people interviewed believe that "Jerry's salamander" is a serious problem in the US electoral system.

Former Wisconsin Senator Dale Schultz said that "Jerry Newt" actually caused congressmen to choose voters instead of voters choosing congressmen.

　　The political polarization in the United States is increasing, and both parties are striving to maximize their own interests. The phenomenon of "Jelly Newt" is even harder to return.

In 2019, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill requiring the prohibition of "Jerry Newt", but the bill was not passed in the Republican-controlled Senate.

In June 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that "Jerry Newt" is a political issue that must be resolved by an elected government agency and refused to accept such cases.

Since then, since there is no need to worry that the state's electoral district map will be overturned by the Supreme Court, the two parties' manipulation of the "Jelly Newt" has become even more unscrupulous.

　　The strange phenomenon of "Jerry Newt" is the epitome of the ills of American democracy.

"Money politics" prevails, power checks and balances become "veto politics", rule defects damage fairness and justice, and system failures trigger a crisis of trust... "Jerry Salamander" erodes American democracy, causing it to become increasingly alienated, deteriorating, and deteriorating.