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How To Fix Gerrymandering: A Fair-Share Rule for Congressional Redistricting

Demonstrators gather outside of The United States Supreme Court during an oral arguments in Gill v. Whitford to call for an end to partisan gerrymandering on October 3, 2017 in Washington, DC

Getty Images, Olivier Douliery

How To Fix Gerrymandering: A Fair-Share Rule for Congressional Redistricting

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground. ~ Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Col. Edward Carrington, Paris, 27 May 1788

The Problem We Face

The U.S. House of Representatives was designed as the chamber of Congress most directly tethered to the people. Article I of the Constitution mandates that seats be apportioned among the states according to population and that members face election every two years—design features meant to keep representatives responsive to shifting public sentiment. Unlike the Senate, which prioritizes state sovereignty and representation, the House translates raw population counts into political voice: each House district is to contain roughly the same number of residents, ensuring that every citizen’s vote carries comparable weight. In principle, then, the House serves as the nation’s demographic mirror, channeling the diverse preferences of the electorate into lawmaking and acting as a safeguard against unresponsive or oligarchic governance.

Nationally, the mismatch between the overall popular vote and the partisan split in House seats is small, with less than a 1% tilt. But state-level results tell a different story. Take Connecticut: Democrats hold all five seats despite Republicans winning over 40% of the statewide vote. In Oklahoma, the inverse occurs—Republicans control every seat even though Democrats consistently earn around 40% of the vote.

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Republican, Democratic and independent checkboxes, with the third one checked
Independents will decide the election. What do we know about them?
zimmytws/Getty Images

Tired of the Two-Party Gridlock? Independents Offer a Way Out

Something feels wrong. American Democracy is supposed to be the beacon of hope that leads the free world. But for far too many, it feels like our votes do not elect leaders who truly represent what is best for our families and our communities.

Affordability of basic necessities is out of reach, and issues that have over 70% support from the public rarely get a second glance from those who are supposed to represent us. And at this point, our representatives are too busy fighting to maintain power than they are fixing the issues that we as Americans face.

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Best and Worst U.S. Presidential Cabinets Ranked: What the Research Reveals

The Oval Office is set for a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store at the White House on April 24, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Getty Images, Chip Somodevilla

Best and Worst U.S. Presidential Cabinets Ranked: What the Research Reveals

I commend news agency columnists who publish research-based and value-added (versus “my opinion”) op-eds on a daily or frequent basis. Submitting an occasional essay allows me time to ponder contemporary issues and explore the latest hot topic.

Since Aug. 6, Perplexity and Google have helped me examine over 30 documents to determine the best and worst U.S. presidential cabinets. Based upon academic studies and expert analysis, here are the results.

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The Importance of Being Media Literate

An image depicting a group of people of varying ages interacting with different forms of media, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

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The Importance of Being Media Literate

Information is constantly on our phones, and we receive notifications for almost everything happening in the world, which can be overwhelming to many. Information is given to us in an instant, and more often than you think, we don’t even know what exactly we are reading.

We don’t even know if the information we see is accurate or makes sense. Media literacy goes beyond what we learn in school; it’s a skill that grows as we become more aware and critical of the information we consume.

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