About Congressional Districts

Before moving to Article II about the executive branch, just a little more about Congress.

Each state has two Senators, no matter how large or how small. But the number in the House is fixed at 435. Therefore each member of Congress represents about 693,000 people (as of 2007). In that way states with larger populations have more Representatives than smaller states.

For example, Texas is divided into 32 Congressional Districts and therefore has 32 representatives. However, because the population is not spread evenly throughout the state (the eastern half has many more people than the western half, and most of the state’s population is concentrated in the Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin metro areas) there are some strange-looking districts.

These districts are rendered even more strange in that they have been “gerrymandered,” which is the deliberate rearrangement of district boundaries in order to influence the outcome of elections. This weird term came from Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry who in 1812 redrew the boundaries of a district (for political purposes) that resembled a salamander.

When Democrats are in power, they redraw the lines in their favor, and Republicans do the same when they are the majority power. This is one reason why incumbents have such an advantage over challengers. If the incumbent has “stacked the deck” in his district by making sure there are more of his party than “the other party,” it’s almost impossible to bring in someone new.

On our Congressman Lamar Smith’s website it says: “The 21st Congressional District includes portions of Bexar and Travis Counties and all of Comal, Real, Kerr, Bandera, Kendall and Blanco Counties. Over 650,000 people live in the 21st Congressional District.” At another site there’s a map showing all of the districts of Texas. It looks like a very weird puzzle: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=TX

Ignorance and apathy are deadly in the cause of freedom, but Congress hopes to keep the populace dumb and distracted so they can do whatever they please.

“An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.” --Thomas Jefferson