Vote yes on California proposition 77

CA-77 would establish* a 3-judge non-partisan panel to draw congressional districts. Currently this is in the hands of the legislature, which is inclined by its political nature to gerrymander in order both to favor the party in power as well as to make the districts of the two parties safer. There is an argument to be had about whether California, a strong blue state, should give up the power to balance the DeLayed Texases on the red side. Even Kevin Drum, an instinctively moderate and sensible and smart liberal, has been on the fence about this. And the instinctively stupid Andrew Sullivan approves, saying it will "break the back of the Democratic Party special interests". But I think the marginal short-term loss will be more than made up for by the strengthening of democracy in California and by the greater chance that DeLayization will be defeated in other states. And while normally I think the proposition process is awful and "no" should be the strong default, in this case the new law is the right and important thing to do, so I urge California voters to vote "yes" on prop 77. If you don't care what I think, try reading Kos.


*For Athenian democracy junkies, the process calls for choosing the judges by lot. Kinda cool.