Gerrymandering

A term synonymous with the circumvention of prior established ballot regulation with the manufacture of partisan or incumbent-insulated electoral precincts through the manipulation of geographical boundary, a process designed to effect a measure of numerical superiority over a particular opponent in the political arena. Partisanship is oftentimes magnified through the adoption of these tactics as a means of preserving the influence of the status quo in certain demographics, predominantly those where the component of race, the perception of cultural and ethnic disparity, income inequality, religion and philosophy, sexual identity, etc., can be used as an opportunity to pit certain groups of individuals against one another as a means of garnering leverage.

Etymological Significance

Recognized as a portmanteau - incorporating the surname of Massachusetts State Governor Elbridge Gerry, believed to be the first public official to sign into law a measure altering legislative policy governing the electorate’s redistribution into party-oriented districts, and the word salamander; gerrymandering is commonplace in regions of the world where elected representatives are tasked with the responsibility of defining the territorial limitations of their constituents.

Strategies of Implementation

Cracking - Used to mitigate the incidence of voting blocs, where certain segments of the population - using information obtained from government directed census surveys and studies - whose political stance is deemed contrary to that of establishment incumbents, can be reassigned into multiple districts, thereby diluting their impact in candidatorial selection proceedings and precluding them from becoming a majority in upcoming elections.

Packing - The orchestrated compartmentalization of political constituencies possessing party affiliation dissimilar to those in positions of authority within the bureaucratic framework of an intergovernmental appendage, thereby hastening the onset of statistical advantage in localities where the incidence of voter-predicated partiality would otherwise be characterized as a non-factor in the outcome of a ballot-oriented contest. This is a strategy designed by its progenitors to delineate the opposition’s influence in districts exhibiting a heightened degree of loss potential.

Hijacking - The active restructuring of district boundary in certain areas to foster an atmosphere of conflict between members of the opposition so as to discourage the participation of supporting agencies while ensuring the elimination of viable contenders.

Kidnapping - A course of action oftentimes employed against candidates whose scope of representation extends into multiple urban areas and municipalities, where dense metropolitan population centers are surreptitiously excluded from future processes of mathematical calculation to create a measure of numerical superiority for political incumbents whose latitude of regency could be called into question.

CONCLUSION: Put simply, gerrymandering is an apolitical strategy designed by Elitist factions within the U.S. Federal Government to ensure the continuance of a system of governance that is contradictory to the fundamental tenets of Constitutional decree. It is a means by which the electoral standards originally intended to govern the infrastructure of its district’s territorial constituents can be bypassed allowing for the delineation of influence by prospective opponents and a concentration of power in the hands of individuals whose allegiance to establishment incumbents has never been called into question.