[EM] Geographical districts

[Jonathan Lundell]

On Sep 4, 2008, at 3:08 PM, Juho wrote:

> On Sep 5, 2008, at 0:52 , Jonathan Lundell wrote:
>
>> On Sep 4, 2008, at 2:13 PM, Juho wrote:
>>
>>> I like natural districts, so one approach would be to let people  
>>> say and let history decide. The reason why I find "natural"  
>>> districts natural in politics is that when people feel like they  
>>> are part of some community it is easier to find consensus and  
>>> cooperate within that community. And of course the border lines  
>>> will then follow whatever natural dividing lines there are.
>>
>> That seems wrong to me, but I don't have anything but subjective  
>> impressions. Certainly for my local city council and school board  
>> the community has no more consensus (and perhaps less) than one  
>> finds at the state level. If anything, differences become more  
>> pronounced locally.
>
> What I meant was that electing a school board that is responsible  
> for the local school is more natural than electing a school board  
> that is responsible for 50% of one school and 50% of another school.  
> In geographical districts that would mean border lines that follow  
> the rivers, highways, traditional understanding etc.
>
> People tend to be "patriotic" and they share and defend the common  
> "values" of units that they consider to be "their own". Having such  
> natural units in politics could be considered positive as long as  
> people don't get too patriotic (and e.g. start "wars" against the  
> "competing units").
>
> I agree that local matters are often more difficult to handle  
> peacefully than some more general matters. But natural districting  
> may still be considered a positive thing also at local level.

I agree that there are some districts that are "naturally" local. I  
mentioned fire districts earlier, as well as certain kinds of utilities.

School boards are a case in point. In California, local school boards  
have very little to say about school policy, but they do have some  
inherently local responsibilities, like hiring and firing the  
superintendent/CEO, siting schools, etc.

These local districts, though, are already multi-member, and amenable  
to PR within the district.