Political Reform for Me but not for thee?

Eli,

There are those who believe gerrymandering is the deserved spoils of political victory, but I am not one of them. Nor do I believe "there's no circumstance under which you would see more Democrats in Congress as an improvement," and frankly it's irrelevant. If that's who voters choose, that's who they choose. I get one vote, in my district. What other's do with their vote, in their district, is their business, not mine.

While you are correct there are more Republican representatives in Ohio and Pennsylvania than the proportional votes for the parties you are incorrect there were more votes cast for Democrats in both states. The opposite is true

Ohio votes for US House of Representatives:
Republican 2,620,233
Democrat 2,412,385
Other 109,508

Pennsylvania votes for US House of Representatives
Republican 2,710,070
Democrat 2,693,538
Other 52,722

The sources for each are the Office of the Secretary of State for each state, links above.

But tell me, does your zeal for reform extend to places like Connecticut where 33% of the votes were for Republicans yet zero Republicans were elected to Congress? If it is unfair more Republicans were elected to the House from Ohio and Pennsylvania than the proportional votes received isn't it  unfair in Connecticut also?

Does your zeal for reform extend to this oddly-shaped district:

How about this one? You see this district resulting in politicians enthralled "to an ever smaller and ever more extreme proportion of the voters."?

Both are majority-minority districts. Would you be so eager for reform if the independent commissions that redraw districts resulted in fewer majority-minority districts like IL-2 and MS-2? I won't assume what your answer is, although I suspect many would find it outrageous and racist to suggest redrawing these districts as well.

It seems to me Democrats don't like it that Republicans disagree with them. They blame the "partisanship" and "extremism" on the Tea Party. When it's pointed out more votes are cast for Republicans than Democrats in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio, they respond gerrymandering is the cause of this partisanship and extremism. It is an asymmetric argument since the extremism resulting in Republican gerrymandering is absent in Democratic gerrymandering. 

Like I said, there are those who believe gerrymandering is the deserved spoils of political victory, but I am not one of them. How about you?

Bill