The Consent of the Governed

The Value of Democracy

In the fifth and penultimate episode of The Consent of the Governed, “The Value of Democracy,” host Carter Hanson discusses the 2011 battle between the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission and the Republican-controlled Arizona state government, and the future of independent redistricting commissions as a solution for partisan gerrymandering.

From the episode: “Gerrymandering is a truly nonpartisan institution, meaning that the majority party, regardless of its ideology, nearly always tries to protect it. It is the quintessence of the refrain that power acts upon the powerful: it transforms the majority party into the gerrymandering party. Therefore, if there is to be a resolution to partisan gerrymandering, it must exist outside of the world of partisan politics.”

The Consent of the Governed is hosted, produced, and written by Carter Hanson, from his homes in Boulder, Colorado, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Consent of the Governed is the main expression of my Kolbe Fellowship project. The Kolbe Fellowship program is a ten-week research fellowship for social sciences and humanities students at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Consent of the Governed’s theme music was written by Natalie Dolan and James Lamb. Thanks to Professor Beth Campbell Hetrick, who is the faculty advisor for this project. You can find us on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Medium.

The People Are Sovereign

In the fourth episode of The Consent of the Governed, “The People Are Sovereign,” host Carter Hanson dives deep into Rucho v. Common Cause (the most recent Supreme Court ruling on gerrymandering) and breaks down the majority opinion, revealing the fallacies and misrepresentations in the majority’s argument and the destructive power of Rucho.

 

From the episode: “Gerrymandering is a crisis of democracy, hindering political evolution and realization by removing the voice of the citizen in their just representation and giving that power to a handful of partisan cartographers. What the founders intended for the redistricting process is ultimately beside the point: the truest respect given to the founders is progress, and no issue calls for substantial reform and action like partisan gerrymandering.”

 

The Consent of the Governed is hosted, produced, and written by Carter Hanson, from his home in Boulder, Colorado. The Consent of the Governed is the main expression of my Kolbe Fellowship project. The Kolbe Fellowship program is a ten-week research fellowship for social sciences and humanities students at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Consent of the Governed’s theme music was written by Natalie Dolan and James Lamb. Thanks to Professor Beth Campbell Hetrick, who is the faculty advisor for this project. You can find us on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Medium.

A Workable Standard

In the third episode of The Consent of the Governed, “A Workable Standard,” host Carter Hanson discusses the Hofeller files, statistical outlier analysis, and begins looking at Rucho v. Common Cause, the most recent important gerrymandering Supreme Court case.

From the episode: “Statistical outlier analyses of North Carolina, similar to that of Pennsylvania, reveal extreme Republican gerrymanders. In 2014, mathematicians Jonathan Mattingly and Christy Vaughn published one such analysis, revealing that, in a sampling of 100 maps in their ensemble, in no map did Democrats receive 4 or less of North Carolina’s 13 congressional seats, and Democrats averaged 7.6 Democratic seats. At the time, Democrats held only 3 congressional seats in the state.”

The Consent of the Governed is hosted, produced, and written by Carter Hanson, from his home in Boulder, Colorado. The Consent of the Governed is the main expression of my Kolbe Fellowship project. The Kolbe Fellowship program is a ten-week research fellowship for social sciences and humanities students at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Consent of the Governed’s theme music was written by Natalie Dolan and James Lamb. Thanks to Professor Beth Campbell Hetrick, who is the faculty advisor for this project. You can find us on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Medium.

Wasted Votes

In the second episode of The Consent of the Governed, host Carter Hanson discusses the 2003 Texas re-redistricting and the Democrats’ legislative rebellion, the benefits and drawbacks of the efficiency gap, and the future of the efficiency gap after the Supreme Court’s Gill v. Whitford ruling.

From the episode: “In Bandemer v. Davis, the Supreme Court ruled that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional if extreme enough. Since that ruling in 1986, anti-gerrymandering advocates have been trying to prove that it is extreme enough, without much success. My response is, in the words of Wendy Tam Cho, ‘If you’re never going to declare a partisan gerrymander, what is it that’s unconstitutional?’”

The Consent of the Governed is hosted, produced, and written by Carter Hanson, from his home in Boulder, Colorado. The Consent of the Governed is the main expression of my Kolbe Fellowship project. The Kolbe Fellowship program is a ten-week research fellowship for social sciences and humanities students at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Consent of the Governed’s theme music was written by Natalie Dolan and James Lamb. Thanks Professor Beth Campbell Hetrick, who is the faculty advisor for this project. You can find us on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Medium.

Politicians Choosing Their Voters

In the first episode of The Consent of the Governed, host Carter Hanson introduces Gerrymandering, its impact on the American political system through the past decade, REDMAP, and the history of Supreme Court Gerrymandering rulings since 1986. This episode contains explicit language.

From the episode: “REDMAP worked. Republicans flipped 3 state senates and 6 state houses in 7 states by spending about $8.2 million [in 2010]. That’s about as much money as was spent on a single U.S. House election, the race for the Michigan 7th district, in 2010. Republican control over redistricting in those same 7 states has netted Republicans 50 seats over the past four elections relative to their portion of the vote.”

The Consent of the Governed is hosted, produced, and written by Carter Hanson, from his home in Boulder, Colorado. The Consent of the Governed is the main expression of my Kolbe Fellowship project. The Kolbe Fellowship program is a ten-week research fellowship for social sciences and humanities students at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Consent of the Governed’s theme music was written by Natalie Dolan and James Lamb. Thanks to Professor Beth Campbell Hetrick, who is the faculty advisor for this project. You can find us on Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Medium.

The sources for this podcast will be up soon.