Play the (rigged) gerrymandering game! My team wins!

After a big loss by their football team, several powerful alumni were discussing how to keep it from ever happening again. The solution was to change the rules of the game. The new law was: “To make the game more interesting to the fans, the winning team of this year can 'tweak' the rules for the same matchup the following year.”

What rules would you change in your favor? Here are some ideas to get you started:

The field of play: Our team has to move the ball 20 yards to score. The opposing team has to move the ball 80 yards.

The players: Our team can have 20 players on the field, and their team is limited to seven.

The referees: We will hire people from our schools and fraternities. They share our passions, beliefs and values.

The money and recruiting: We can raise unlimited amounts from anonymous sources. And spend it anyway that helps us win. We will buy the best players, pay their families, and coaches. We will also buy the best team coaches, staff, academic help, medical support and anything that money can buy to guarantee our winning tradition.

The media: We will have our media channels sell this as a “Great New Innovation” and truly modern way to play the game. And of course we will drown out the opposition with personal attacks and spin.

Other factors to “tweak”: Number of downs, academic requirements, seating at the stadium, announcers, cheerleaders, the band, parking, locker rooms, coaches, the game clock, special teams, equipment, and so on.

The Field of Play: Changing the voting districts changes the field of play; the opposition ends up with a vote worth 20 percent of the value of the winning team's 80 percent. For example, see North Carolina's 12th congressional district between 2003 and 2016.

The Players: Once the winning team is in control they have the power of numbers in all offices legislative, executive and judiciary. See the current numbers in Raleigh and federal office holders.

The Referees: The new rules allow the independence of the judiciary to be a wistful concept of history. Current loyalty of N.C. courts and Supreme Court as example.

The Money and Recruiting: Raising money and spending it any manner is now free speech and protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution (see Citizens United case). And since corporations are now legal “people” equal to humans under law, money can come from any source (creating dark money.)

The Media: Investigative journalism has given way to talking heads and sound bites. What’s important is the number of people who are watching and the advertising dollars generated by sound bites and breaking news.

The Net Effect: Gerrymandering clearly works! My team wins and your team loses!

The Subtle Effects: The loss of traditional values: Fair play, honesty, truth telling over spin, the concept of citizenship and pride in community.

Cynicism: Who wants to play or watch when the game is so clearly rigged? You would have to be crooked or crazy to run for office!

Apathy and boredom: “Why bother, the same rich old white guys win every time. My vote means nothing to these people.”

Anger and hostility: The problem is that politics and voting are not a game like football. It's life and death. It’s your money in taxes spent for the benefit of others. It's the quality of health care, water and air, education for your children, safety and security of your community. It's jobs and community pride.

The lesson: Voting districts should be determined by only two factors — voters and land.

All others factors (race, religion, party, sex, age, place of birth, wealth, education, worldview, and so on) allow the cheaters to tailor the rules to their favor.

This story was originally published July 2, 2018 at 1:10 PM.