Two Whackadoodle free online games that every American citizen should master
These images are not part of a Rorschach Inkblot Test; they are examples of partisan gerrymandering. What's gerrymandering? Read on...
“Oh my God,” she informed me as soon as I opened the door. “I finally get why Gerrymandering is so insidious.” She kept talking as she moved down the hall to our customary table for tutoring. “Last night, I finally played that game you keep sharing on your website. You know, Gerrymander by that Game Theory company. You can tell it’s a game in progress, so it felt a little like beta testing, but I get why you like it.”
“Why do I like it?” I asked trailing after her.
“Because it shows that once you know how to play the game, you can win every time. And that also means that in the real world, people who know how to gerrymander can make sure they win every time. They stick all of the opposing party into one district, so they can claim five districts for themselves.” She began laying her books on the table. “I also found this other gerrymander game called Hexapolis. It’s sponsored by the New York Times. It’s a lot less funky, but also more complicated because you have to include at least two minority districts in your map, whatever that means.”
“What do you think it means?”
“I think it means that you have to have at least two districts in your map that make up a majority of the minority, but I’m not sure why.”
“It’s because of the Majority-Minority voting laws,” I told her. “They are designed to protect minority voters, but don’t always work as they were designed. Sounds like this new game you found just introduced another real world challenge into the mix.”
“Is it true that the Supreme Court declared gerrymandering constitutional?”
“Not quite,” I said. “But sort of. It’s true that in Rucho v. Common Cause, the supreme court announced that Federal courts have no power to police partisan gerrymandering, which pretty much leaves the states up to themselves.”
“But the states are the ones gerrymandering,” she objected. “They won’t police themselves.”
“And that my girls is an example to remember should a teacher ever ask you to explain irony. It’s also why people should pay more attention to their local elections.”
She looked uncertain, so I offered a distraction. “Since you’re interested, the Moring Center for Teaching Social Responsibility has an fun online curriculum for teaching about gerrymandering.” I picked up her iPad, and plugged in a few words. “Here, check it out. See if you can answer the first question.”
Question: What is gerrymandering?
a. A procedure used in the Senate to end a filibuster
b. Negative, often personal, frequently inaccurate or exaggerated attacks on the opposition
c. Drawing the lines of political districts to help your own political party
d. Using the presidency (or other high office) to promote your ideas
e. The practice of smearing people with baseless accusations and investigations
f. Blocking a vote in the Senate by endless speech-making
g. It’s when a politician suggests an idea in public, and waits for the reaction before actually proposing it
She frowned at the screen for some time, but eventually answered, “It’s got to be C; drawing the lines of political districts to help your own political party.”
“Right,” I smiled. “Do you know what the other possible answers are?”
“Are they anything?”
“Sure they are. All the multiple choices answers in that question are definitions of political terms. Care to figure out the political terms they define?”
“I’d prefer that you just tell me.”
“Scroll down,” I told her. “Read the answers for yourself.”
Answers:
a. cloture
b. mudslinging
c. gerrymandering
d. using the bully pulpit
e. McCarthyism
f. filibuster
g. a trial balloon
She finished reading the answers and sighed, “I am beginning to hate politics almost as much as I hate math.”
I felt my heart crush, “Please don’t hate it. People avoid what they hate, and if you avoid politics nothing will every improve.”
She looked up smiling shyly, “Tell me something that I don’t already know.”
Play the games. Share the games. They are actually quite addictive. You will learn a lot, and win every time. Good exercise for the brain. Much more effective that endless games of solitaire.
Hexapolis, by Ella Koeze, Denise Lu and Charlie Smart