Lampson
After signing the United States Constitution in 1787, as Benjamin Franklin was leaving the building, he was asked, “What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” Without hesitation, Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Our founders put control of our government in our hands by allowing us to vote for the people we want to represent us. But today, in both political parties, gerrymandering has stolen our vote and placed it in the hands of relatively few voters. Partisan gerrymandering has resulted in legislators choosing their voters rather than voters choosing their legislators, with the primary goal of preserving legislative control by the majority party. Consequently, most legislative and congressional races are decided in the primary, with few competitive races on the ballot in the general election.