A Primer for the Sixth Congressional District
Tomorrow night (Thursday) the Clarendon County Republicans will host three candidates for the U.S. Congress seat currently being held by Congressman James Clyburn.
Regardless of which side of the aisle you prefer, the Sixth District is a very interesting conundrum, at least for me, that is. So I went looking to try and understand how this district, covering all or some of 15 of South Carolina’s 46 counties came to be. My main source was Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia so you can find that same information there. While there is some editorializing going on, I believe the hard data there to be correct.
There are currently six U.S. congressional districts in our state. They are drawn, based on 2000 census data and each district represents a population of 668,668 people. Congressional lines are approved by the U.S. Justice Department, supposedly to insure that each is balanced in number – not in wealth, race, education or any of the other go-zillion things that differentiate us. As a slight aside, it is hard for me to comprehend how one congressman can fairly and adequately represent so many people.
The U.S. Constitution, written before anyone every imagined there would nearly 300 million people in this country, called for there to be one Congressional representative for every 30,000. There was an attempt at an amendment raising that number to one rep for every 50,000. If the population figures for the 2000 census were used, we would need 5,628 representatives. If you want to get the High Commander going, just ask him about this!
But back to the Sixth District.
The Sixth District is comprised thusly (hold on to your hat): all of Bamberg, Clarendon, Colleton, Marion and Williamsburg counties (that’s five counties) and parts of Berkeley, Calhoun, Charleston, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Lee, Orangeburg, Richland and Sumter counties (that’s 10 parts of counties).
I find it incomprehensible how one person can represent so many divergent populations.
Wikipedia says this: “The district was gerrymandered in the early 1990s from a deal by Republicans and black Democrats in the South Carolina Assembly to ensure a majority black population. The rural counties of the black belt of South Carolina make up much of the district, but it was also carved to include the black precincts in Charleston and Columbia.”
I had to double-check myself on gerrymandering, because I always thought that was a bad thing.
According to my good friend Daniel Webster, to gerrymander is to “divide a territorial unit into election districts to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts while concentrating the voting strength of the opposition in as few districts as possible.”
Is that what we want? Again, regardless of which political party you support, do you want our federal representatives districted so that decisions become partisan rather than what is best for our communities, state and nation?
Here’s what I believe is the long and short of it, and I sincerely mean this as no slight to Rep. Clyburn.
He can’t be beat. The game is rigged for him to win and I think that is unfair to us as citizens. I believe part of what is wrong with our nation is that leadership has become a study in playing the partisan game and getting re-elected. Our country – and our state and county – are in far too much turmoil by not having a representative, regardless of party, who cannot meet our needs, physically, philosophically or politically.
To Harrelson, Pratt and Payne (the three Republicans running in the primary against Clyburn who faces opposition from a political newcomer named Gregory Brown): all the luck to you. You are going to need it. Most everyone in Clarendon County votes on the Democratic ballot, at least in the primary, even though there is only one contested race in one district as far as I know. I don’t like that either, as I believe local races should be non-partisan … but that is for another column.
One last point … if you did not mail back a census form or did not get a census form, someone will be coming to your house to ask the 10 questions. Please respond. A complete count of our area not only means federal funding dollars for education, healthcare, roads and more, but it means that our state will likely be redistricted.
It might not change a lot for us, but then again, it might.
