Imagine the Houston Rockets decide that every time they play the Los Angeles Lakers, the basket on their end of the court should be lowered to 9 feet. Outrageous, right? So is gerrymandering, so do read on. Now  suppose the Rockets get away with it. They  rack up wins against the Lakers, and their overall record in the NBA improves—tilting playoff  standings, scoring records, MVP candidacies, and probably attendance.

            Now imagine the Lakers respond in kind. Whenever they face the Rockets and their 9-foot basket, the Lakers lower their own basket to 9 feet.  Some commentators would invoke the   dictum: “Two wrongs don’t make a right!” But in this case two wrongs are better than one; the games are evenly matched although a travesty of the sport. 

            This is the logic behind California responding to Texas’s gerrymandering with its own. It’s not about endorsing manipulation. It’s about refusing to accepting a loss due to unilateral fair play  while others cheat. In a national legislature, what one state does affects the whole. If Texas rigs its districts to send more partisan representatives to Congress, it doesn’t just distort Texas’s voice—it dilutes California’s, and warps the balance of power for all states in the  country.

            Gerrymandering isn’t a local sin. It’s a national sabotage. And when one state tilts the playing field, others must respond—not to add to injustice, but to subtract  some of it, albeit not all.  Just as the NBA sets the height of the hoop for all games,  a national commission is required to use modern district map-making to restore representative government by eliminating gerrymandering in all states in the country.