Today, I had to make copies.  A simple enough task, I drove to the Staples, about 10 minutes from me, to go and make them.  It cost less than a dollar.  There was absolutely nothing special about the trip, one to a shopping center I visit quite frequently.  The only notable thing about it is just how nonsensical our elected officials treat the issue of representation.

My house sits a couple minutes outside of the town of West Chester, PA.  In fact, where I am, I have a West Chester address.  I live in the Sixth Congressional District (represented by Republican Jim Gerlach).  The Sixth, which is one of the most poorly drawn districts in the country, runs from where I live in the southern tip, up through Chester County,  into Montgomery County - stretching all the way down to the Philadelphia border - up through Berks County (where it includes Reading) and all the way up into Lehigh County.  The Sixth is a geographic nightmare, and consists of an extremely heterogeneous group of constituents.  Affluent suburbs, the Main Line, the Chester County exurbs, significant rural areas, blue color cities, the Amish, and urban populations.  In some cases, it cuts through townships just to avoid certain Democratic areas.  It was a district drawn for one reason: electing Jim Gerlach to Congress.

My district comes about 45 seconds after I leave my house: the Pennsylvania Sixteenth.  The 16th is represented by Republican Joe Pitts.  The 16th  begins and ends where the 6th does: part of Reading in the north and the entirety of West Chester in the south.  But in between,  it stretches west and south, to include the entirety of rural Lancaster County.  The Philadelphia suburbs and the Harrisburg suburbs share one Congressman.  The district cuts south around my township (which used to be included in it) and then through the southern precincts of a neighboring township to reach up and grab West Chester - a Democratic performing enclave in this highly Republican district.