I’m a hack who works for a campaign committee, and I’d like nothing more than to see a Congress filled by Democrats elected to districts drawn by state legislatures filled by Democrats.

But I realize that’s never going to happen.

The reality is that we live in a world with give and take between the parties, where districts must still be drawn so that elections can be held. And that brings us to the crucial question of how to do it.

It’s not a secret that partisan redistricting can lead to some pretty ugly results. Given my job, perhaps that’s silly for me to say, but I’d be crazy to argue otherwise.

That said, it’s not as if there is a slew of inviting alternatives out there for a reformer to choose from.

Ed Kilgore, who is both a mentor of mine and a longtime advocate for substantial changes in the redistricting process, said this today yesterday in a post about gerrymandering and voter turnout:

The most common reform, the creation of "independent" redistricting commissions, does directly deal with the conflict of interest involved in state legislators drawing up their own maps. But the record of such commissions on congressional redistricting is mixed at best, tending to produce political compromises more than competitive districts. The problem is that it requires positive action, not just an alleged absence of "partisan politics," to create a truly competitive map. And indeed, truly competitive schemes often run afoul of "traditional redistricting principles" like compact districts that respect jurisdictional lines as much as gerrymandering does.

I bring this up because the voters of California will get to decide the fate of yet another redistricting ballot initiative in November. And while supporters of the measure claim bipartisan support, it has been formally rejected by the state Democratic Party.

As it should be.

The California measure, funded by GOP-money, is backed by Republicans for one reason: they hope it will help them draw an electoral map which makes a Republican Speaker a possibility.

And that is the political reality.

If we lived in a perfect world, nonpartisan commissions might be a wonderful vehicle for drawing legislative districts.

But we live in a world where Republicans are competing with us for power, and they’re frankly unafraid to use every advantage at their disposal in order to get it.

If we want a government with a Democratic agenda, we have to elect Democrats. The calculus is as simple as that.