Dan: I'm not making the connection between rhetoric and gerrymandering. The R's are behaving as they are because it pleases their base, which is quite politically active. It won't matter if the district looks like a square or a Rorschach blob. Maybe you need a separate article to explain this connection.

Yes, electoral districts should be drawn to fit natural boundaries and basic shapes. But there is too much emphasis is given to gerrymandering as a big source of USA's problems. If the R's were at 20%, then no amount of gerrymandering to vault them to victory.

Like it or not, the R's are a viable political force in the USA.