Book Description

The United States has long had a history of malapportionment, favoring rural over urban areas. The Supreme Court in 1962 broke this precedent, and congressional districts in the 1972 elections set a record for equal population representation. Gerrymandering is still widely used and may circumvent the concept of one man--one vote. The United States is, from a political view, a suburban nation rather than a urban nation with almost two-thirds of its population living in cities or areas of less than 50,000 persons. A reapportionment revolution has profited the fast growing suburbs which now hold the balance of political power between rural and urban areas.