In October, the budget and deficit negotiations were in full gridlock, with each side vehemently blaming the other. I know the actual culprit: the relational database system. It's one of technology's unintended consequences that has had a tremendous impact on American politics and a story worth noting in today's ever-changing technology landscape.

The relational database is a type of database first defined in the early 1970's by IBM. Previous types of database systems were fairly rigid and were typically designed for a single, explicit purpose, e.g., keeping track of bank balances, and even small changes such as changing a zip code from five to nine digits could take months on programming time. The more advanced relational database saved everything in types of online tables and had the capability of doing a wide range of ad-hoc “queries” on the fly, making it extremely powerful. The first true production relational databases emerged in the early 1980's, led notably by Oracle Corporation.

What does this have to do with politics? Previous to the late 80's local political redistricting — done every ten years — was mainly based on a combination of political sampling, guess work while looking to appear politically fair in protecting minority votes. However, with advent of the relational database literally every single household could be loaded into an electronic “map,” and this information used to draw incredibly precise political districts. Savvy politicians who controlled the redistricting process could then create seeming neutral, but fully and safe districts, ensuring their party was likely to receive at least 55 percent of the vote, for example, because they could now track every single known voter.