If you and your spouse are considering splitting up so that one or both of you can get remarried, you might want to consider asking a North Carolina Republican to drop by and help explain the breakup to your kids.

Not that they’ll have any more success than you will at convincing your children that having two dads or two moms will be an improvement over their current situation. The main benefit to having a Republican on hand for the explanation will be the positive spin you can give to what will be, for your kids at least, the worst day of their young lives.

There’s been no shortage of positive spinning by area Republicans, and at least one Democrat, recently about another looming breakup: the splitting of Pasquotank County between two congressional and state House districts. The congressional redistricting map drawn by state GOP lawmakers puts one part of Pasquotank in the 1st Congressional District and another, larger part in the 3rd Congressional District. Similarly, the GOP’s redistricting map for the state House puts 60 percent of Pasquotank’s population in the 5th District, a minority-majority enclave, and 40 percent in a new 1st District.

While we couldn’t think of any worse outcome for Pasquotank County in the state’s once-in-a-decade redistricting process, area Republicans have described the planned dismemberment of the county’s political cohesiveness as something approaching the best of all worlds.

Bill Lehmann, a three-time GOP candidate for Pasquotank commissioner, told the Republican-controlled redistricting panel several weeks ago that Pasquotank “will benefit from” the split because it will give the county two representatives in Washington, D.C., instead of just one.

Similarly, Bob Steinburg, a Chowan County Republican who is considering a bid for the state House in the newly drawn 1st District, said Pasquotank actually would “have more influence” in Raleigh after the split because it would have two representatives “working on (its) behalf.” Owen Etheridge, a Currituck County commissioner also eyeing a bid for that seat, also tried to spread the sunshine, saying having two House representatives “on the same page” would be “good for Pasquotank.”

Even Bill Owens, the Pasquotank Democrat who’s long represented the 1st District, and who now because of the proposed redistricting plan likely won’t be seeking re-election next year, has tried to put a smiley face on the rain cloud. Owens recalled how when he and Bill Culpepper — a former state lawmaker from Chowan — represented Perquimans County when it was splintered in a former redistricting plan, it was probably the best representation Perquimans ever had.

Owens may feel that way, but we doubt it’s true. If it were, we would expect Perquimans officials to be clamoring right now for their county to be split, like Pasquotank, into two House districts. They aren’t. Nor are officials in Etheridge’s Currituck County or Steinburg’s Chowan County. Wonder why, since having two representatives will be such a good thing for Pasquotank?

Of course, if having multiple representatives in Washington and Raleigh is a good thing, why just stop at two? Wouldn’t three or four, or even five be even better? For that matter, why not draw district maps that split up all 100 North Carolina counties into multiple House, Senate and congressional districts? Why limit this best-of-all-worlds multiple representation to just a third of the state’s counties? (Apparently, city officials in Hickory, who’ve complained about the Republicans’ redistricting plan, don’t know what’s good for them. The city of 40,000 is split into three congressional districts in the new redistricting plan. That’s like having three dads.)

The reason Hickory officials are upset about the redistricting plans, and the reason anyone who cares about Pasquotank’s future should also be upset, is that far from being a benefit divided representation in Raleigh and Washington will in fact be an impediment.

Having more moms and more dads doesn’t mean you get more or better parenting. Usually it means the opposite — you get less parenting, as each individual parent feels less obligated to spend time with you. The same holds true for political representation. The more representatives you have, the less attention you get from them individually.

Unfortunately, politicians typically are vain people. They’re also extremely busy people and often territorial. They’re less likely to spend a lot of time trying to get funding for a water or airport project, say, in a county where another political representative’s say-so or involvement is required. They’re even less interested if the other “dad” or “mom” is of the opposing political party.

Etheridge’s caveat about the benefit of having more than one representative is telling. It will be a good thing for Pasquotank, he said, “if they can get both representatives on the same page.” So what happens if they’re not on the same page? What happens, for example, if the 5th House District elects a Democrat and the 1st House District elects a Republican? Hope that somehow through all the increased partisan squabbling in our politics that they’ll come together on our county’s project?

We are disappointed that some of our county leaders — Board of Commissioners Chairman Lloyd Griffin, for one, comes to mind — haven’t been more outspoken in their opposition to the Republicans’ redistricting plans. Pasquotank is the most populous county in the region. It has and should continue to have the biggest voice when it comes to regional issues. Under the Republicans’ redistricting plan, that voice is diminished. Hertford and Bertie will have bigger voices in the 5th District while Currituck will have the biggest voice in the new 1st District. Even Owens acknowledges that it will be harder for someone from Pasquotank to represent either of the new House districts the county ends up in.

Don’t misunderstand: We know the state has to change district lines to reflect the changes in population that have occurred over the past decade. We also know that this redrawing of lines has to follow federal law and ensure that African-Americans have an equal chance to elect representatives of their choosing.

We also know that redistricting maps are drawn to benefit the political party in power at the time, and that Republicans currently are the ones in Raleigh with the pens. We even understand that redistricting plans likely require the splitting of some counties, and that one of them might just have to be our own.

Area Republicans, whose party has drawn this redistricting map that hurts Pasquotank, apparently feel the need to justify this handiwork. That’s OK. What isn’t is their telling us that this plan will be good for us, when, like the kid about to get two dads, we know it won’t be.