Political Reform

Bill,

You, as a student of history, know the country's long tradition of political reform far better than I. From the direct election of senators to the right to vote for women to the end of political machines to voting rights for minority Americans, the country has constantly tinkered with the machinery of democracy, not always with salutary results, but mostly for the better. Maybe a little bit of that would help us now. Pennsylvania sent only 5 Democrats (out of 18) and Ohio 4/16 despite more votes cast for Democratic candidates in both states. Here's what the 2012 PA congressional district map looks like:

Compare this map with Iowa, which uses a nonpartisan commission to establish Congressional districts.

Now I can see you rolling your eyes at yet another example of my left wing lunatic fringe do goodism. Gerrymanddering is nearly as old  as the republic itself. Both parties do it every chance they get. There's no circumstance under which you would see more Democrats in Congress as an improvement. But the current arrangement enthralls elected politicians to an ever smaller and ever more extreme proportion of the voters. When representatives are more afraid of "geting primaried" than answering to their constituents, something has gone deeply wrong with the way we are electing them.  

Reform doesn't come from above. One can't wish it into being. One must always be mindful of unintended consequences. But it's hard to imagine that we can't do better than we are doing now.

Eli