The only solution to this problem would be — government regulation! Some sort of independent board as insulated from political pressure as possible (as possible) that would make redistricting decision based on some fixed set of criteria. So that the district actually represents a community. This is why, whatever its faults, the European system has real attractions. If the libertarians get 20% of the vote in every district in America, they get no representation. In many European countries they get 20% of the seats in the legislatures. And that would certainly be more just, more fair, than what we have in our legislatures. Not that it would not pose certain problems, too. But think of he number of places that are firmly in the pocket of one party or the other. If you happen to be in the minority party in that district or state, your vote literally will never matter. And we wonder why voter turn-out is low, and apathy and cynicism abound! In my adult life, I have hardly ever voted for a candidate who won, as I live in a state and district that rare elects anyone of whom I approve. How many people are there in the this country who would love to vote for the Tea Party, or the Libertarians, or the Greens, or the Socialists, or the Strict Constitutionalists, or whatever, who are forced always to choose between Reps and Dems or quixotically throw their vote away on a snowball’s-chance candidate? How many of us believe that our members of congress, that our members of out state legislature really represent us, our values, and our interests? Of course, when we say they only represent themselves, or that congress does not speak with the people’s voice, we are saying that the whole system of representative democracy has failed. We are saying exactly what radicals of the left and right, Lenin and Hitler, said: that our claim to self-government is bogus. I deny that. The congress does speak for us, though imperfectly. We have to respect that, or neither our laws nor our government any longer has any claim to legitimacy, no matter who wins the elections. But surely we could do better. My European friends (those who have lived on both sides of the Atlantic) are always amazed at how much attention our politicians get. “It’s all about celebrity and ego and personality in America,” they say. “Our politicians are viewed as functionaries doing a job, not the ‘leaders of the nation’ as it is with you. Nobody fawns over them here as they do in your county, and politics don’t constantly intrude into our lives as they do in America.” “Oh, would some Power the small gift give us to see ourselves as others see us! It would from many a blunder free us, and foolish notion: what airs in dress and gait would leave us, and even devotion!” — with apologies to Robert Burns for changing the dialect.
The only solution to this problem would be — government regulation! Some sort of independent board as insulated from political pressure as possible (as possible) that would make redistricting decision based on some fixed set of criteria. So that the district actually represents a community. This is why, whatever its faults, the European system has real attractions. If the libertarians get 20% of the vote in every district in America, they get no representation. In many European countries they get 20% of the seats in the legislatures. And that would certainly be more just, more fair, than what we have in our legislatures. Not that it would not pose certain problems, too. But think of he number of places that are firmly in the pocket of one party or the other. If you happen to be in the minority party in that district or state, your vote literally will never matter. And we wonder why voter turn-out is low, and apathy and cynicism abound! In my adult life, I have hardly ever voted for a candidate who won, as I live in a state and district that rare elects anyone of whom I approve. How many people are there in the this country who would love to vote for the Tea Party, or the Libertarians, or the Greens, or the Socialists, or the Strict Constitutionalists, or whatever, who are forced always to choose between Reps and Dems or quixotically throw their vote away on a snowball’s-chance candidate? How many of us believe that our members of congress, that our members of out state legislature really represent us, our values, and our interests? Of course, when we say they only represent themselves, or that congress does not speak with the people’s voice, we are saying that the whole system of representative democracy has failed. We are saying exactly what radicals of the left and right, Lenin and Hitler, said: that our claim to self-government is bogus. I deny that. The congress does speak for us, though imperfectly. We have to respect that, or neither our laws nor our government any longer has any claim to legitimacy, no matter who wins the elections. But surely we could do better. My European friends (those who have lived on both sides of the Atlantic) are always amazed at how much attention our politicians get. “It’s all about celebrity and ego and personality in America,” they say. “Our politicians are viewed as functionaries doing a job, not the ‘leaders of the nation’ as it is with you. Nobody fawns over them here as they do in your county, and politics don’t constantly intrude into our lives as they do in America.” “Oh, would some Power the small gift give us to see ourselves as others see us! It would from many a blunder free us, and foolish notion: what airs in dress and gait would leave us, and even devotion!” — with apologies to Robert Burns for changing the dialect.