| This has led to a call, here and there, on the internet to try to form a third party which would run on issues to the left of where the Democratic Party is today. I am not a big fan of this idea because of the long time horizon for success and the difficulties it faces. If you want more detailed reason, you find a post about it here.
Even though I don't support the idea of forming a new party, it is clear that there is a problem with the lack of responsiveness to the will of their constituents from members of both Houses of Congress. The very fact that there could be 65 members of Congress who were willing to sign on the Fire Dog Lake pledge not to vote for any HCR without a public option and then vote the other way shows that there is very little in the way of penalty for saying one thing, then doing the other for members of Congress. This makes getting truly progressive legislation passed even harder than it should be.
So, what are we to do? Forming a party will take too long and it faces a hurdle that can only be corrected once a decade, namely redistricting. Even if the fired up and well meaning folks who are calling for a new party can get on the ballot, even if they can raise the money to run hundreds of Reps and tens of Senators in the near future, after 2011 they will still face the challenge of the so-called "safe district". There are approximately 359 "safe districts" in the current Congress.
This means that for 82% of all seats in the House there is almost no chance that a member of the other party will win that seat. This is not a bug; it is feature that has been created by the two major political parties due to their control of the State Houses nation wide. It not only protects the number of seats they have, it makes it far less likely anyone can successfully challenge the party's elected official in a primary, since the party structure will defend an incumbent almost without exception. Given the nature of these districts a third party candidate would have to have overwhelming popular support in order to win.
It is this gerrymandering and the way it is done that is a problem for both those that want to work within Democratic Party for change and for those who would like to create a new party. It is also within our power to change, and change this cycle.
There are currently 13 states that have some kind of Elections Commission to do the heavy lifting work of re-drawing Congressional districts every 10 years. Only one is, to my mind, truly effective, Iowa. What makes the commission there different is that it is required by law not to consider the protection of incumbents when re-drawing districts. This gives the commission a freer hand to create competitive districts, which are where the real will of the people is shown.
The thing is Iowa does not go quite far enough. While they do not look at incumbency they are not required to look for ways to make the districts competitive. This is where we should be focusing our efforts.
If a Representative can not be elected merely because they are a Democrat or a Republican, but rather have to find a way to appeal the wants and needs of the entire district, then we begin to have a Congress that will be more truly representative of the people of the nation as a whole. It also makes them more likely to be held to account for votes which they make against the general wishes of the people they represent. It would go a long way towards making them accountable for their choices.
There have been efforts in the past to bring something like this to fruition. There have been Constitutional Amendments proposed, there have been Federal laws proposed. They have not gone very far because it is not really in the interests of the members of Congress of either party to end the incumbent protection rackets. This leaves it with the States and the voters.
The best way to achieve this is through the ballot initiative. By placing either legislative or Constitutionals questions on this year's ballot we have a chance to change the rules before the next round of redistricting happens in 2011. If we are successful it would remove one of the stumbling blocks to progressive change.
Is this idea the solution to all our problems in Congress? Of course not. There are other issues such as the role of big money in politics that will have to be addressed as well. However this issue is a problem which has to be addressed as well and the time is now. While we can pass legislation to require these commissions any time, we can only legitimately have redistricting once a decade.
This is an area where those who want to stay with the Democratic Party and those who want to bolt and form a new party have common ground. The current system of redistricting serves neither of us. We will also have to live with the consequences of the next round of redistricting until 2021. The time to act on a problem we can agree on is now.
One of the goals of democracy is to have the elected officials represent the will of the people, knowing that they will be replaced if they do not. The current incumbent protection racket prevents this from working as it should. If we want our government to truly represent us, then we must make our Representatives more accountable for their actions. If they serve the people of their district well, then there is no problem, if they do not then it should be clear that they are in danger of being replaced.
The floor is yours. |
