Most of the folks I know, even if they aren't exactly in line with my political beliefs, and even if they're miles to the left (most of my law school friends) are really reasonable folks. We can all sit down and in in the span of about four or five beers, pretty much agree on how to solve the big problems that Congress can't ever seem to fix. Maybe we can't agree on everything, but mostly, we can.
We also note how Congress simply seems to have devolved into a place where the most partisan and extreme folks dominate the debate (on both sides). The big difference between me and my friends is that no one in Congress actually listens to each other. They don't have to.
Ever wonder why this is? I'm glad you asked. I'll tell you. It's the crazy districts that have been carved out to make certain seats virtual locks for either a Republican or a Democrat.
When you take a group of people with diverse points of view (say the state of South Carolina) and start dividing them up in a gerrymandered way to get certain groups of like-minded folks in the same district, you're going to send the more extreme folks to Congress. Obviously, South Carolina leans pretty heavily towards the Republicans, but chopping it up into weird districts amplifies that.
Right now, both Jim Clyburn and Joe Wilson are going to cruise to re-election. The races won't even be close.
Wilson's second district goes from Hilton Head in a little narrow tunnel up to Lexington, and curls around downtown Columbia (wonder why) and around to Northeast Columbia. It's insane.
Clyburn's sixth district has Charleston surrounded, but avoids the high dollar real estate in Charleston, then goes onto Edisto, oh...and then it goes into the little void of downtown Columbia. It's insane.
These districts look like an acid trip gone bad. Why do we have these? Well, the politicians get to draw them up to put us (the voters) into little groups of what they think are like-minded people so they can get easy elections. When you have these artificial divisions amplified to such an extreme, you're absolutely going to get more extreme candidates. Heck the only way to probably defeat Wilson will be to run to the right of him, and the only way to defeat Clyburn will be to run to his left. And where does that leave the voters? We get the most extreme voices going to Congress who have no interest in actually getting things done. Both political parties are guilty of it. Heck, they probably make deals over it. We'll give y'all this district shape if you give us this district shape.
It has to end. Show me some nice regular polygons, not an LSD trip. Even the most extreme voices in the US Senate aren't as extreme as our house members. It's because the whole states vote. You get Senators who know they aren't going to go back to their little crazy district filled with their supporters. Whole states moderate out the extremists. The house districts do the opposite, and the only people who benefit are the political parties.
If you claim to be a moderate who is frustrated with Congress' inability to actually solve problems, pass budgets, or you know...do stuff, you need to advocate for an end to all this crazy districting. Brad Warthen, I'm looking in your direction.
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