Putting the Country Back Together

Those on the left continually point to the divide of the country. They of course are fomenting the division while at the same time decrying its impact on our daily lives. The ad nauseam drumbeat of the President’s contribution to the divide displays the corruption that envelops the ruling class and their minions in the mass media. They know the underlying cause of this partisan divide lies in their own actions which they are lo to change. The greatest contributors are gerrymandering and incumbency.

Once we allowed politicians to determine how their own districts were drawn, is it any surprise that they would draw them to their own favor? Gerrymandering was codified further in the 60’s through language in the Voting Rights Act. There, a nod was given for the first time to a specific group to right whatever wrongs of the past. Of course, no one questions if those provisions have now run their course and are no longer relevant. Instead, this act is used as a cudgel to assure the continued control of certain Congressional districts. Both parties use the gerrymandering process to maintain and enlarge their number of seats and hence, power. Despite their being software that could easily draw more logical districts, not based on race or party affiliation, no current politician is willing to sign on to an effort to change the process.

The rules for entering political life are strewn with boulders to dissuade new entrants. From number of signatures needed to get on ballots to fund raising, incumbents have put in place advantages for themselves. On its face, having someone who benefits from a process determining that process should be a red flag. Such are the rules of entering political life. Campaign finance are the most serious of these arcane rules and certainly favor incumbents including the often cited, public financing. Who gets how much and for what reasons are all set by the very people who want to keep the job of determining who gets how much and for what. The size of war chests built up over decades is evidence of the nefarious dealings of these ineradicable career “public servants”.

To get out of this division, the platitudes being spewed by Biden are worthless. Keep the mask on Joe. Rather, legislation that demands states use impartial software to draw contiguous districts of the same population size irrespective of any other consideration, will start the process of demanding candidates appeal to ALL persons in that district. The impacts will be less partisan politicians who must find a way to appease all voters and not those of one party, as is the case in the vast majority of “uncontested” districts today.

Term limits may still be required to cut the Gordian knot of an entrenched ruling class. Representatives no longer working on their re-election from the time they first get elected, will more likely consider the country’s best interest rather than their own.  Human nature will give rise to candidates who want to make a name for themselves by doing the right thing and cashing in on it once out of office. Rules addressing post service lobbying and access must also be revised to cut the circular employment that perpetuates the ruling class.  The thought of an entrenched bureaucracy is of concern. In addition to closing the revolving door for politicians, conditions for public union employment must allow for the easy removal of those in the administration of our laws, by our elected officials.

Talk is cheap. Putting these ideas into action will do much more to “healing”, “bringing us back together”, or fill in the blank with another of Joe’s platitudes.