The House of Representatives doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked for many years. Although there are numerous factors that account for the paralysis that grips it, the one that stands out is gerrymandering.
Today, that pernicious process has crippled the House of Representatives. The Democrats and the Republicans have successfully gerrymandered about 350 of the 435 House seats. That means that in those districts only one party has a viable chance of winning. And it’s not just that only one party can win in those districts, it’s also the fact that many of those districts are the breeding ground for the election of uncompromising extremists from both parties.
Why is that so? Think about it. In such a district the only competitive election is the primary election. In primary elections voter turnout is almost always depressed. Who votes in those primary elections — the party faithful, the highly motivated, and the zealots. And for whom do they vote? The vote for and elect a person who shares their frequently extreme ideological views.
And when these extremists get to the House what is the rational thing for them to do in order to assure that they win reelection two years hence? The answer is obvious. They are motivated to stay out at the extreme, to not compromise, to condemn any idea or legislative measure that is not ideologically pure. By behaving this way they protect their right flank, if they are Republicans, or their left flank, if they are Democrats. By preventing a meaningful challenge in their next primary election, they become congressmen (women) for life.
Every ten years, after the new census is completed, the process of redrawing the congressional district lines begins anew. North Carolina is one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation. In 2001 the Democrats, who then controlled the state legislature in Raleigh, squeezed every inch of partisan advantage possible into the configuration of the state’s 13 congressional districts. Thus, as we came to the election last November the Democrats controlled eight of the state’s thirteen districts.
Moreover, after all the votes were counted last November, only one of those eight Democrats had been defeated, Bob Etheridge in the 2nd district, a twisted loop of a district south of Raleigh.
And so, while the GOP was making enormous gains in the House all across the nation last November, North Carolina changed hardly at all, except for one thing and it is a harbinger of what’s just over the horizon.
For the first time since the 19th century, the GOP captured control of both chambers of the state legislature in Raleigh. And now the Republicans will redraw the Congressional district lines based upon the new census data. Moreover, Governor Purdue, a Democrat, does not have the authority to veto the map the GOP will create.
The worm is about to turn. Monday’s column will give that a look.
LeRoy Goldman worked for the federal government from 1964-2001.
1:45 PM, Mar. 11, 2011
Written by LeRoy Goldman
