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It's not supposed to happen, but the trend in America seems to be leaning towards hyper-majorities where bipartisan cooperation is the exception rather than the
by ihsw 13y ago
It's not supposed to happen, but the trend in America seems to be leaning towards hyper-majorities where bipartisan cooperation is the exception rather than the rule.
Gerrymandering is used to effectively destroy any semblance of political competition -- congressional representatives can safely rely on a guaranteed re-election which results in them never having to work with "the other side."
This results in political platforms built on hatred and fear, "See! We hate them as much as you do!" and so forth. Obstructionism and other forms of political football are the basis of our legislature. It's really sad because we end up measuring our success by how much we're destroying the other party's accomplishments rather than celebrating our own.
- humanrebar 13y agoGood point, but I believe the long-tail forces at work here are bigger than gerrymandering. I also believe weakening federalism also contributes to polarization. The stakes are much higher across the board when you can't just move to Texas or Massachusetts depending on what you're fed up with.
- mmastrac 13y agoDid you mean "strengthening federalism"?
- humanrebar 13y agoNo. The as the national government becomes stronger, the separation of powers among the national, state, and local governments (federalism) becomes less pronounced. So when a big national laws change (maybe nation-wide healthcare reform passes or a new ruling on campaign financing is handed down), you don't have the option of moving to another city or state if you don't like the law. This means that the stakes are necessarily higher and conflicts will be more pronounced. In other words, good fences make good neighbors, and our fences aren't as wide or tall as they used to be.