“There is an easy way to end the gerrymandering wars,” a new video by The Recount asserts, “and no one is talking about it.”
Except them. And us. And others.
“We need more members of Congress,” the anonymous male narrator continues. “This might sound weird, especially since most of us don’t exactly love the ones we have now. But the reality here is simple: the U.S. has the worst ratio of citizens to elected representatives of every developed democracy in the world.”
It’s true. Congressional districts have been capped at 435 since 1929’s Permanent Apportionment Act. That year, the average congressperson represented 243,000 people. That’s too many. But today, the average congressperson represents 761,000 people.
“So uncap the house,” Jeff Mayhugh and A.D. Tippet argue in The Hill, “and rein in gerrymandering at least a bit.
“Our founders believed that smaller congressional districts would lead to a better relationship between citizens and their government,” the authors contend. “Gerrymandering undermines this idea by splitting neighbors from each other or packing them in districts with others from the same party to secure a seat for the political party in control.”
And then there’s this: “Smaller districts are more representative and also harder to manipulate.”
“With more seats, districts can be smaller and more representative of smaller enclaves and communities,” explains the video presentation, “and when that happens, the chances of Republicans winning seats in Massachusetts or Democrats winning seats in South Dakota goes up.”
Entitled “Why Expanding Congress Would End Gerrymandering,” The Recount’s video also correctly points out that creating a smaller representative-to-voter ratio by increasing the size of the House is “fully within Congress’s power” and “doesn’t take a constitutional amendment.”
But it would take a great deal of citizen . . . push.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Illustration created with Krea and Firefly
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5 replies on “Must the War Go On?”
The members of the House of Representatives do not see a dilution of their power as in their interests. If pressed by voters, these members might posture as supporting such a change, but quietly allow the Speaker to block it.
Meanwhile, a huge share of the general public presumes that Congress must be able to cut deals. Teachers and journalists will act to reinforce such a presumption, rather than to suggest that better legislation might result if a vote in Congress had a dynamic more like that of a referendum.
“Our founders believed that smaller congressional districts would lead to a better relationship between citizens and their government”
If the founders really believed that, why didn’t they mention “districting” in the founding document of the new nation?
An even easier way to prevent gerrymandering? Get rid of districting. Every candidate would be at-large, and every voter gets a single, non-transferable, vote.
Of course, political cults–er, parties–and incumbents would never allow this.
It would end the “confusion of multitudes” that Madison was worried about. A republic has to be on human scale to be effective. Too large, and it becomes a harsh parody of its original design. Homage to the letter of the concept rather than the spirit. A representative for 3/4 of a million people is like a pencil the size of a telephone pole. It is no longer capable of being used for its intended function.
The rules of the House would remain in place. The Speaker can prevent any measure from coming to the floor. How about the numbers? Gerrymandering was going on a century before the number of representatives was capped at 435. Do we want to double or triple the number of representatives? That could make gerrymandering even easier. Smaller districts can be manipulated more easily. Then there’s the cost – office space, staff, local residences for the new members of Congress, to say nothing of their salaries and benefits. How many more office buildings does DC have room for?
None of what they currently do needs to be done in DC.