US Politics
I wonder if we shouldn't do away with Congressional districts altogether. Everyone in every state votes for all of their Congressional representatives. Not even sure we should have two Senators per state (I know for sure we shouldn't have two extra presidential electors per state), but rather a number proportionate to the state’s population. Does government policy really depend on geographic boundaries?
We absolutely should not allow gerrymandering.
“That created a big change in 2010. Before that midterm election, hoping to hamstring President Barack Obama’s ability to accomplish anything by making sure he had a hostile Congress, Republican operatives raised money…to elect Republicans to state legislatures. This Operation REDMAP…was a plan to take control of state houses across the country so that Republicans would control the redistricting maps put in place after the 2010 census.
“It worked. After the 2010 election, Republicans controlled the legislatures in the key states of Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, and Michigan…and they redrew congressional maps using precise computer models. In the 2012 election, Democrats won the White House decisively, the Senate easily, and a majority of 1.4 million votes for House candidates. And yet Republicans came away with a thirty-three-seat majority in the House of Representatives.”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/september-25-2023
US Politics
They key is that we're voting for specific representatives to specifically represent us and our communities.
This is one of the big differences between the US system and some parliamentary systems.
We're not voting for some party to represent us with whatever politicians THEY choose to put forward, no, we're voting for Bill or Jane to represent me, and I can hold them directly accountable for their actions.
...If I wish and am informed about how they act.
So it's that last sentence that's a huge issue in the US. We have a great system but so few of us actually use it.
I don't think that's cause for throwing it out, though.
