"Why Your Vote for Congress Might Not Matter"
When I first read this headline on CNN, I thought, "what an irresponsible headline." I mean, from our earliest exposures to civics in Elementary School were are taught that voting is an important part of our civic duty and our democratic process. Then I read the content of the article and I realized how on-point the headline is. If you read the article for yourself, good for you. If you did not read it, then I will sum it up for you.
David Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report estimates there are approximately 20 seats in the House of Representatives that are competitive in the upcoming election. Yes, that's right. 20 out of 435, or about 4.5% of the seats in that legislative body. All of the other seats are essentially "in the bag" for incumbent party (though not necessarily for the incumbent themselves). In the past 10 years, approximately 78% (4 of 5) of the House of Representative seats never changed political parties once. All of this is thanks to gerrymandering, a process by which political officials or appointees re-draw congressional districts based on their political interests. This happens every ten years after states get updated population trends in their state from the Census.
Gerrymandering happens in a few different ways. For example, in the state of Indiana, a Republican legislature drew maps to include predominately poor Black or Hispanic populations into two districts (Indianapolis and Gary), giving those districts a Democratic edge. Consolidating those voting blocks into two districts theoretically gives Republicans the upper hand in surrounding rural and suburban areas because a large majority of those who might vote Democrat are confined to two Congressional districts. Republicans also increased the rural area in a district containing Bloomington, a very liberal area. The increased rural area is meant to counter the liberal influence of Bloomington voters. In 2008, Democrats held 5 of 9 Congressional districts in Indiana. My bet is in 2012, Republicans will hold 6 or 7 of 9 seats.
Another example comes to us from Illinois. Take a look at the 4th Congressional district in the greater Chicago area.
The 4th district is shaded in green. This district is at some points only 100 yards wide, stretching only the width of a highway, to make sure the district is connected. The Democratic state legislature drew this district to unite two predominately Hispanic populations. The defense behind the "earmuffs district" is to give the Hispanics living in the Chicago area one district. This one district would give Hispanics a greater voice in Congress by allowing them elect a representative that more closely represents their needs and wants. Luis Gutierrez, the first Hispanic elected to Congress from the Midwest, is currently the Democratic representative from this district.
The following is a picture from Iowa, where a non-partisan citizen group draws the congressional boundaries every ten years. This map reflects the newly drawn districts effective from 2012-2022.
I titled this post "A Rainy Day..." to reflect both the weather outside and the cynicism I am experiencing about our government as a whole. The United States just exceeded $15 TRILLION dollars in debt. The "Super Committee" is full of the super-ideological and was doomed to fail from the beginning. Politicians who are elected to work with each other for the good of the nation sacrifice our future to in order to score political points. Republicans refuse to look at revenue increases (except the modest proposals made by Toomey) and defense cuts. Democrats refuse to tackle social spending or entitlements in any significant way. Their inability to compromise on anything will be used in charges against each other in the 2012 elections, where each side hopes the better "blamers" will win.
For decades Republicans and Democrats have colluded with each other to make it increasingly difficult for third parties to participate in our democratic elections. By making registration, signature petitions, and filing requirements more strenuous, the two parties solidified their holding on American Government, leaving the average Joe helpless in enacting real change from the top down. Only those with significant personal wealth are able to run against the two parties, and more often than not the wealthy choose to join one of the two major parties. Even if we wanted to make major change in Federal Government, we are limited by gerrymandering, where our only real choice comes in primary voting, where political extremists tend to have a larger say in who gets the nomination.
And President Obama, who was promised to be our first post-partisan, post-racial president, has arguably been as or more divisive than President Bush. Where President Bush was decisive to a fault, this President lacks the leadership and testicular fortitude necessary to lead us to a new era of political cooperation and prosperity. He is the epitome of an empty suit and any time he faces any significant criticism, he caves. Except for killing terrorists, he's done a good job at that.
Sorry for that last rant as it was a bit off topic, but it is sometimes difficult to remain an optimist when you look at the schmucks running our government. Here is one last graphic to show some of the troubles the United States is in.
The following represents debt as a percentage of GDP. The United States currently has about 60% debt to GDP (based on pre-stimulus, 2008 levels). Using current spending increases as a baseline to approximate future spending levels, some economists put the United States on track to hit 200% debt to GDP by 2040. If you look at the map, some of the countries that have higher than 100% debt to GDP levels are Greece and Italy. We all know how the debt crises in those two nations have impacted the global economy. What happens when the world's largest economy hits those levels? Let's end the hyper-partisanship, starting with politically-based gerrymandering, so we can get our nation back on track. Let's allow greater access to third party candidates to our election system. Let's elect people to Congress who can actually lead, not mud-slinging experts. We really can not afford not to.
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