Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering has been on my mind. It is how members of Congress make America less democratic by re-drawing the congressional districts to have clear majorities of Democrats is some areas and Republicans in others. It protects their jobs, but is it a part of creating a political class that has separate interests from the rest of America?
John Dewey feared the creation of technocratic government, a rule by experts. Rule by experts might sound like a good thing, but only in an official, not a politician. An official is responsible for various duties, but a politician is supposed to weigh the advantages and disadvantages for America as a whole to set general policy. Thomas Paine, in his arguments against the British Parliamentary system of the 18th Century, argued that politicians have to be recycled regularly to ensure that politicians were in touch with the concerns of the people, precisely because they would be a part of the people instead of a professional political class. But what we have now are elections in which up to 98% of incumbents are returned to Congress despite Congress’ record low approval ratings.
Gerrymandering is both a cause and an effect of the rise of the political class, a vicious cycle in which politicians redraw the districts to improve their chances of reelection, which means they spend more time in office, which means they become more of an insider, which cuts them off more from the people, which gives them more opportunity and incentive to gerrymander.
And there’s nothing we can do about it because anyone we elect has a motive to gerrymander precisely because we elected him, and he wants to keep his job.
John Dewey feared the creation of technocratic government, a rule by experts. Rule by experts might sound like a good thing, but only in an official, not a politician. An official is responsible for various duties, but a politician is supposed to weigh the advantages and disadvantages for America as a whole to set general policy. Thomas Paine, in his arguments against the British Parliamentary system of the 18th Century, argued that politicians have to be recycled regularly to ensure that politicians were in touch with the concerns of the people, precisely because they would be a part of the people instead of a professional political class. But what we have now are elections in which up to 98% of incumbents are returned to Congress despite Congress’ record low approval ratings.
Gerrymandering is both a cause and an effect of the rise of the political class, a vicious cycle in which politicians redraw the districts to improve their chances of reelection, which means they spend more time in office, which means they become more of an insider, which cuts them off more from the people, which gives them more opportunity and incentive to gerrymander.
And there’s nothing we can do about it because anyone we elect has a motive to gerrymander precisely because we elected him, and he wants to keep his job.