Anybody wondering why the public has so little faith in the the political system today should be reading the headlines in North Carolina newspapers this week—or following #NCPOL on twitter. For the third decade in a row, politicians are redrawing unconstitutional districts to protect their political power with little consideration for the interests of voters. At the federal level, the US Senate has decided to extend the gridlock to the Supreme Court. Instead of looking for solutions  to the pressing problems facing families in our country, politicians in Washington and Raleigh are focused on consolidating power.

Republicans have been shameless in their redistricting schemes. They’ve drawn three of the ten most gerrymandered districts in the nation—out of 435 districts. Their lines divide communities, precincts, and economic and social interests. Their only consideration is electing more Republicans. In 2012, 51% of the votes cast for Congress in North Carolina went to Democrats but Republicans won a 9-4 majority. That’s not democracy. That’s rigging the system.

Within hours of Judge Antonin Scalia’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that the Senate would not consider a nominee until a new president is elected. Immediately, GOP Senators started falling in line. In doing so, they aren’t only refusing to carry out their constitutional duties but they’re trying to deny the president his constitutional authority. Again, they’re trying to rig the system for partisan gain at the expense of a functioning government.

Our government was built on the premise of compromise but the actions of the legislature and US Senate show the breakdown we’re facing. The gerrymandered districts not only ignore the will of the people, they lead to extremes in the parties. In districts where only one party or the other can win a general election, primaries play a larger role in determining the make up of legislatures and Congress. Candidates are rewarded for ideological purity instead of legislative acumen.

The fight over Scalia’s successor exemplifies the problem. In more normal times, the president and the Senate could probably come to a consensus candidate to fill the vacancy. However, McConnell is pandering to his right flank that insists on ideological purity. He’s willing to extend government dysfunction to the Supreme Court in a gamble for political gain. He should be working to make Washington functional again.

We live in an era when politicians are brazenly trying to rig the system for their benefit while ignoring the needs of the people. We’re not going to fix the system until we start electing people who care more about finding solutions than satisfying their base voters or the special interests who fund them. We need reformers, not ideologues. We need statesmen, not panderers.

4 Comments

  1. Randy Voller

    As tempting as it may be for those in power today and their supporters to trumpet that the NCGA controlled in the past by the Democrats also gerrymandered we must consider where we stand today in North Carolina and put aside that impulse.

    Generally, when we learn that a long accepted policy does not work nor serves the interests of the body politic reasonable men and women in both parties can come together and jointly craft a better way to do business.

    There are leaders today in both parties who can see the wisdom of exploring and perhaps enacting nonpartisan redistricting reform in North Carolina and in 2014 the delegates to the Democratic Party’s State Convention in Raleigh passed a resolution that “urges the creation of a nonpartisan redistricting commission and urges the national Democratic Party to support nonpartisan redistricting reform.”

    I sincerely hope we can move that direction and in the process address some of the other problems that the process has created over the years as well.

  2. David Scott

    In all fairness, there is more than enough blame to go around——both parties have been and are to blame. Depoliticizing this process is the only solution. The party in control needs to step up and make it happen. By not doing so, it becomes apparent that they support continued dysfunction as the state and our country burn.

    • Peter Harkins

      David – you are absolutely right, Both parties have played hard ball over the decades. Back in ’71 the honorables in Raleigh (a super-majority of Dems) tried, and succeeded in redistricting Nike Galifianakis to such an extent that he chose to retire his US House seat and run for Senate.
      Unintended consequences of removing a moderate congressman: an eternity of Jesse.
      Do let me note, however, that our Democratic legislative majorities over the years have played, at best, at the level of the Durham Bulls. Not bad. But our Republicans today are World Series caliber in the long term harm they are doing. And I venture to say, regrettably, many of them don’t even have a clue.

      • David Scott

        I couldn’t agree more. As Democrats, we have got to pull the state, kicking and screaming, into the future in spite of the myopia of the opposition.

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