Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Paul M Sotkiewicz's avatar

Brian, you are right. The very heart of democracy is competition! But you neglect the real punchline about what that competition is over. Ideally parties and candidates compete over ideas of how government should serve the people, and what would enhance society overall. But in the US, we have a poorly educated electorate overall for whom religion and superstition and conspiracy theories pass as enlightened thinking for a substantial number, though not all. As a consequence the “competition of ideas” is really about how to force religion and lifestyles and thinking upon anybody who prays, lives, or thinks differently from the dominant Protestant evangelical orthodoxy that is backward looking to the old days. It is a cultural of fear and superstition. It is a culture of wanting to keep a privileged position in society not based on merit or hard work, but simply as birthright by the color of one’s skin or practice of dominant religion. This is the antithesis of the openness, exploration, discovery, and advancement that comes from a true competition of ideas.

With all that said, maybe drawing up districts that have close to even split between D/R representation can work, but what of registered independents? They come all across the political spectrum. And then this does nothing to solve the (US) senate problem. And what if increasingly active voter suppression?

I am happy you are writing about this. It needs to be discussed and real change needs to be on the table. But I fear for US democracy and governance.

Expand full comment
AR's avatar

There is so much to think about here! I was a poli sci major, and I was taught that we need to keep groups of interest together, which I thought would help racial and ethnic groups have a chance at getting representation. But I 100% agree that competition would greatly help our federal government and our country. And any improvement would be wonderful.

I'm like Zach- a liberal in a red state, without representation that actually represents me (even on the state level). Pizza cutting would help liberals like me in the suburbs for sure. But I'll need to think through the states I'm familiar with and see if it would help the folks living in the blue cities who'd be losing their only sure representation, or if it would help the ethnic groups that live together (Indian tribes or towns like Dearborn, MI for example). I wouldn't want majority rule to wipe out their chances to be heard. Then of course, any better ideas for redistricting have to actually get implemented, which would take a miracle. At any rate, I really wish you taught a class online or something so I could ask all my many questions. :)

Expand full comment
9 more comments...

No posts