Gerrymandering and Its Polarizing Effects
Gerrymandering has disenfranchised voters and led to a polarization of our politics. (This is true whether you live in a gerrymandered district or not.) There is a partisan, win-at-all-costs political environment in Washington, DC, in state legislatures, and even in the city and town politics. It has led to a dysfunctional government in which the two parties are unable to negotiate and agree on basic legislation that keeps us safe and that helps our economy. We can’t pass common sense gun reform, tax policy, infrastructure spending bills, because the two parties are beholden to special interests, and only the most extreme of their districts’ voters. There is no compromise now, and gerrymandering is the lifeblood of this dysfunction.
And what do the American voters offer the moderate candidates in safe red or blue districts – we feed them to the extremes of the parties by not supporting them in the primaries, because both parties have more passionate extreme wings than their moderate wings. If democrats in red states registered as republicans and republicans in blue states registered as democrats, moderates in both parties would have the support of voters who were more moderate than the party base. They would survive primary challenges from extremists in their parties who are furious for any cross-party collaboration.
The nation is losing, because middle ground solutions are untenable to one or both parties (e.g. there are politicians who could never vote for even minor gun control laws, a rise in the taxes for the wealthy, immigration reform, or support for measures that address climate change).
Before you read further, consider for a minute what if all Americans registered as republicans (and not because the voters liked the party)? What would happen to the Republican Party if it included liberals, moderates and conservatives? It would be more moderate. The same would be true of the Democratic Party, if all voters were democrats.
Changing your party registration doesn’t cost you a dime, nor does it take more than 20 minutes. It also doesn’t change who you are. Every eligible voter could do it. And it is a simple process. You’ve probably already done it once, when you registered to vote.
Hold Your Nose and Register
The way to break the cycle of dysfunctional government is to do what the parties are doing - treat your party registration strategically. Don’t register for a party simply because you support their policies. Rather, register for the party that has, through gerrymandering or geographic advantage, monopolized political power over you. (Then vote for moderates who are running against your incumbents in the primaries. Remember, in the general election, you will have an additional choice.)
Does that sound awful? You may abhor the party in power’s policies and elected representatives. Why would you register as a republican if you do not support their policies and politicians? Likewise, why would you register as a democrat if you do not support their policies or politicians?
The answer is, until they decide that gerrymandering and partisanship are not in their best interests, those elected officials will not act in your best interests, or the interests of the country. They have fooled us into supporting their political establishment. They are not 100% honestly elected in the spirit of our democratic system.
Try to forget that part of our social identity is tied to the policies of one party over another. Forget the tribalism and the sectarianism. Because the truth is, in many elections, only the votes in one party’s primary matter. Your general election vote is window dressing. Try to not be sentimental. There is only one election that matters in most districts - the primary election of the party in power in the district.
If you are in a state that has been gerrymandered, you have been deliberately disenfranchised - your choices have been artificially limited by the party in control of your state and/or district. And you inadvertently helped them when you registered with a party.
In short, if you are registered for a party that will never win your district’s general election, you are wasting your political power. The party in power should be sending you a thank you note for helping them disenfranchise you. You are also wasting the political power of your moderate neighbors who are already in the district’s ruling party. To improve both, you should register with the party that is in power in your district. If they change the district lines to include you in another party’s district, you might even choose to register with that party. (This will make it difficult for the politicians to draw districts that will reliably deliver the election results that the party desires).
Can changing your party affiliation make a difference?
By changing your party affiliation and voting in the primary election of the party that has drawn itself into permanent power in your district, you will now have a voice, your primary vote will matter, and your general election choices may improve. Furthermore, the candidate of the party in power will move towards a more moderate approach to governance because his primary election, the ONLY election that matters to him or her, will depend on the support of moderates like you. It will break the gridlock on gun control, climate change, government debt, immigration reform, entitlement reform, health care reform, etc.
Do you think that your change in registration won’t make a difference? It can, as long as moderate candidates run in the primaries. (You could run in the primary.) And if it doesn’t change the outcome, at the least your vote mattered more than it would have if you had remained registered with the party that is permanently out of power.
Can a moderate win? Yes, if moderate democrats, republicans and independents register to the party in power, and if moderates from those parties run for office in the primaries, then a moderate candidate can win a general election. After all, in the general election, the candidate from the party that is not in power has little or no chance of winning the general election. A moderate from the party in power has the best chance to win a general election and pull our democracy to the middle.
Small Numbers of Voters = Big Difference
In the vast majority of voting districts more than 15% of eligible voters are in the minority party. Yet on average, less than 15% of registered voters vote in the congressional primaries. The percentages are even lower for state and local primaries. By changing your party registration to that of the party in power in your state and/or district, and by voting in the primaries, your vote will matter again. Because other moderates will also register with that party and provide support for moderate candidates.
If just a fraction of moderate republicans, democrats and independents switch their registration to the party in power in their district, they can vote moderates into office through wins in the primaries and subsequent wins in the general elections.
Take gun control as an example. The NRA has a stranglehold on GOP districts. And yet in nearly every congressional district, there are more democrats than there are NRA members. Those democrats would help elect moderate legislators who vote for common sense legislation supporting universal background checks and waiting periods for firearms purchases.