… government of the people, by the people, and for… the party leaders?
What Abraham Lincoln did not say in 1863
During this campaign, I’ve come to realize that while rigged districts (via gerrymandering) are an immediate (and obvious) problem, the deeper structural problem is a clear lack of equal representation more broadly.
The Founders envisioned and designed a system based on equal representation in government. We can make it that, but first we will have to walk back from the long history of partisan machinery that Congress has constructed for itself. My experience with complex systems design positions me to identify specific incremental reforms — in particular to enable non-partisans such as myself to be more effective in Congress.
Exploring and explaining this is a high priority for the remainder of this campaign, and I’ve put it near the top of my more-to-come queue. For today, the key points are:
- The Constitution creates the House of Representatives to provide equal representation for The People of these United States, and the Senate to provide equal representation to the several States (regardless of size). It’s an excellent design.
- Of note, the Constitution (including all amendments) makes no mention of political parties at all.
- The Constitution (Article 1, Section 5, Clause 2) provides clearly that “Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings”.
- It does not grant the Houses license to violate the other provisions of the Constitution.
- Nevertheless, over the many years since our country’s founding, the Houses have defined rules that give overwhelming power not to the individual representatives equally, but to the leadership of the two parties.