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There are a number of adjustments, all within the bounds of the Constitution, that I feel are required to pull us back from the political disaster we currently experience. The most important reforms I think are ones required for the United States House of Representatives.

The fact that there are so few competitive seats in the House and that it often has a lower turnover of members than the British House of Lords for god’s sake is a prime reason that we are in this current mental death grip between the two parties. For far too many of the Congressional Districts the only election that matters is the primary election because the voting population of the area is so skewed by the way it has been drawn that only one party ever wins the general election. That said, national legislation addressing the practice of gerrymandering is unlikely to pass constitutional review, so another approach needs to be employed: expand the House.

In 1963, about the time the nation began shifting to a primary-based system for party nominations, each member of the House represented 410,000 constituents, a ratio already more than doubled from the start of the century when it was 193,000 persons.

Because the number of members, which used to be adjusted quite often for population growth, is unchanged, today the ratio stands at about 760,000 persons represented by each member of the House.

Such large population districts make the practice of gerrymandering, particularly ‘cracking and packing’ where populations are either split up or combined into districts with overwhelming populations of a single party or voting bloc, more effective. Expanding the House would not only force a new round of redistricting but with many more districts make some of the tools for gerrymandering far less effective.

Doubling the House I think is impractical, but perhaps an increase of a quarter might suffice to help us back onto a road for more sane governance.