USA Today – How to Fix Government – 3 Easy Steps That Cannot Take Place

No One Said It Would be Easy



Actual Picture of Democrats and
Republicans in the Current Congress



That the U. S. government is dysfunctional is not a secret.  That there is nothing in place to fix the divisions within the government that render it dysfunctional is not a secret.  That serious people try to come up with solutions seems to be futile, but that doesn’t stop them anyway.

The Newspaper USA Today had a feature story,

How to Fix a Gridlocked Government

which of course should interest us all, since no one seems to come up with solutions that can be implemented.  Here is what USA Today proposed.

1. Drawing the Lines

This idea is to draw Congressional districts in a non-partisan manner that makes the maximum number of districts competitive between Democrats and Republicans.  That would ensure the Representatives elected from those districts were good compromisers, seeking to gain program goals of both sides.

Here is the reality.

“The majority of states, from the perspective of most good-government reformers, are continuing to move in the wrong direction,” says David Wasserman, who tracks congressional redistricting for the Cook Report.

Texas Republicans have drawn a map that chops Travis County among five congressional districts to divide Austin’s Democratic voters and weaken an incumbent Democrat. Maryland Democrats are considering a plan that would split the state’s western congressional district three ways to weaken an incumbent Republican.

Okay, that doesn’t work, what’s next

2. Change the Rule

This idea is to reduce the 60 vote requirement for anything to be adopted in the Senate.  Actually this will occur once the Republicans take over the Senate in 2013.  Democrats will find that their minority status is not nearly as powerful as the Republican minority status.  Democratic minorities may still be able to stop some things, and if by some chance the Democrats hold the majority, well, don’t expect Republicans to engage in any reform actions.

Okay, that doesn’t work, what’s next

3. Meeting the Other Side

The idea is for the two parties to actually work together towards common goals.  This is a proposal so unattached to reality that one wonders why USA Today wasted the space to print it.

The final quote is from Norman Ornstein on the prospects of one of his proposals to make the Congress more effective.

“Slim to none,” he acknowledges, “and slim just left the building.”