Michele Bachmann to Run in Congressional District in Which She Does Not Reside

Maybe the People in the District Where She Does Reside Know Her Too Well

Most people, The Dismal Political Economist included have always felt that one feature of American democracy was that the Congress was composed on Senators, who represent an entire state and Members of the House who represent a Congressional District.  This structure was the result of one of the many compromises that created the United States Constitution, giving disproportionate representation to smaller states in order to help protect their rights from infringement by a larger state.

It seems only natural and fair that the people in a Congressional District elect one of their residents to represent them in the House.  After all isn't that exactly what the term “representation” means.  But it turns out that in Minnesota one does not have to reside in the Congressional District that one chooses to represent. For example for former (thank you) Presidential candidate Michele Bachman

Members of Congress don't have to live in the district they represent, so Bachmann is free to run wherever she likes in Minnesota.

And so Ms. Bachman will not run in the 4^th Congressional District of Minnesota, where she resides.  Instead she will run in the 6^th Congressional District where she does not reside.

A Minnesota judicial panel on Tuesday released new political district lines that place U.S. Reps. Michele Bachmann, a Republican, and Betty McCollum, a Democrat, into the same congressional district, according to Bachmann's office.

Bachmann said that she will run for her old 6th District seat even though newly drawn congressional maps put her home in the 4th District, currently represented by McCollum.

"I'm announcing today that I will be running in the 6th Congressional district. I'll continue my service to the people in the district where I essentially went to junior high, high school, college, had my babies born and we built our business and we have our church and our family," Bachmann said

This Forum has frequently commented on how politicians in general and Republican specifically do not really like this “democracy” thing all that much.  And as for the people of the 6^th District in Minnesota, well if they elect Michele Bachmann to represent them even though she does not represent them, well, they are getting what they deserve.  Actually they will not be getting what they deserve, that is, representation in the House of Representatives but that is there fault, no anyone elses.