We are a huge majority!

Those of us who think Bush and congress are doing a bad job, that is. Americans still agree with us (HT Sullivan). We Americans aren’t as dumb as Karl Rove thinks we are.

The question is: can we translate this into a change in who controls congress. It is very doable, but the structures favoring incumbency are enormous. It’s sad that the House, which was designed by the founders to be the part of government most responsive to the will of the people, has through gerrymandering, redistricting, and the power of incumbency become one of the most fossilized and unresponsive bodies in existence. The Supreme Court, whose members are appointed for life, seems to have higher turnover than the House, whose members face re-election every two years. Sullivan rightly asks:

Have they gerrymandered the system so much they can stay in power regardless? That seems to me the real question of this year: whether the corruption has gone too far to be corrected.

We need more competitive districts. We need instant runoff voting so that third parties can emerge and better represent the actual diversity of political opinion that exists in this country.