Mystery Shutdown Theater 2013
The political theater going on in Washington seems to be for the political elite only and is disconnected from the rest of the country. In a recent
Washington Post article Ezra Klein offers 13 reasons Washington is failing. I offer 3.
1. Gerrymandering
Gerrymandering is a major factor because it creates safe-seats for members of Congress, thus protecting them from the public. Some argue that this helps maintain a level of stability, but what has that stability brought us? What is more, there is something perverse when 5% of the country "approve" of Congress, but over 90% of incumbents who run for re-election win. Gerrymandering limits choices and it certainly does not create a more representative system. In a political system built on competition, Congressional Districts should be competitive, at least; they should NOT be shaped like a
Rorschach inkblot. Plus, gerrymandering makes it more likely the polarization in Congress goes, while moderate elected representatives are squeezed
out. Yes, when tend to approve of our own Congressperson more than Congress as a whole, but this leads to another problem: us.
2. Public Choices of Media
We have all sorts of choices we
can make. For instances, we have all sorts of places to get news and information. The Internet and Cable News offer more choices than a generation ago, but we are selecting news and information that re-enforce what we think it true. Political communication research shows that given a list of headlines attached to a network logo, Conservatives and Republicans picked FOX news, while Liberals and Democrats divided themselves between CNN and NPR. When media help shape political reality (and they do), these choices we make lead to groups of political active people that see the same issues but from conflicting perspectives. As a result, this fragmented media is facilitating polarization among those who pay attention to politics. The political attentive public may feel that their issues are being well represented, but the rest of the public is stuck asking themselves: why bother?
3. Public Apathy
Tied to the fragmented media problem is public apathy. Because of all the options we have in our media, many people can opt out of political news. They can focus on sports, cooking shows, "reality" shows, twerking, or celebrity gossip (among many others). This public apathy has allowed representatives to become disconnected from the public. And this disconnect is important. In a system built on the consent of the governed, when representatives are not held accountable for political shenanigans we are giving them the green light to continue doing what they are doing. If we want Congress to function better, than we all must pay attention to what is going on. And, vote in the primaries in our states. The political active, those who seem to becoming more polarized, are also most likely to show up during the primary election.
Full Circle
Gerrymandering helps perpetuate the problem. Our media choices are leading to a polarized political class, and political apathy among a large segment of the public leaves political decision-making to those who show up.
