CONGRESS IS SO BROKEN. WE NEED A NEW SYSTEM.
Whether you view the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as an “insurrection” or a protest depends on which side of the partisan divide you reside. What we can agree on — hopefully — about that day, with thousands of Americans from all walks of life descending on the Capitol, is that there was a rising tide of anger and detachment on display.
The same could be said of the earlier events of 2020 in the streets of major cities after the death of George Floyd and others felled by law enforcement. Anger about and detachment from the functioning of our government and society are clearly at work here. We are seeing it again with the reactions to the vaccine mandates and other actions to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is a fundamental lack of trust on both sides of the basic institutions of democracy in America, and it’s having a clear negative impact on not only our government but our very health and safety.
Where does this come from? It’s an outgrowth of the feeling by a great number of Americans who believe that major organized and well-funded groups — and not the people — control the levers of government. On the left, it’s the public sector unions and trial lawyers, among others. On the right, it’s the major oil and pharmaceutical companies, among others.
These groups not only fund the campaigns of our political leaders, they also control major media to a great degree. Billions of dollars are spent by both sides on lobbying, in hard and soft money contributions and with major media to influence elections. We see it in the gerrymandering, which allows powerful political leaders to draw the lines to pick their voters instead of the other way around.
What is the answer to solve this problem?
Counterintuitively, the answer is more, not less, representatives and representation — a tweak that would ensure not only the survival of America’s great democracy but its great enhancement.
Currently, each congressional district consists of about 750,000 people, some 400,000 of whom are registered voters. Districts that size require a huge organizational and fundraising effort. Elections become almost entirely mediadriven campaigns, which provide major power to the media and funding interests, as well as organized groups such as unions and industry groups. Media fame is all-important, which logically means that celebrities and career politicians become the “best” candidates because they are well-known and can garner contributions and media attention.
The answer? Subdivide each of the 435 congressional districts into 100 tiny districts of 7,500 people each, or about 4,000 voters. The representatives elected in these 100 tiny districts would meet once and elect one of their number to go to Washington, D.C., to represent the large district.
Yes, it creates 43,500 districts nationwide. However, only 435 people would go to Washington, as is the case now. Those 435 representatives would carry on the business of Congress as they do now, and each of the 435 would be accountable to the 100 representatives in each of the tiny “neighborhood” districts who appointed them to represent their large home district.
These “neighborhood representatives” wouldn’t get paid. They wouldn’t get benefits. They would get elected by walking their districts house by house, meeting and talking to their constituents. They wouldn’t need any money to run in one of these tiny districts.
This isn’t a panacea, but it is a very positive step.
They could raise a lot of money, of course, but that might turn off voters who would wonder why anyone would raise so much money to win a district so small.
Campaigns for the neighborhood Congress (one of the 100 tiny districts) would not be about buying media or negative campaigning. The races in these tiny districts would be about character and issues, not identity politics or media fame. Gerrymandering would be essentially worthless, as tiny districts of 4,000 voters each would hardly allow much gamesmanship in selecting voters.
Contrary to public belief, the number of congressional representatives — 435 — was set by statute in 1929 and is not set by the Constitution. As a practical matter, the Federalist Papers as well as other early drafts of the Constitution talk about a Congress where each district would be about 30,000 people. Our founders wanted the Congress to be close to the people. That’s definitely not the case now in our media-driven society.
The hope is that principled leaders of both parties would support this change. We need to do something tangible to rescue our divided politics and restore trust in our government. This isn’t a panacea, but it is a very positive step. Hopefully Americans of good intention can build a coalition to support this very simple change. The time is now to act.
Cox was a Republican California gubernatorial candidate in 2018 and in the 2021 recall election. He is chairman and president of Equity Property Management LLC, and Cox Financial Group Ltd. He lives in Rancho Santa Fe.