Restore Power to the People
A piece written a few years ago by Judge Milton L. Mack, Jr., who at the time, was Chair of the Wayne County Elections Commission
RESTORE POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Our representative system of government is broken. Our Constitution says that all power comes from the people who then elect a representative government to act on their behalf. But this does not work if those who govern manipulate the system to guarantee the outcome of elections. Today, a tiny fraction of legislative elections are contested in general elections in Michigan and the United States because sophisticated computer aided mapmakers have drawn districts so that the vast majority of legislative districts are “safe” from competition in the general election. More troublesome is the fact that over the last 20 years, both parties have managed to win the mapmaking game and gain legislative majorities despite losing the popular vote.
The result, described by many thoughtful commentators, is that each party appeals almost exclusively to its base of hard-line supporters, since winning the primary election is all that really matters. The evidence is plain to see. Ideological polarization has crippled the ability of legislative bodies to work together and compromise for the common good. We are divided against ourselves, and, as a result, we are ineffective at solving problems and are rapidly losing our ability to compete in the world.
The question is, how can we fix this problem?
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