My Democratic Side
After revealing my undemocratic side earlier today, I now want to write about other (potentially equally impossible/impracticable) things I would love to see changed. First and foremost, redistricting. Although partisan districting is by no means the sole cause, it is clear that House races are growing more and more uncompetitive. After the Supreme Court hopelessly fractured last year, it is clear that this issue must be, as it should be, resolved by the political branch; Congress needs to set some minimum standards regarding the drawing of districts. Every time a state legislature changes hands now, it can redraw the districts in its state into 24-sided Rorschach inkblots so that a minority of its state can elect a majority of its representatives (c.f. CT in 2004, haven’t crunched the numbers this year). While fairvote (linked above) offers numerous suggestions, the easiest one is to require a supermajority of state legislatures to approve plans, so that it represents a bi-partisan compromise.
Secondly, and potentially most importantly, are our schools. Democracies require an educated citizenry; equality of opportunity is one of the core civil rights. America spends approximately the same amount as a % of GDP on our schools as do the other leading industrialized federal democracies (Germany and Canada) (see p. 17-18). Unlike those other federal systems, however, far more of our funding comes from local (as opposed to regional) governments (same cite). That allows for the massive disparities between a rich suburban practically-private school in Westchester and ones in the Bronx. Making education funding a regional, and not local, obligation would allow for far greater equality of opportunity in schooling. Clearly, this would only be the beginning of solving this difficult problem.
Portia,
I see no need to tinker or medle with either constitutional or federal legislative changes to effect reform. The Constitution in article 1 section 4 clearly shows the intent of the founding fathers to allow the states to control the mechanics of election.
On the subject of education. As important as it may be in a “democracy” it is even more important in a Representative Republic. Our country is only as strong as its least educated person(s). At the same time we should not confuse duration of education with quality of education. My grandfather with only an 8th grade education was one of the smartest men I ever knew.
The simplest solution to the gerrymandering of districts is to reject both partisan (Party) politics. We also need to elect at each level representatives who do not look at public service as a sinecure but as a grave responsibility. My personal preference on districting is to take the number of representatives for a state and then develop a party independent division of the population.
What is needed now is the strength of character to do the difficult job of reforming our government at every level so that the greatest amount of work is done at the lowest possible level.
Tigger
Tigger:
Article 1, section 4 actually clearly states that congress can make whatever laws it wants as to House. “The times, places and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the places of choosing Senators.” As to the democracy/representative republic, see my response here.
An independent commission is a reform I also favor. Most individuals have a party affiliation of some degree, thus whoever does the division may be influenced by party motive. Requiring the supermajority is a good way to still police it.
you do not need money to have a good school. you need good kids. to get good kids you have to have parents who care enough about the child to raise him right(respect for elders,law, people who are different). you need to give the teacher the power to teach this means let the teacher punish bad behavior (if i try to flunk a kid in american history they will just put him in special ed. and do not even ask about swats or detention). what you need to have a good school is good hard working people who raise good hard working kids who want to learn. (living off welfare is not hard working…i took an i-pod away from a “poor” kid yesterday) i do not need computers, i do not need books, i just need kids who will set down with me and learn.
tell the democrats to fix the people
How long oh Lord!! How long will we naively link funding levels with quality of education!? How long oh Lord will we ignore the overwhelming evidence against it? How long will we ignore common sense that tells us it’s the culture, not the price of the building/teachers/computers that determines the success of a school? How long oh Lord!!
p.s. I am a bit surprised to read this sort ‘fantasy from the left’ here at SA
“living off welfare is not hard working…i took an i-pod away from a “poor†kid yesterday”
How long oh Lord!! How long will our society continue to enable bad behavior, and excuse the enabling by saying the person is “poor”?
Lucas:
Your dead on, but you don’t have to tell a Dem that.
They already think they can and don’t need to be told how-to.
Lucas:
“It takes a village….”
Look for that to be heavily spun and modified between now and 2008.
To Chris’s point, the D.C school district spends more on education per capita than many “rich” districts. Help me out here, what’s the drop-out rate?
I hold the very unpopular opinion that parents should be able to opt out completely from the public school system, and not have to may taxes to support it. I have one in private school and the second will be when he’s in kindergarten, but I still have to support the local district. So I’m paying twice for one education. It’s a pipe dream that this will ever change.
by the time i am old enough to retire the public schools will be nothing more than a holding pen for thugs (i guess in some places thats all they are now) we must stop welfare. it is destroying us. you once got an education so that you would not starve to death and you could have nice things. the people are not stupid, they do not have to get and education they can drop out and claim to be “poor”. they will get fat and they will get all the cool stuff that you and i have. hell i have seen fat homeless people. my mama used to me(do good in school or you will have to dig ditches for a living) if i had known she was mistaken i would have just dropped out, shaked up with a girl, knocked her up a few times, and live the good life.
This discussion is why I finished that section with “Clearly, this would only be the beginning of solving this difficult problem.”
I know funding is only an ancillary issue, but it is someplace easy to start. I was also fully aware of the D.C. district statistics – thank you West Wing for making the general public aware of that. Nonetheless, as a recent college graduate with several friends doing Teach for America or similar programs in troubled schools, those friends have let me know how much a little flexible money could go a long way in helping them. You will also note that I didnt suggest increasing funding (that would be good money following the bad), but merely bringing district funding levels closer to parity within states.
Several other reforms would include, at least in my mind, reducing the power of teachers unions so that underperforming teachers could be fired rather than bounced and reassigned from school to school. Unfortunately, it has become the teacher’s responsibility to keep parent’s involved, and we need high energy teachers to continue reaching out. Second, eliminating social advancement completely – if a student isn’t prepared, keep him at that level until he is ready to advance. Look at the success of programs like KIPP for several other suggestions.
“Unfortunately, it has become the teacher’s responsibility to keep parent’s involved, and we need high energy teachers to continue reaching out”
it is hard to keep your passion when those you try to help do not want your help. most teachers want to teach but the system will grind the life out of you. i am 2nd year teacher and i am only 24 and i can see it is going to be along hard 30 years.
“teachers unions so that underperforming teachers could be fired rather than bounced and reassigned from school to school.”
the union is all a teacher has. without the union the school board and the children run the classroom more than they already do. i am not in the union, simply because i am tight, have an aunt and uncle who are lawyers, and i am a scab. the teachers union is a good thing. if we can get the kids to stop underperforming you would see less of teachers underperforming.
I don’t see why we are so worried about political redistricting. As long as it is political, it is subject to a political check. Who says that Congress will craft a solution that is better than the state systems on the aggregate? If Congress does well, then we are all better off. But if Congress does poorly, we all get to rue the supremacy clause.
And, after a 30-seat swing, is it really true that house races are so uncompetitive that political accountability is gone? I know 2006 was no 1994, but control did change.
I’m a radical in that I think the public school system should be abolished altogether. It has taken away the reponsibility of parents to educate their children and you see the results in irresponsible children. It’s a message to all parents that they don’t have to work in order to educate their children–easy come, easy go.
Compelled socialism fails every time, why do we have it in something as important as the school system?
Why does the government have to run the schools? I haven’t seen any government-run groceries or clothing stores.
And Lucas: the public schools in pre-hurricane New Orleans were holding pens for thugs. The term school was a complete misnomer.
Lucas, being a scab is nothing to be proud of, especially where you acknowledge the value of the union. Do you separately negotiate the terms of your own contract, or do you accept the wages and benefits that the union negotiates for its members? Those who ride in the buggy should feed the old mule.