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August 10, 2005
Go Ohio!
Today's Times profiles the nascent Reform Ohio Now campaign, to de-politicize the state's election and redistricting process.
The campaign is working to place three state constitutional amendments on the ballot -- to place some contribution limits on races, to have Congressional redistricting done by non-partisan commission, and to have elections overseen by non-partisan commission.
The short-term battle shapes up as partisan, because Republicans control all the levers of Ohio state government. The GOP will fight passage of the amendments there, much as California Democrats seek to block Governor Ahnuld's effort to make its redistricting non-partisan as well. (One of the only good things the Governator has done since taking office.)
Fighting these initiatives is understandably self-serving by those in control, but short-sighted. Passage of these amendments is in the long-term interest of good government and should be supported.
Placing some limits on campaign contributions is reasonable, to prevent single individuals or groups from having undue influence on elections.
Much of the polarization in American politics stems from the U.S. House of Representatives, where safely entrenched Members of both parties sit back and throw bombs at each other, rather than working toward consensus and good public policy. Turning over the line-drawing to a non-partisan commission will undoubtedly make districts more competitive, forcing Members to be more responsive and produce results. It has worked in Iowa, where 4 of the 5 Congressional seats are routinely competitive.
Finally, in an era when mistrust between the parties is rampant, and the validity of the voting process and election results is routinely challenged, having a bi-partisan or non-partisan commission oversee elections simply makes sense. Too many Americans today lack confidence in our electoral process -- this is a simple way to restore faith in the system.
The fear among those in control is that, should such initiatives be successful in states like Ohio, they will spread to other states. We can only hope so. Sign Houtopia up for the Texas campaign.
Posted by houtopia at August 10, 2005 09:48 AM