Well, John P... If districts were competitive that would force people to moderate... What we have now are "safe" districts where folks can just camp out with the most radical positions and be elected... The entire Tea Party comes from such districts... If we are going to fix things then we need people who, if they want to be re-elected, will have to work toward compromise...

I personally believe that the ideas that we progressives hold would get a fairer shake if everyone had input and elected officials knew that they were going to have to explain their positions to a balanced district...

My 2nd idea is this: Appoint the House of Reps by lottery and give them 4 year terms... Yeah, you'll get a few jerks, tin foilers and morons... But you'll also get some purdy smart folks as well... William Buckley suggested this 30 years ago and it was one of the things with which Buckley and I agreed...

B~