It's hard to are against the fact that our government is dysfunctional, if not completely broken. Part of that dysfunction comes from the blatant effect of gerrymandering, which helped Republicans keep control of the House of Representatives in 2012, despite the fact that they lost the popular vote by more than 1.6 million votes.
Another factor of our political dysfunction comes from the fact that we several bodies of government that can each be run by a different segment of the political spectrum, with no built in mechanism to resolve a stalemate. Like the one we have now.
In an article for New York Magazine, Jonathan Chait states that political scientist Juan Linz declared that this was bound to happen in our government at some point in time.
In a famous 1990 essay, Linz observed, “All such systems are based on dual democratic legitimacy: No democratic principle exists to resolve disputes between the executive and the legislature about which of the two actually represents the will of the people.” Presidential systems veered ultimately toward collapse everywhere they were tried, as legislators and executives vied for supremacy. There was only one notable exception: the United States of America.
While many might argue that the best solution for our gridlock would be to move to a parliamentary system, the next best solution would be to have House Elections every 4 years instead of every 2. There are two main reasons for this:
1 - Presidential elections have a better turnout than off-year elections, which in turn, are more representative of the mood of the country as a whole. If after 4 years, the country doesn't like direction the country is going, they can then not only elect new representatives, but also a new president versus the setup that we have now in which an elected president must suddenly change his or her policy to fit the new legislative body, regardless of how extremist they may be (cough, Tea Party, cough!)
2 - This change would enable Washington to enact legislation that they might not be willing to do otherwise out of fear of a looming general election or primary challenge. Universal background checks? Done. Immigration reform? Sure. Climate change policy? Why not?
Granted, the Senate could still have their election every 6 years, so there would still be some midterm federal elections. Also, if the idea of 4 year Congressional terms is hard for the public to swallow, there could be a compromise in which the public would be able to recall their Congressional leaders after a to be determined amount of time. But gone would be the days of massive political changes in ONLY one branch of government. This would be more of an all or nothing affair.
I don't want to paint this solution as some magical cure for all of our government's ails, but this idea could go a long way to solving many of our nation's problems. Let me know what you think in the comments below.