Post-Partisanship with Proposition 11

With only three days until Election Day, all the attention is on Barack Obama and John McCain to see who will become the next President of the United States. Ads are being run on the airwaves, candidates are giving speeches, volunteers are hitting the streets and news channels are devoting as much coverage as possible to the most historical election ever. While all the attention might be on the presidential election, there is an extremely important proposition on the ballot in California, Proposition 11, that would have a very similar result as Barack Obama becoming president: post-partisanship.

Proposition 11 would change the way district lines are drawn in California. Currently, the re-drawing of the lines is done by the state legislature, but if this proposition is passed, a 14-member committee will draw the lines. The committee will consist of five Democrats, five Republicans and four of neither party. In order for the district line to be re-drawn, at least three democrats, three republicans and three of neither party must be agree to it.

By creating this committee, it will prevent state legislators from putting their self-interest ahead of the interest of the public. Moreover, if the legislators are stripped of the power and the committee takes over, it allows both parties to get involved and create post-partisanship. “Passing Proposition 11 will end partisan gridlock,” according to the California voter guide.

Currently, the Democratic Party is the beneficiary of the way the district lines are drawn. One of the main individuals in charge of drawing the district lines is Michael Berman. Michael is the brother of Rep. Howard Berman. The LA Times reported Democratic Congressional members “agreed” to each pay Berman $20,000 to draw a safe district. Now, if this isn’t the complete opposite of parties working together as one than I don’t know what is.

Furthermore, Berman can’t be blamed for accepting the money from the Democratic Congressional members, because you and I would probably do the same exact thing. However, by allowing this to happen, one party gains complete control over something that should be decided by both parties.

Some evidence to support partisanship can be seen in the 99 percent of incumbents being re-elected right now, as well as not one of the 120 seats changing party hands in the last two elections.

As a Democrat I should be thrilled to have more Democrats being elected and representing me, but I’m not content at all because of the way the Democrats are being elected. We live in a democratic society where every person deserves to have his or her voice heard, but that is taken away if members of the legislature are being paid off or influenced to draw the district lines to benefit one party.

The term gerrymandering means drawing district lines to benefit yourself or someone else instead of doing it for the interest of the public. Gerrymandering cases have been prominent over the last few decades because people believe gerrymandering violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment which states every person was created equal so he or she is entitled to the same equal rights. Gerrymandering proves partisanship because in most cases, the Democrats and Republicans are not equal. One party getting the benefit of the doubt over another case means everyone is not equal.

Barack Obama represents himself as being post-partisan, someone who is going to work across party lines and get our country back on track and working together to become a better nation; Proposition 11 is the ideal example of structural manifestation of post-partisanship. By passing Prop 11, both parties would have an equal say in how the district lines are drawn. Our state would be one that would have parties working together which is exactly what was meant to happen when democracy was created.

So on November 4th, vote Yes on Proposition 11, because a Yes vote means post-partisanship in California.