Yesterday, Standard & Poor's downgraded the US's credit rating from AAA to AA+. The world's largest economy was humiliated leading to fears of further market turmoil. One can blame a whole range of issues but deadlock on Capitol Hill has to be one of the frontrunners. Held hostage by the radical Tea Party, Republicans found themselves unable to compromise with Democrats on a coherent approach to deal with the nation's rising debt burden. With no credible plan, S&P felt unable to award the AAA grade.
As this sorry episode has shown, an increasingly polarised Congress coupled with America's famed system of checks and balances threatens to bring the US to a standstill. If the US is once again to be governable then this partisan deadlock must be broken. Change will undoubtedly be difficult, but there is one reform that with little controversy could put America back on the path to a functioning political system.
Throughout the USA, state legislators draw up the districts that elect their representatives to Congress. Imagine if in Britain it were the responsibility of local councils to draw up MPs' constituencies. The conflict of interest, wanting to select electoral boundaries that would favour candidates from one's own party, would cause outrage. A Tory run council would draw up constituencies that elected Tory MPs, whilst Labour and Lib Dem councils would do exactly the same thing. It's called gerrymandering.
Unsurprisingly, we don't allow this to happen in Britain. We leave it to an impartial body, the Boundary Commission, to draw up constituencies. So do most other developed democracies. It is America that stands out as the exception. The consequence is electoral districts of incredible shapes that cannot possibly best serve the interests of their constituents.
When it comes to an election, the candidate whose party drew up the district will win by a landslide. It's comparable to the problem of safe constituencies in the UK, except worse. The only contest is when each party chooses its candidate. Since only party members can vote in primaries, ideological purists push out more moderate candidates.
To break its partisan deadlock, America needs to bring back real competition to its elections. Putting a stop to gerrymandering would be a good start.
