Maxine Waters represents a district in southern California that includes South Central L.A., and Watts. It is largely a black and Hispanic constituency, with all the attendant problems of like districts in other cities in the U.S. What these districts have in common is that they are the result of gerrymandering along the way to ensure overwhelmingly minority populations and therefore minority representation in the various political bodies, including the U.S. House of Representatives. What's wrong with this "guaranteed" minority representation is that it ensures one party rule as well minority representation, since there are no more than a handful of Republican minorities in the country. In the absence of competition there is no way to keep the incumbent pols honest, or at least challenged for competency, and consequently most of these district have Maxine Waters type "lifers" in office (Charlie Rangel of New York comes to mind) who are usually a combination of corrupt and dishonest as well as incompetent. While these individual districts may suffer from lack of competition, the rest of the body politic (us) suffer as well because Waters, Rangal, et al, through the ill advised seniority system that prevails in Washington, end up as Committee chairs or ranking members and wield power and influence wholly disproportionate to their abilities. For example, Charlie Rangal is the current Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, maybe the most powerful committee in the Congress. Gerrymandering is but one of the many reasons our political system is failing us at this crucial time, but it is at least one with a solution. Make districts more representative of the general population, instead of carving out population segments and creating districts that will be sure to elect only minorities. There is no valid or coherent argument that the present system provides better representation for these districts. It clearly does not. There is a valid and coherent argument that the present system attracts and keeps incompetent hacks in power for ever. Competition is the mother's milk of free market capitalism. It is for the political system as well. We'll keep getting Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangals until gerrymandering is reformed.
