Competition in Colorado politics
Published in the Boulder Daily Camera, April 30, 2011
Last week, Colorado Democrats got off to a great start in The Political Circus of 2011, redistricting. Redrawing the boundaries of Congressional districts is required every ten years after the census tells us how our population has changed, both in terms of size and where we live. This discussion usually starts with every party and politician in office viewing redistricting as the road to job security since, if they can just work it so that everyone who agrees with them is in their district, and everybody who doesn’t is in someone else’s district, the whole “election” thing will be much easier. Gerrymandering may be the most predictable and, at the same time, counterproductive practice in American politics, and we are in the season.
So, the dance began when Boulder’s State Senator, Rollie Heath put the Colorado Democrat’s plan on the table. Now, politically, I am a fairly conservative guy who does not always appreciate the work done by our state’s Democrats. But, this time, they offered proposals that I find outstanding for one simple reason – they create real competition for more Colorado political offices, including the seat held by Boulder’s Congressman, Jared Polis. “Competition” seems to be a central theme of what Democrats want more of in Colorado politics. Real competition, the “you don’t know who is going to get elected before election night” kind of competition. Imagine that.
We all know how good competition is – it makes us work harder and play better, every time. I come from a business background and I can tell you that, when we had an opportunity to compete for a new customer, we worked like mad to understand what the customer wanted and were relentless in trying to find the best way to give it to them. Or sports – if you are “in the game,” you play a lot harder and with focus. And not just the players – if it’s a close game, the fans watch, analyze, and engage in the game. In a blowout, we lose interest and turn it off.
Put real competition to work in more Colorado political races, and what will we get? Well, we’ll certainly get politicians who will work harder to understand the voters’ interests. To win a competitive race, candidates will need to invest the effort to appreciate the different perspectives of the electorate and how their ideas and solutions will help or hurt all of us. No more preaching to the choir and ignoring the rest of the congregation.
Additionally, the prospect of a competitive political campaign that includes enlightened debate between viable candidates will encourage us, the voters, to pay attention. American voters have amassed a pretty good record of directing government through democracy over the past 235 years. If we can keep the political class from stacking the deck, we will listen to what the candidates say and vote in accordance with our individual (always) and societal (usually) interests.
Colorado is the perfect place to stage competitive political races since we are, politically, as purple as they come with a deep streak of independence. For example, in the last two presidential races, Colorado voted Republican in 2004 and Democratic in 2008. In 2010, we had a U.S. Senatorial race that was decided by a margin of less than 2%. If you add up the 2008 votes across all seven Congressional Districts, the vote was 56.0% for Democrats and 44.0% for Republicans, and in 2010, it reversed at 47.5% for Democrats and 52.5% for Republicans. Whatever our party affiliations, Colorado is a state, maybe more than any other, where elections are decided by free-thinkers and political independents. Any politician that doesn’t try to understand and represent us all in the best way possible is unworthy of our vote.
Sure, into the foreseeable future, there will be a district that includes Denver that will elect a Democrat and one that includes Colorado Springs that will elect a Republican. But, real competition in the other five Congressional districts, not to mention the state and local districts, may be the best thing that could happen to Colorado politics. I’m sure that Republicans and other Democrats have some changes they will suggest to the Colorado Democrats’ proposal, but when all is said and done, we should judge the new political districts more by how much political competition it created, not by how much job security incumbents gained.
I have some thoughts and ideas that I would like to see on the table next November, as do we all. Let’s draw our political boundaries to make sure that we keep talking.
Last week, Colorado Democrats got off to a great start in The Political Circus of 2011, redistricting. Redrawing the boundaries of Congressional districts is required every ten years after the census tells us how our population has changed, both in terms of size and where we live. This discussion usually starts with every party and politician in office viewing redistricting as the road to job security since, if they can just work it so that everyone who agrees with them is in their district, and everybody who doesn’t is in someone else’s district, the whole “election” thing will be much easier. Gerrymandering may be the most predictable and, at the same time, counterproductive practice in American politics, and we are in the season.
So, the dance began when Boulder’s State Senator, Rollie Heath put the Colorado Democrat’s plan on the table. Now, politically, I am a fairly conservative guy who does not always appreciate the work done by our state’s Democrats. But, this time, they offered proposals that I find outstanding for one simple reason – they create real competition for more Colorado political offices, including the seat held by Boulder’s Congressman, Jared Polis. “Competition” seems to be a central theme of what Democrats want more of in Colorado politics. Real competition, the “you don’t know who is going to get elected before election night” kind of competition. Imagine that.
We all know how good competition is – it makes us work harder and play better, every time. I come from a business background and I can tell you that, when we had an opportunity to compete for a new customer, we worked like mad to understand what the customer wanted and were relentless in trying to find the best way to give it to them. Or sports – if you are “in the game,” you play a lot harder and with focus. And not just the players – if it’s a close game, the fans watch, analyze, and engage in the game. In a blowout, we lose interest and turn it off.
Put real competition to work in more Colorado political races, and what will we get? Well, we’ll certainly get politicians who will work harder to understand the voters’ interests. To win a competitive race, candidates will need to invest the effort to appreciate the different perspectives of the electorate and how their ideas and solutions will help or hurt all of us. No more preaching to the choir and ignoring the rest of the congregation.
Additionally, the prospect of a competitive political campaign that includes enlightened debate between viable candidates will encourage us, the voters, to pay attention. American voters have amassed a pretty good record of directing government through democracy over the past 235 years. If we can keep the political class from stacking the deck, we will listen to what the candidates say and vote in accordance with our individual (always) and societal (usually) interests.
Colorado is the perfect place to stage competitive political races since we are, politically, as purple as they come with a deep streak of independence. For example, in the last two presidential races, Colorado voted Republican in 2004 and Democratic in 2008. In 2010, we had a U.S. Senatorial race that was decided by a margin of less than 2%. If you add up the 2008 votes across all seven Congressional Districts, the vote was 56.0% for Democrats and 44.0% for Republicans, and in 2010, it reversed at 47.5% for Democrats and 52.5% for Republicans. Whatever our party affiliations, Colorado is a state, maybe more than any other, where elections are decided by free-thinkers and political independents. Any politician that doesn’t try to understand and represent us all in the best way possible is unworthy of our vote.
Sure, into the foreseeable future, there will be a district that includes Denver that will elect a Democrat and one that includes Colorado Springs that will elect a Republican. But, real competition in the other five Congressional districts, not to mention the state and local districts, may be the best thing that could happen to Colorado politics. I’m sure that Republicans and other Democrats have some changes they will suggest to the Colorado Democrats’ proposal, but when all is said and done, we should judge the new political districts more by how much political competition it created, not by how much job security incumbents gained.
I have some thoughts and ideas that I would like to see on the table next November, as do we all. Let’s draw our political boundaries to make sure that we keep talking.
