Where Have All the Moderate Legislators Gone?

Slate's "The Big Sort" has quickly become one of my favorite features on the site, and this recent post is excellent.

The article traces the causes behind the lack of consensus in Congress. Basically, the left- and right-wing members of congress can't agree on anything anymore for three reasons:

1) There's no longer a moderate middle in Congress to pull the differing parties together
2) Congressional districts are more lopsided than ever (either all-red or all-blue), so pleasing your constituents involves going way right or way left
3) Congressman and women don't live in D.C. anymore, so there isn't as much personal and social interaction around town and across party lines.

The scary thing for moderate Americans is that this could be happening on a macro level as well, and we could end up living in a nation of idealogues living in their enclaves (even more so than we are already). Says Bill Bishop in the Slate article:

Many Americans now live in like-minded communities so isolated that they have little understanding (or sympathy) for those people and places with different opinions. Americans have become like the people of Babel, wrote congressional scholar Nelson Polsby.

This will likely become a predominant theme of this blog; but in the context of this particular post, I can think of two solutions: First, vote moderate. We desperately need more moderates in congress. Second: We need to try getting outside of our comfort zones, whether that's Salon or Fox News, Salt Lake City or New York City. I don't understand the desire to shield ourselves and our beliefs from any person or opinion that might come in conflict. Liberals like to lob this accusation at Bush, but in my personal experience they are no less guilty of this than Bush is.

I'll definitely do another post on this later, but let's all try stretching our brains a bit by exposing them to some ideas, even if--heaven forbid--we might not agree with them.