Politics: The history of political gridlock, Salon.com edition
- The increasing mismatch between population and power in American government that underlies the present gridlock needs to be addressed by structural reforms.
- Salon writer Michael Lind • Regarding the social reasons the Republican party is currently strongly obstructionist. Lind compares working-class white voters to social groups of earlier eras – including British Protestants (who feared European immigrants) and Southern planters – that held disproportionate power in Congress and the presidency despite their declining numbers. He also suggests ways they hold that power, and how to get around it that are completely unrealistic (What if New York was five states instead of one?) and some that might be more realistic (What if we get rid of this stupid filibuster?). source