Could More Representatives Help Congressional Gridlock?

We recently spoke with former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards, who had some ideas about how to fix the gridlock in Washington:

• Hand over redistricting to independent boards
• Change primaries so that they function as endorsements, so the primary would not determine who gets on the ballot
• Limit political donations to individuals

After that conversation we got an email from listener Roberta Palmer, who suggested increasing the size of the House — so that a representative is responsible for fewer constituents — and increasing House term limits from two years to four years, to end the process of an unending campaign.

We run the ideas by Stanford professor Jack Rakove.

Guest

• Jack Rakove,the William Robertson Coe professor of History and American Studies and professor of political science at Stanford University.

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