Deregulator: Alive since '85!

'Constituency conservatism' So what went wrong with the Republicans? Without question, it's easier to plot an electoral victory than it is to maintain control once you've won. And wielding power often means spending programs that target the people who elected you. (Someone -- Dave Barry? -- once called it "bribing people with their own money.") Beyond that, though, two factors have locked the GOP into what appears to be political invulnerability: legislative gerrymandering and the emergence of (borrowing from Mickey Kaus again) "constituency conservatism." The absence of competition in legislative races, caused by partisan rigging of member districts, protects incumbents from serious challenges. This is a bipartisan scandal that transcends regional politics. Even in deep-blue California, none of the 153 state or federal legislative seats changed parties in the 2004 election. But if federal legislators who once win office (or certainly who win their ...