Prison, Politics and Progress © 1998 Joe Murray To have true progress, it must be based on the strong foundations of the past. The founding fathers of this nation created the best form of government known to man by basing their decisions on the lessons they had learned from thousands of years of history. At the same time, one of the things that makes Americans great as a people is that we have had the vision to see that we are not always bound to the limitations of the past. However, when we become so consumed with the idea that something new always brings progress, it can often have unintended consequences that later prove to not be progress at all. Instead, they are a move backward. Sometimes the old way of doing something is better because it is the best way. I believe the recent controversy over the location of the state prison serves as a good illustration. When the state chose Tecumseh as the new prison site, despite McCook’s having received the highest score on the evaluation process and having a favorite son as governor, the people of western Nebraska were quite justified in their anger. The calls of unfairness and shabby treatment by eastern Nebraska are accurate. We have even heard new talk expressing a sentiment for succession because western Nebraskans feel they don’t have any meaningful representation in state government. One does not have to go any further than a map of the legislative districts. When Omaha, Lincoln and the eastern third or less of the state want something, they are going to get it no matter how loud the screams from McCook, Imperial or Chadron. Twenty-four of the state’s 49 districts are either in Omaha, in Lincoln, or directly surrounding them. Throw in the 1st district in the southeast corner of the state, and you have a 25-vote majority in the Unicameral. While it may seem reasonable to sound the cries of revolution, as our forefathers did for "taxation without representation," I find it ironic that it was the people of McCook (or their most influential favorite son, George Norris) who stripped western Nebraska of its political power. "The fighting liberal" thought himself smarter than the founding fathers of this country and every other state. He persuaded the people of Nebraska to scrap the bicameral legislature with its checks and balances on mob/majority rule. Our founding fathers were smart enough to realize that there needed to be a balance between population and geography. Despite a so-called judicially forced solution to the problem in the 1960's that made the situation slightly better, the Unicameral system of government still bases representation primarily on population numbers. Most of the people in the state live in the Lincoln and Omaha area, so they get most of the political power. If we still had a bicameral, the Senate would be based on geographical boundaries, which would give a much greater voice to rural areas and western Nebraska. We don’t have to look any further than the U.S. Senate to find proof. Nebraska senior senator Bob Kerrey and even freshman Senator Chuck Hagel are major voices in national policy. They both are frequently at the center of major policy disputes and are often quoted in the national media. Furthermore, just look to our neighbors to the north and south. Bob Dole of Kansas was a leader in the senate for years, serving as both minority and majority leader. Tom Daschle of South Dakota is the current minority leader in the Senate. At the Unicameral web site, there is a slide show about the Unicameral called The Unicameral, 60 years of Progress. The presentation is mostly an informative piece about how the legislature works; but near the beginning of the program, there is a nice piece of propaganda where it proclaims, "the Unicameral was a grand experiment that has become an institution." I admit that the Unicameral has become an institution, but it is not a success. Instead, it is a failed institution. Nebraskans are a stubborn lot. They don’t like to admit failure. We also like to consider ourselves independent pioneers who do things our own way. However, if we want to restore integrity to our government and an effective representation to rural and western Nebraska, we need to admit that the Unicameral is a failure. It is time to return to the superior wisdom of the nation’s founding fathers. Let us restore the bicameral legislature because it is the best way of governance, even if it is conformist and the old way of doing things. |
