Reforms and Reapportionment

Steven Schier’s Sept. 26 commentary “Reforms That Aren’t” is patronizing and contradictory. Schier asserts that “elite interest groups and politicians dominating the debate on campaign reform have forgotten the circumstances of the average voter.” While purporting to understand the lives and political behavior of every American, Schier falls into his own trap. In his view, Americans are simple-minded idiots who will abandon the voting booth unless politics are packaged and fed to them as television entertainment. Who is elitist?

On the one hand, Schier says “prim reformers” are attempting to make politics boring by calling for a “serious discussion of the issues.” On the other, he suggests that campaigns should address the reality of people’s lives. Call me prim, but any discussion of real problems as well as the complexities of solving them has to get serious.

Schier further contradicted himself by calling for reform, while trashing proposals that are designed to address the very problems he identifies. I would suggest he walk his ideas through the legislative process. His views might be more credible were they subjected to the sharply partisan environment and debate that is inherent in creating any kind of change, regardless of its merits, in the conduct and financing of political campaigns.

NANCY M. NEUMAN

Pomona College

Claremont