The one thing you can do now to change “politics as usual.”

There is no denying that the election of Donald Trump will go down as a history changing event. Of course, we will likely need to wait several years or even decades to accurately assess the impacts of a President Trump Administration. Given the declining voter turnout in recent elections, it is apparent that many Americans feel disconnected from the political process, particularly at the national level. A common refrain heard from voters is that, “there is nothing I can do to change the political process.” In fact, there is one action that every American can take now to change the “politics as usual” culture in the long-term.

The number one action that will improve political discourse in Washington is to change how most states currently determine the district boundaries for U.S. House of Representatives members. Currently, most district boundaries are drawn by state legislatures after each census. For states that have both legislative chambers controlled by the same party, this is essentially like having the fox guard the chicken coup. There are technically strict rules for how congressional districts can be redrawn but in practice, this has not been the case. This is especially true since the Supreme Court (5-4 decision) struck down in 2013 a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Known as gerrymandering, state legislatures end up drawing up convoluted boundaries to create the maximum number of districts that will favor the party in power. Often times, this means creating congressional districts to maximize the number of voters of a minority party into a single district. As is the case with North Carolina’s 12th congressional district, known as the most gerrymandered district in America. It was so bad that a federal court decision in February 2016 ruled that the districts where drawn in such a way as to concentrate African-American voters and dilute their overall influence. Because state legislatures are overwhelmingly controlled by Republicans, it is estimated that Democrats in the House of Representatives are underrepresented by about 18 seats because of gerrymandering.

So, as a political partisan, especially if you’re a Republican, why should you care? As a voter, tax payer, American, patriot…how every you want to define yourself; you should want the best ideas and the best leaders to represent us in Congress. One reason Congress has become so dysfunctional is that the political extremes are the most dominant forces in Congress these days. Compromise is a four-letter word. Historically, there were many more moderate “Rockfeller” Republicans and “Blue Dog” Democrats. Thus, more stuff got done because there was a greater diversity of ideas and broader political coalitions that could find common ground on specific issues. Because of gerrymandering, political moderates are now rare to find in Congress.

To solve the gerrymandering problem, we need to take redistricting out of the hands of legislatures and put into the hands of balanced, nonpartisan commissions. Several states have already taken this step, including California by voter proposition in 2010. Check out how gerrymandered is your district/state. (California has yet to redraw its districts.) Not all voters have the luxury of the proposition system like in California where issues can by decided by directly by voters. However, recent court decisions in North Carolina and Wisconsin against gerrymandered districts means legal momentum is building. This is an issue worth fighting for, no matter what your political affiliation, so let’s all work together to have the best issues and ideas rise to the top.