“And how are the children?”

Last week my church hosted a visiting pastor who told us of the traditional greeting shared among members of one of the world’s most well-known tribe of warriors, the Kenyan Maasai. Upon meeting each other they ask, “And how are the children?” They do not refer to their own children, but to the collective ‘children of our tribe.’

In many ways I wish Pennsylvanians had a similar greeting—a greeting which would remind us in every interaction that we are focused on the needs and future of those who come after us. We can bear any burden to make the lives of those we’ve birthed a little easier, better in some way.

I think we all know now that things are not going to be easier for our children. They may drive a better car than we did at their ages, and their children may have more toys, but our stomachs clench at the thought of the weird and wild weather that assaults us in all parts of the country, in all parts of the world. Our government seems incapable of concerted forward action and legislators fight one another while we are given poor choices: jobs or pollution?

These are false choices for people stuck in a dysfunctional system. Even people with good ideas cannot get things done in Harrisburg because the legislative system of rules allows the majority party to squelch bills with bipartisan support for no discernible reason other than they want to. We must allow bills with adequate bipartisan support to come to the House floor for a vote.

This is where we are with redistricting reform. A majority of registered voters in Pennsylvania support redistricting reform that will end partisan gerrymandering and the drawing of legislative and congressional district lines to benefit one political party or incumbent.

In September 2019 Franklin & Marshall’s Center for Opinion Research found that 72% of registered voters across the state believe legislators put party interests over voter interests. This implicates both parties.

We the people can change this. We can tell our legislators that properly trained citizens can oversee the drawing of district maps in a way that is nonpartisan, impartial, transparent, and more fair than what is happening currently. We want to change the rules and we want to change redistricting so that our government functions for us, and our children, again.

Visit FairDistrictsPA.com. Join us.