Bi-Partisanship Fix?

TW: Cook laments the decline in bi-partisanship. I attribute the "good old days" of bi-partisanship to the former presence of now defunct concepts, both relics of the Civil War. One the southern Democrat who was frequently populist and two the New England Republican (originally abolitionists and subsequently socially liberal). It has taken 150 years but those two species are now almost completely extinct. For 150 years the Dems had folks with less in common with each other than with the Republicans and vice versa, now not so much.

Cook believes eliminating the scourge of gerrymandering would help. I am skeptical that it would transform the now hardening partisan divides but it would not hurt. Gerrymandering is now a science (employed by both sides) that ghettoizes minorities of all types race, income, ideology.

From Charlie Cook at National Journal:
"...Neither party is solely to blame for the loss of this lubricating agent, which helped the legislative machinery function. Every time Democrats picked off a liberal or moderate Republican lawmaker in the Northeast or Midwest, every time Republicans picked off a conservative or moderate Democrat in the South or some rural district in the Midwest, and every time members of Congress unwilling to march in lockstep with their party finally opted just to retire, the change chipped away at bipartisanship

...When I first came to Washington in September 1972, Congress abounded with conservative and moderate Democrats, as well as liberal and moderate Republicans. These lawmakers provided the ballast that prevented their parties from going to extremes

...Talking with a conservative House Democrat from the South recently, I commented that it must be horrible to go home and get beaten about the head and shoulders by angry constituents. He added, "And then come back here and get beaten up in my own caucus." His remark reminded me of hearing a moderate Republican senator talk last year of being somewhat ostracized at a Tuesday Conference lunch after breaking ranks on a vote.

Some analysts have long embraced campaign finance reform as the cure-all for so many of our nation's political ills. But an equal or better case could be made for redistricting reform, for removing partisan politics from the drawing of congressional district lines -- as Iowa has done. That transformation wouldn't solve every problem, but a process that resulted in more lawmakers being attuned to swing voters would temper both parties in the House.
Redistricting reform might well have an indirect impact on the Senate, where much of the enmity is the result of extremely partisan House members becoming senators and bringing their hard-edged, take-no-prisoners behavior with them.

The statistics are clear: There is more straight-ticket voting now than in the past. Few voters seem to value electing a candidate with the willingness and temperament to reach across the aisle..."
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cr_20090926_1178.php