TAKING THE MONEY INSURGENTS OUT OF POLITICS: “Incidentally, there are ways to open up elections still further that would reduce rather than raise the role of money in politics. When local governments consolidate or when a city moves from ward-based elections to a council whose members are elected at-large, the increase in the size of the electorate means it’s harder to rely on door-to-door canvassing, making campaign ads (and, thus, campaign war chests) more important. It therefore stands to reason that you could make money less important and encourage more grassroots organizing by reversing the process and breaking up those jurisdictions, an idea that could be applied to congressional elections by having more and smaller districts. Yet that hardly ever comes up as a proposal when campaign reformers make their pitches. Interesting, no?”