Gerrymandering has begotten obstructionism, as the GOP, despite being really out of step with the American mainstream, has maintained a grip on Congress and slowed governance to a crawl for several years. But a Republican Party that wrests control through process rather than popularity may be further imperiling itself since it can’t be chastened and reborn. From “House of Pain,” Noam Scheiber’s insightful New Republic article:

“Suffice it to say, gay marriage is hardly the only issue on which House Republicans have managed to position themselves on the dicey side of public opinion. Their insistence on letting the government default on its debt unless the president accepted trillions in Medicare and Medicaid cuts drove their approval ratings to subterranean depths in the summer of 2011. Their refusal to deliver on $60 billion in aid for Hurricane Sandy victims earlier this year drew a rebuke from Chris Christie, one of the GOP’s biggest celebrities. Recently, as immigration reform has moved to the center of the Washington conversation, they’ve demonstrated their sympathy for the little guy by employing such terms of endearment as “wetbacks” while alternately describing immigrants as dogs, livestock, and terrorists. (Okay, those last three all came from Iowa Republican Steve King. Still…)

What explains the PR pileup that GOP elders can’t seem to clear to the side of the road? Partly it’s the structural forces at work in American politics, which have reorganized the two parties along ideological lines at the same time the GOP has become much more conservative. But the more direct and mundane explanation is gerrymandering. Thanks to the way Republican legislatures drew congressional districts in 2000, the median House district leaned Republican by two points over the next decade—a big edge given the tiny margins that frequently decide competitive races. Since 2010, the built-in advantage has grown to three points. The result of all this gerrymandering is to give the Republicans a death grip on the House. In 2012, they won 1.4 million fewer votes than Democrats in all the House districts combined, but still managed a 33-seat majority.

There’s no question this hold on the House is a huge short-term advantage for the GOP, giving it the power to thwart a Democratic president even when his agenda has widespread support. (Look no further than the ongoing budget negotiations, in which the president’s preference for trimming the deficit through spending cuts and tax increases far outpolls the GOP’s cuts-only approach.) But the flip side of being so insulated from public opinion is, well, being so insulated from public opinion. Thanks to the relative safety of their seats, most Republican House members feel no particular need to adjust to the political trends that have enormous consequences for anyone who isn’t running in a gerrymandered district—like, say, the party’s presidential nominee. It’s killing the GOP nationally.”