What’s happening in the House is taking us over the cliff This post by Lee Drutman says it all: The US House is now in uncharted territory. Yes, you probably know this from following the ongoing drama over the vacated House speakership. As of this writing, we are now 17 days into this manufactured crisis. But how uncharted? And if we’re off the map, where are we headed? And are we off to “There be dragons” land? (Possibly, yes) In the pixels ahead, I’ll visually map where we are. As we’ll see, there are some historic parallels. But not enough to feel like we’ve really been here before. Here’s what’s distinct about this moment, based on the best metrics we have. –Congress is more polarized than ever.-The Republican Party is more far-right than ever.–The share of House districts that are truly competitive is tinier than ever (less than 10 percent).–The share of House districts splitting their tickets hit a 100-year low in 2020 (fewer than 4 percent).–Partisan margins in the House are uniquely narrow.–The dimensionality of voting in the House has collapsed into a single dimension.–The Republican Party is growing more internally divided. To close observers of politics, none of these findings may be that surprising. But I hope by seeing them all together, we can appreciate how unusual this moment is — and just how far we’ve sailed away from the “normal” patterns. My simple takeaway is: We’re not going back. So we need to ask: where do we want to head now?…