Final answer:
Avoiding messy partisan fights in the legislature refers to the process of bipartisanship, which entails cooperation through compromise to address and solve legislative issues.
Step-by-step explanation:
Avoiding messy partisan fights in the legislature often refers to efforts toward bipartisanship, which is a process of cooperation through compromise. While gerrymandering is the manipulation of district boundaries to favor certain candidates or parties, leading to increased partisanship and less incentive to compromise, and gridlock refers to a situation where nothing can be agreed upon or passed due to political stalemate, bipartisanship involves working across party lines to find common ground and enact legislation. Therefore, the correct answer to the question is A) Bipartisanship, since it is the approach that seeks to avoid partisan fights by emphasizing cooperation and finding mutually agreeable solutions.
Gerrymandering contributes to polarization by creating 'safe' districts where politicians are less likely to consider opposing viewpoints, thus reducing the need or willingness to compromise. On the other hand, bipartisanship reflects a time when legislative productivity was high, evidencing successful cooperation between parties in passing important laws. Both gerrymandering and gridlock represent challenges to effective lawmaking, while bipartisanship and compromise are seen as ways to overcome these obstacles and achieve legislative progress.