The Republicans Have Taken Control of the House By Gerrymandering OH, PA, MI, VA, NY
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Compare the popular vote Obama received to the percentage of Democrats in these states' delegations and you will see that by gerrymandering the districts, the Republicans have created power far in excess of their political base. In short, they've stolen the government. For instance, in Ohio, Obama received 52% of the vote, and there are 3 Democrats and 13 Republicans in Ohio's delegation to the House. Furthermore, if you look at the percentage of votes received by almost everyone in these districts, the winners receive over 62%, making all seats uncontested. We no longer have a democracy in this country. We have created district dictatorships, where each district belongs forever to one party. And, the Republicans have many more representatives than they would have had these states not gerrymandered the districts to create this result. We have moved far from what was intended as free and fair elections. The process has been rigged in advance to make sure that these districts will be represented for a surety by certain parties. That is not free nor fair elections. It violates the spirit and probably the law of due process.
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Democrat
Colorado Springs, CO
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Well it's getting even worse. I might have read about this somewhere in this website, but Rachel Maddow had a segment the other day on what the Republicans plan to do win the Presidential vote with similar tactics. See this extract from the Maddow Blog:
If you can't win elections, rig them
"Rachel and MaddowBlog reported this week on the Republican State Leadership Committee and its Redistricting Majority Project, or REDMAP. To briefly recap, the Republican group freely admits -- boasts, even -- that if American voters had their way, there would be a Democratic majority in the U.S. House, but thanks to Republican gerrymandering, the party has successfully rigged the game.
"The next step for the party is identifying key states -- including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio -- and changing the way they allocate electoral votes. In effect, after having "fixed" congressional district lines to guarantee success regardless of popular will, Republicans also intend to rig presidential elections, starting in 2016."
Elections have consequences, and this variation of gerrymandering is the result of Democrats staying home on election day in 2010. Unfortunately we'll have to wait until the next census and the year 2020 to redistrict the lines back to a fairer representation. However, in the meantime if Republicans are successful in splitting the electoral college vote in key purple or blue states from winner take all to a proportional split, then they could win the Presidency but lose the popular vote by a huge margin.
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Why hasn't this political tactic be challenged in court by one party or another over the last few DECADES?
You do have to draw the district lines somewhere.
Seems like a good argument that it historically has taken away one groups right to be represented.
Seems like a good argument to not allow districts to change until the demographics change. Like every 10 years right after the census.
And require a court to approve any changes to ensure this kind of abuse does not occur. Some criteria would have to be legislated.
I would support popular vote for Presidential and Senatorial races. For Representatives it requires district with lines drawn. Where those lines are drawn determine who the winner of the popular vote is.
yes, we should dump the electorial college. Outdated. The world is much smaller now.
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