http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/c...ml?hpid=z4
This is why there's no point in voting any more. Too many races are non-competitive because of gerrymandering. There is almost zero chance anyone can beat an incumbent. I get to vote for Ander Crenshaw, people a couple of miles away get to vote for Corrine Brown. It's like we're living in the Soviet Union. What's the point of even bothering to vote? The elections are rigged.
Time to repeal the entire Voting Rights Act, which made all this gerrymandering completely legal.
<p style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.
<p class="" style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">
Joseph Stalin
Honestly, I vote for 2 reasons these days.
One, because if I don't then I can't complain about who is in office. As ridiculous as that sounds. I hate it when people complain and when I've asked them who they voted for and they said they didn't.... Well, if you didn't participate then shut up. JMHO
Two, too many Troops in our history have sacrificed too much for me not to. I may not totally agree with the wars this country has been involved in since WW2, but the sacrifices were made nonetheless. As a veteran myself and the daughter, sister, granddaughter. daughter-in-law and niece of (war) veterans I don't take that lightly.
Other than these reasons, I just don't see the point. Regardless of who is in office, it's all circling the drain, and nothing short of a MAJOR incident happening is going to change it. Corporations, dirty lobbyists, no term limits and greed have ruined politicians and our government.
I vote to obstruct the process, I vote third party, I vote against incumbent judges, I vote no on almost any amendment, I do what I can to obstruct the system in hopes to reset the system one day.
For now voting, as hopeless as it seems, is all we can do.
Why does every political dispute in this Country always seem to involve "The Race Card"?
Seriously. If people are voting Republican, Democrat, or whoever; simply on the premises of race and ethnicity, than they probably shouldn't be voting at all. Period.
Quote:Why does every political dispute in this Country always seem to involve "The Race Card"?
Seriously. If people are voting Republican, Democrat, or whoever; simply on the premises of race and ethnicity, than they probably shouldn't be voting at all. Period.
I agree. We need to draw congressional districts in a compact way without reference to race. Because right now, they pack blacks into their own district, and since blacks are about 90% democrats, that means they are drawing districts by party, and that means the congressional races are not competitive, and incumbents are perfectly safe. Hence, no point in voting, at least when it comes to congress. I get Ander Crenshaw, and the people a few blocks away get Corinne Brown. Crenshaw and Brown are Congresspeople for Life. The election is a farce.
Quote:I agree. We need to draw congressional districts in a compact way without reference to race. Because right now, they pack blacks into their own district, and since blacks are about 90% democrats, that means they are drawing districts by party, and that means the congressional races are not competitive, and incumbents are perfectly safe. Hence, no point in voting, at least when it comes to congress. I get Ander Crenshaw, and the people a few blocks away get Corinne Brown. Crenshaw and Brown are Congresspeople for Life. The election is a farce.
It would be so much simpler to just have districts represented by counties. Duval gets X number, Clay gets Y number, St. Johns gets Z number and so on. Everyone goes in and ranks 1-10 or however many candidates they want to represent them and the top numbers are the reps. I dunno shouldn't be so complicated IMO....
Quote:It would be so much simpler to just have districts represented by counties. Duval gets X number, Clay gets Y number, St. Johns gets Z number and so on. Everyone goes in and ranks 1-10 or however many candidates they want to represent them and the top numbers are the reps. I dunno shouldn't be so complicated IMO....
Gross numbering disenfranchises minority groups and leads to migratory segregation.
Quote:Gross numbering disenfranchises minority groups and leads to migratory segregation.
But you already have migratory segregation, on a county level you can easily spot areas where different ethnic groups dominate specific neighborhoods. You can make the representatives proportional to the population in a county for example maybe Duval gets 7 or 8 reps where St. Johns would get 4 or 5 reps and places like Putnam Clay might only get 1 or 2 reps.
Quote:But you already have migratory segregation, on a county level you can easily spot areas where different ethnic groups dominate specific neighborhoods. You can make the representatives proportional to the population in a county for example maybe Duval gets 7 or 8 reps where St. Johns would get 4 or 5 reps and places like Putnam Clay might only get 1 or 2 reps.
Proportional representation of the same style most of Europe uses would be good, too.
So you don't vote for a candidate, you vote for a party, and the parties get assigned seats by the percentages of votes they get and choose the candidates they want to seat on their own.
That would also solve the problem of incumbency as well as the problem of every rep pandering to piddling worthless local issues like the guys from Virginia and Kentucky who refuse to acknowledge carbon dioxide based climate change because it impacts the local economy through coal mining.
Quote:Proportional representation of the same style most of Europe uses would be good, too.
So you don't vote for a candidate, you vote for a party, and the parties get assigned seats by the percentages of votes they get and choose the candidates they want to seat on their own.
That would also solve the problem of incumbency as well as the problem of every rep pandering to piddling worthless local issues like the guys from Virginia and Kentucky who refuse to acknowledge carbon dioxide based climate change because it impacts the local economy through coal mining.
I think you'd need a constitutional amendment to do that, so it is highly unlikely that it would happen. However, to get rid of racial (and therefore party) gerrymandering, all you need to do is repeal the Voting Rights Act. That could be done, easily. The problem is, there are two powerful constituencies that would block any attempt to repeal it: blacks and the republican party. There is an unholy alliance between black congresspeople and republicans, which is,
"I will give you your safe black district and that will give me safe republican districts all around it. Take all those black democrats out of my nice white republican district. You can have them."
That eliminates the competition.
Quote:I think you'd need a constitutional amendment to do that, so it is highly unlikely that it would happen. However, to get rid of racial (and therefore party) gerrymandering, all you need to do is repeal the Voting Rights Act. That could be done, easily. The problem is, there are two powerful constituencies that would block any attempt to repeal it: blacks and the republican party. There is an unholy alliance between black congresspeople and republicans, which is,
"I will give you your safe black district and that will give me safe republican districts all around it. Take all those black democrats out of my nice white republican district. You can have them."
That eliminates the competition.
Repealing the voting rights act won't change a thing regarding gerrymandering, but you are correct that people like Corrine Brown get what they want out of the current arrangement.
More affirmative voting rights would be better than repealing what little voting protection there currently is.
You're right that a constitutional amendment would be needed to change the methods of election to the house and senate (the senate was already changed early in the 20th century) but even on a state level it would be a good start in making every vote start counting again.
Quote:But you already have migratory segregation, on a county level you can easily spot areas where different ethnic groups dominate specific neighborhoods. You can make the representatives proportional to the population in a county for example maybe Duval gets 7 or 8 reps where St. Johns would get 4 or 5 reps and places like Putnam Clay might only get 1 or 2 reps.
And then there isn't one minority represented by those counties who have less than a 25% rate of the specific minority. You have disenfranchisement codified directly into the system. At least now the AA population has a gerrymandered district where they can elect one of their own to represent their particular set of interests, even if they do indicate that their interest are pork for the congresswoman and bad grammar.
Quote:And then there isn't one minority represented by those counties who have less than a 25% rate of the specific minority. You have disenfranchisement codified directly into the system. At least now the AA population has a gerrymandered district where they can elect one of their own to represent their particular set of interests, even if they do indicate that their interest are pork for the congresswoman and bad grammar.
That's assuming that the Black community needs a Black representative, the White community needs a White representative, the Hispanic community needs a Hispanic representative and so on. I argue Duval needs representatives proportional to their population regardless if they're all White, Black, Hispanic, Asian or a mix of the assortment. Maybe the rural counties like Putnam, Marion, Clay wouldn't have a minority representative, so what, are we to believe that the representatives wouldn't work for the good of the county as a whole just because they belong to a specific race?
If racial representation trumps proportional representation we're screwed. Let's just scrap the republican and democratic parties and have a black, white and brown parties if that's the case. To me that's going backwards?
Quote:That's assuming that the Black community needs a Black representative, the White community needs a White representative, the Hispanic community needs a Hispanic representative and so on. I argue Duval needs representatives proportional to their population regardless if they're all White, Black, Hispanic, Asian or a mix of the assortment. Maybe the rural counties like Putnam, Marion, Clay wouldn't have a minority representative, so what, are we to believe that the representatives wouldn't work for the good of the county as a whole just because they belong to a specific race?
If racial representation trumps proportional representation we're screwed. Let's just scrap the republican and democratic parties and have a black, white and brown parties if that's the case. To me that's going backwards?
I agree, but what's with that last question mark?
Quote:I agree, but what's with that last question mark?
I'm saying making districts so that people of specific races are represented instead of people that live in counties together is going backwards.
Quote:I'm saying making districts so that people of specific races are represented instead of people that live in counties together is going backwards.
I agree, but why did you put a question mark after your last statement?
Quote:I agree, but why did you put a question mark after your last statement?
It's an opinion, to me that's going backwards (does he disagree)?
Quote:I'm saying making districts so that people of specific races are represented instead of people that live in counties together is going backwards.
I'm saying that the natural state of affairs is for minorities to suffer disenfranchisement when not specifically protected by law. We've seen it for hundreds of years and to dismantle those protections with "kumbaya, we can all be represented together" ideology will take us right back to 1960 in no time flat. The majority will have their concerns addressed while the minorities end up in ghettos with no voice, and race is just one of several that have that potential for segregation.