2 Responses

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   1)

   Dredd said on 4/21/2006 @ 12:59am PT: [Permalink]

   Polls are showing that the people favor democrats taking over majority party status in congress in November. It is by average about 47% to 33% and growing (link here).

   However, the way congressional districts are drawn (link to your district map here) raises the very serious spectre that gerrymandering may thwart the will of the people.

   The way districts are drawn can change everything (link here).

   The reason that is wrong is because it is anti-voter and even when the voters overwhelmingly favor a particular outcome, this can be thwarted and republicans could hold the majority.

   In other words, the design of the districts is such that it thwarts and is contrary to the will of the people at large. It is designed to preserve incumbency and thwart the political notion of accountability.

   The effect is that the people cannot replace members of congress unless and until the kool aid drinking devotees of that congress member revolt. Districts are carved out in strange shapes that result in districts passing thru many counties instead of being defined and bounded by one or more counties.

   The map link above shows how true this is. Look at the 25th and 28th districts of Texas, Tom DeLay constructs, to see what I mean.

   We have a dictatorial situation anytime the will of the people is thwarted by its government. There is no other name for it.

   Some dictatorships are less vile than others, but calling a spade a spade is what I am talking about.

   We have a dictatorship if the people cannot express their will by their vote. If the government allows us to vote but that vote is meaningless, the fact is that it is a dictatorship because the people cannot change the government.

   The Texas gerrymandering case has been put on the fast track by the US Supreme Court (link here).

   This is unusual under normal circumstances, but is all the more unusual since the cases have been stalled and have therefore been on the slow track in the US Supreme Court until now.

   The case it now seems that will be reversed is Henderson v Perry (link here).

   The issue of gerrymandering is equal to the problem with voting machines. Because even if we perfect the voting machines, the gerrymandering issue is just as much a threat.

   Both evils … gerrymandering and fraudulent and junky electronic voting machines … are destroying American democracy.

   And if the judicial goes down the tubes too (link here), and does not stop gerrymandering, I am sorry to say that democracy will be gone from American soil for a long time.

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   Dredd said on 4/22/2006 @ 1:43am PT: [Permalink]

   California District 1 winds its way thru Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, Sonora, and Napa counties; while California District 2 winds its way thru Siskiyou, Trinity, Shasta, Tahama, Glenn, Butte, Yuba, Colusa, Sutter, and Yolo counties.

   Texas District 25 winds its way thru Hidalgo, Starr, Jim Hogg, Duval, Live Oak, Karnes, Gonzales, Caldwell, and Travis counties. Texas District 28 is similar.

   Utah District 1 winds its way thru Juab, Tooele, Box Elder, Cache, Rich, Summit, Morgan, Davis, Webber, and Salt Lake counties.

   Alabama District 7 winds its way thru Tuscaloosa, Pickens, St. Clair, Greene, Hale, Perry, Sumter, Chocktaw, Marengo, Dallas, Wilcox, and Clarke counties.

   New York District 23 winds its way thru Clinton, Franklin, Essex, Hamilton, Fulton, Saint Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Oswego, Oneida, and Madison counties.

   Up to ten or morecounties can be touched in just one congressional district. It’s a gerrymander thang.

   These facts illustrate the point that election officialdom is bounded by county lines and state lines, however, these gerrymandered congressional districts have no such political boundaries. This is problematic and it exacerbates the problem.

   If counties use different voting machines and techniques, you could have ten different types of voting procedures for one congressional district. Add precints to the count, and it becomes more and more obvious that political cacophony and helter-skelter are apt descriptions for the gerrymander world.

   Further, if a congress member wants to challenge election results for only one congressional district, that congress member may have to pay up to ten counties or more for a recount.

   You know what I mean …