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Election Day 2019 Thread

acbytesla said:
Virginia has gone blue. The Democrats have seized both legislative chambers. Combined with their Democratic Governor they should be able to control the agenda there.
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Hoping to see repeal of the laws protecting confederate monuments in the state. Right now VA law prohibits municipal governments from removing confederate propaganda from public property.

Not sure if this something that is high priority, but seems like an easy one to me.
 
Horatius said:
I'm torn. On the one hand, we really do need people in office who really believe in the principles of democracy. But on the other hand, when one side has completely abandoned reason and normalcy, we need to do something about them.

If they're going to complain about the changes being unfair, no matter how fair they actually are, then maybe we should just say **** it, and show them what real unfairness looks like. Maybe then they'll be glad to get back to real fairness.
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Thats what I was suggesting.
Would a wildly, blatantly unfair, Democratic leaning Gerrymander serve to bring the practice to the forefront on a national scale so that it can be dealt with by both parties?

Or would it just continue the Gerrymander "arms race"
 
Distracted1 said:
Do you think a blatant, and well publicized, attempt to Gerrymander the **** out of the Commonwealth would do some good towards getting both parties to see Gerrymandering as a bad thing nationally?
Would be nice, but I think that is too much to hope for.
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Both parties campaign against Gerrymandering when the other side is in charge, but love it when they are in charge.
In California, we got rid of it by intiative, after the state legislature basically did nothing.
 
Horatius said:
I'm torn. On the one hand, we really do need people in office who really believe in the principles of democracy. But on the other hand, when one side has completely abandoned reason and normalcy, we need to do something about them.

If they're going to complain about the changes being unfair, no matter how fair they actually are, then maybe we should just say **** it, and show them what real unfairness looks like. Maybe then they'll be glad to get back to real fairness.
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I have to disagree. "The ends justifies the means" is a very dangerous philosophy.
And, frankly, when it comes to kind of election mischier, I don't trust either party.
 
The Don said:
Well they might just undo the GOP gerrymander so that representation aligns with vote share. Of course the GOP would howl if any steps are taken to level the playing field.
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One man, one vote.
Which is why I don't like PR.
 
Distracted1 said:
Thats what I was suggesting.
Would a wildly, blatantly unfair, Democratic leaning Gerrymander serve to bring the practice to the forefront on a national scale so that it can be dealt with by both parties?

Or would it just continue the Gerrymander "arms race"
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I would expect it to be selectively ignored. Kind of like the guy running for Governor of California who was running blatantly false political ads on Facebook specifically to draw attention to their policy. His ads got blocked after Facebook decided he wasn't a "real" politician.
 
dudalb said:
Both parties campaign against Gerrymandering when the other side is in charge, but love it when they are in charge.
In California, we got rid of it by intiative, after the state legislature basically did nothing.
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Of late, the Democrats have been the party calling foul the most often on Gerrymandering.
That makes it something the red half of the country can ignore.

The howling that the Republicans in VA would let loose with should the new Democratically controlled State legislature attempt to do it "with a vengeance" could provide an impetus to swing the popular consensus towards eliminating the practice.
 
acbytesla said:
Virginia has gone blue. The Democrats have seized both legislative chambers. Combined with their Democratic Governor they should be able to control the agenda there.
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Fun fact: An early agenda item will be to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment by being the 38th state to pass it since Congress passed it in 1972.
 
Distracted1 said:
Of late, the Democrats have been the party calling foul the most often on Gerrymandering.
That makes it something the red half of the country can ignore.

The howling that the Republicans in VA would let loose with should the new Democratically controlled State legislature attempt to do it "with a vengeance" could provide an impetus to swing the popular consensus towards eliminating the practice.
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And if the Trumpers suddenly have a change of heart and want fairly drawn districts, they need to propose a system for doing so that puts it out of their reach the next time they're in power on a census year. Otherwise it's a false promise like all of the others have been.
 
WilliamSeger said:
Fun fact: An early agenda item will be to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment by being the 38th state to pass it since Congress passed it in 1972.
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Why does that matter at this point? The period to approve the ERA expired decades ago.
 
acbytesla said:
Why does that matter at this point? The period to approve the ERA expired decades ago.
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It would be taken to court, asking if the deadline was constitutional, since the Constitution doesn't set a limit, and no other amendment had a deadline. Or Congress could simply legislate to extend the deadline.
 
Distracted1 said:
Thats what I was suggesting.
Would a wildly, blatantly unfair, Democratic leaning Gerrymander serve to bring the practice to the forefront on a national scale so that it can be dealt with by both parties?

Or would it just continue the Gerrymander "arms race"
Click to expand...
Well, its doubtful that the republicans would ever stop their practice of gerrymandering.

So for the Democrats to decide "We will play fair and redistrict based on population only", then they are basically bringing a knife to a gun fight, since the republicans will continue to gerrymander every chance they get.
 
Segnosaur said:
Well, its doubtful that the republicans would ever stop their practice of gerrymandering.

So for the Democrats to decide "We will play fair and redistrict based on population only", then they are basically bringing a knife to a gun fight, since the republicans will continue to gerrymander every chance they get.
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I agree. The only way to convince Republicans to cooperate with an anti- gerrymander initiative may be an object lesson on how it hurts them too.

Of course, as your "knife to a gunfight" comment illustrates, it may simply accelerate the process in a "gerrymandering arms race" as well.
 
Segnosaur said:
Well, its doubtful that the republicans would ever stop their practice of gerrymandering.

So for the Democrats to decide "We will play fair and redistrict based on population only", then they are basically bringing a knife to a gun fight, since the republicans will continue to gerrymander every chance they get.
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You also have the problem that Democrats also gerrymander like crazy when they get control of a state legislature.
Both parties Gerrymander when they have the chance.
As much as I despise Trump and what the GOP has become in the last few years, when it comes to Gerrymandering both sides think it's horrible when the other guy does it, but fine when their side does it.
Neither party will stop gerrymandering. It's only when the people for action..like in Califorian where they passed an intiative taking the redistricting away from elected politicians and into the hands of a non partisan commission, that something was done about the problem.
I infinently prefer the Democrats right now, but I am not going to think they are pure little angels when it comes to dirty politics. They can be very good at it, as Chicago and Illinois show.
 
This seems appropriate:


Circa 1810:Just shows how long the Gerrymandering sheninagans have been going on.
In fact, this Cartoon is where the term Gerrymander comes from.
 
Just read a story that although Kentucky and Virginia get the headlines, the real bad news for Trump might be in a number of Surburban elections in Pennslyvania, where the GOP suffered severe setbacks.
 
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