A new study by Princeton molecular biologist and neuroscientist Sam Wang digs deeper into the effect of the Republican gerrymander, and finds that the gerrymanders in seven states were so powerful that they are the equivalent of 1.7 million Democrats simply deciding not to show up at the polls:
[G]errymandering is a major form of disenfranchisement. In the seven states where Republicans redrew the districts, 16.7 million votes were cast for Republicans and 16.4 million votes were cast for Democrats. This elected 73 Republicans and 34 Democrats. Given the average percentage of the vote it takes to elect representatives elsewhere in the country, that combination would normally require only 14.7 million Democratic votes. Or put another way, 1.7 million votes (16.4 minus 14.7) were effectively packed into Democratic districts and wasted.
Such gerrymanders can exist because five conservative justices refused to block partisan redistricting in a case called Vieth v. Jubelirer.
You know THIS is why it is important, even in local elections, to elect individuals who respect the rules and who are disgusted by cheating or attempts to stack the deck.
And right now that seems to almost completely exclude any Republicans.
And that's precisely why the hashtag #LieCheatSteal is used when tweeting about the GOP or Rethuglicans.
ReplyDeleteSounds like what the Democrats did blocking the ability to filibuster. How's that for cheating?
DeleteWhy do the Dems let the Repubs with away with this cheating, is the question.
ReplyDeleteThe GOP may believe these rules are on their side at this time but they may also come back to bite them in the ass in the future when it comes to the Democratic Party doing the same thing to them. Turnabout is fair play. Just as the animosity shown to President Clinton was detrimental to Bush's Presidency, what they have done to President Obama will not go unnoticed or be ignored should a Republican become President again. Karma is a bitch!
ReplyDeleteIf only lying and cheating were taught to be despised by The Church...
ReplyDeleteIt is alarming to think of how the Republicans are rigging the system, but, actually, Obama won by about 4.9 million votes at last count. Interestingly, as the provisional ballots were counted, Obama's lead kept increasing, which made it very clear that it was primarily groups who traditionally vote Democrat that were prevented from casting an immediate ballot.
ReplyDeleteI actually heard on the radio this morning that someone in the Virginia Leg has proposed taking redistricting away from the Leg and making it a non-partisan effort. Guaranteed not to pass with the Rethugs in charge.
ReplyDeleteActually Obama won by about 32,000 short of 5,000,000 votes, and a tick under 4% margin. Check out this very thorough and well respected apreadsheet from a rightie:
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0AjYj9mXElO_QdHpla01oWE1jOFZRbnhJZkZpVFNKeVE&toomany=true
People forget that the states left to be finally counted when the election was called for Obama were on the west coast...all blue.
A more informative way of putting this is that the gerrymanders shifted about 19 seats away from the Dems to the Repos. Those seats should have been split 54-53 (rather than 73-34) if the vote was 16.7 million to 16.4 million. A 39-seat Repo plurality sjhould only have bee a 1-seat margin.
ReplyDeleteAnother way to look at this is that the Dems won the national congressional vote, and therefore should hold a majority in the House of Representatives.
The Repos have destroyed the concept of one-man-one-vote, and very few people seem to care. Certainly the MSM doesn't.
It is very disturbing how the Republicans are undermining our representative democracy.
ReplyDeleteM. from MD
Cheat, say/do anything, to rob one person-one vote is not winning.
ReplyDeleteHere's Eric Cantor getting called out on his plagiarism of POTUS's speech
http://www.politicususa.com/eric-cantor-rebrands-republican-party-plagiarizing-2011-obama-speech.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed
OT Dick Morris (liar extraordinaire) just fired from Fox News. Palin curse continues....