Quote:
Originally Posted by
accountinquestion
I'm on the fence about voter ID stuff. It seems to me that Republicans have had far more luck gerrymandering so it is hard for me to feel sorry for them on any level. I might be wrong about the gerrymandering though. I have not studied it.
It is a simple fact poor people have problems with addresses and time. It takes resources to go get an ID. That is the truth. Not everyone can easily take the day off and take the bus to go get their ID. It is a sad excuse but it is a perfectly valid and legitimate excuse.
Rob is an idiot as we both know Kewl. You managed to have the vast majority of gamblers believe you for 15+ years. This guy Rob Singer has had nonsense thinking for just as long and has been repeatedly laughed at over it. Just ignore him bro.
I am not going to re-hash the 15 year comment, other than to say there is a reason why the majority of gamblers and more importantly AP's believed me for 15 years. I am not that good of a story teller to have pulled off what you are insinuating.
But what I really want to respond to tonight, on election eve, being a political junkie that I am is you bringing up jerrymandering. Good topic.
Both sides do this, every chance they get. it used to be somewhat subtle, but just keeps getting more extreme both ways. The republicans have become pretty good at doing so over the last couple decades. Gerrymandering is made easy by the democrats' propensity to live in urban areas in large numbers. You can take any one of 40-50 large cities in America where the city itself has high democratic population and the surrounding suburbs a higher republican concentration and draw the 7 or 8 districts in a way that is 6-2 democrat or 6-2 republican. Whichever side has the majority the year census comes out is at an advantage to do so.
and does.
I find it troubling when you see a state that is generally considered 50/50 or even 45/55, that one side is able to draw the lines so that 75% or more districts tilt one way. That is just wrong on both sides account.
The way to fix this is to take the district drawing out of the hands of politicians. I would do this by having a bi-partitian commission comprised of equal number democrats and republicans draw the districts after each census and have the results be approved by a bi-partitian panel of judges. Once drawn fairly, districts would only need minor adjustments each census if one district grew bigger than others, or a state gained or lost several districts due to population gain/loss. Most districts could remain somewhat stable.
But if you ever actually look at a map of how districts are drawn now, it can look like a bowl of spaghetti, with strands running here and there to include or exclude certain areas. It is ridiculous.