Tag: gerrymandering

The Electoral College Stinks

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The Electoral College Stinks

If we want real democracy in this country we need to get rid of the Electoral College

The Electoral College Stinks

Support the National Popular Vote compact, it makes sense if you believe in democracy.

By D. S. Mitchell

Losing While Winning

I believe whoever wins the most votes should become president of the United States. Unfortunately, with the Electoral College system that is not what happens. Twice in the last five elections the candidate that became president of the United States lost the popular vote. Donald Trump, won by less than 80,000 votes in four key electoral college states. He simultaneously lost the national popular vote by nearly 3 million votes. That means the guy who came in second was elected in 2016 (Trump), 2000 (Bush), 1888 (Harrison), 1876 (Hayes), and 1824 (J.Q. Adams), thereby altering history. Does anyone doubt that a Hillary Clinton presidency would have looked very different than the Trump presidency that we got.

The GOP Solution

The Electoral College system has become a powerful tool for the Republicans in their effort to lock in one party control of government. Elie Mystal, in an Editorial from a couple of years back, in The Nation magazine, wrote the GOP’s ultimate solution to the country’s changing demographics is to “forge a new theory of government where the rule by a white minority can withstand the popular will.” The nature of that effort was clear during Trump’s first impeachment trial. Republicans desperate to acquit Trump married themselves to a group of discredited legal theories, perhaps appropriate in a banana republic, but certainly not fitting for one of the world’s longest surviving democracies. The Senators embraced a view of executive power and privilege, that ultimately denies our democracy and anoints a king; which coincidently meshes nicely with Trump’s “permanent immunity claims.”

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OPINION: Stop Voter Suppression

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OPINION: Stop Voter Suppression

Voter suppression and subversion is nothing new

OPINION:

Stop Voter Suppression 

Election Subversion & Suppression: dilution of voter’s Influence

 

By William Jones and D. S. Mitchell

Look to the Constitution

The U.S. Constitution defines who is eligible to vote. For example, you must be a U.S. citizen over 18 years of age to vote. Each person can vote only once in a given election. Pretty straight forward stuff.

To Clarify

Voter fraud means ineligible votes get counted (ex. husband votes for Trump using dead wife’s mail-in ballot.) Voter suppression refers to any effort to prevent eligible voters from being allowed to vote.(ex. politicians divide up congressional districts to benefit their own political party, diluting the opponents impact at the ballot box.) Any manipulation of the vote goes against the democratic ideal.

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The Efforts to Curtail Voting Rights

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Voting in America is far from guaranteed

Voting in America is far from guaranteed

The Efforts to Curtail Voting Rights 

By Jones William & D.S. Mitchell

Fundamentals

Voting is fundamental to our democracy. The right to vote however has been the target for disenfranchisement since the founding of the country. Our Constitution (before amendments) does not clearly stipulate who can vote. In the early years state legislators voted for the president.

Another Amendment

From the beginning many of the states used every means available to limit voting. At the origin of the United States, many groups, including slaves, landless white men, women and free blacks could not vote. But many  amendments to the Constitution (XV, XVII, XIX, XXIII, XXIV, XXVI) significantly expanded voting rights and other political freedoms to previously unprotected groups.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The passage of multiple constitutional amendments was geared towards enhancing voting rights for all citizens. The federal government was spearheading the expansion of voting rights throughout the United States. Numerous states, particularly the states of the old confederacy, habitually passed laws that did not specifically bar black citizens from voting but placed unrealistic burdens on them. Poll taxes and “guess how many beans are in the jar” kinds of absurdities. For that reason, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was introduced and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law.

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JARED KUSHNER EGO

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Jared Kushner Ego

D. S. Mitchell

A Changed Perception

In 2002, Elizabeth Spiers became the founding editor of Gawker.  Next Spiers became Editor in Chief of the N.Y. Observer, working for Jared Kushner, for 18 months, until 2012 when she resigned.  She is now a contributor to the Washington Post.  She tells us in a front page story for the Post that when she went to work for Kushner she believed he was interested in developing the newspaper and expanding it.  However, after less than two years Spiers, changed her view of Kushner’s mission and quit.

Past Experience

Kushner and associates tout his extensive business knowledge and experience.  He worked for his families real estate business.  No matter how big it was, it was not the size of the Pentagon, or the State Department. Spiers and I, both doubt that any skills Kushner learned in private business are transferable to public service. Jared Kushner ran a firm he inherited. That in itself is not necessarily an uncommon situation. However, the New York City commercial real estate realm is both “dynastic and insular” and in no way appears to build skills that are easily carried to government service.

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What Was the Value of Your 2016 Vote?

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The Value Of Your 2016 Vote

D. S. Mitchell

On High Heat

My head just keeps spinning. In case no one has noticed the political discussion in the United States has become so heated between opposing factions that I am hearing of divorces and office fights over the 2016 election results. Really? So, just for fun, I played with some numbers and I thought I might light a political fire under my readers. It’s seat of the pants mathematics but, it seems that more than one person is operating by the seat of their pants. American politics at its most outrageous.

Upside Down

How much was your vote worth in 2016. You probably already figured out, not much; if you voted, for Hillary Clinton. Hillary WON the popular vote by 2,865,075.  Everyone knows that, right? Trump WON the Electoral College with 304 electoral votes.  That’s old news, right? Looking behind those numbers we discover that:  112,155 votes, cast in three states (Michigan 13,104, Wisconsin 27,257, and Pennsylvania 71,794) turned my world, and maybe yours, upside down.

Electoral College Math

WHEN IS 112,155 EQUAL TO 2,865,075?They are equal if you are using Electoral College math.  Every single one of those 112,155 “rust belt” votes, equaled 25.55 votes, cast elsewhere.   In other words, 1 vote in Pennsylvania is equal to 25.55 votes in Oregon.  In my opinion, absolute insanity.

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