I do watch the news and make an attempt to stay current and understand exactly what is going on in the world. It's all politics these days, at least that is the way it comes across to me. Perhaps in the past I just wasn't paying that much attention. I did comment a while back on the delegates from Texas fleeing to Illinois to prevent a quorum being obtained and blocking a vote. Well, I heard they returned home now and the vote happened. Texas has a new political district map. I hear now where other states are rushing to do the same in an attempt to "balance" the seats. It all has to do with how many seats in the house of representatives go to a political party, sort of. Representatives are still chosen by the vote and have to be elected in that manner. Well, sort of. This is where it all gets confusing and somewhat complicated.
I have never made any claims to fully understanding how all of that actually works. My thought is unless you are directly involved with that, have a degree in politics or a law degree, you probably don't know either. I doubt the average everyday citizen really has a good grasp on that process and exactly what it means. You just vote for the candidate of your choice and they either win or lose. Do you even know what congressional district you live in? I live in the first congressional district. My representative in Andy Harris. Why are the district lines so important? Well the short answer is, the people inside the lines vote for who represents them in congress. The lines are drawn by using data from the US census. Each political party wants their voters inside the line! It's really all about what the politicians believe about the population according to the census data. Who is going to vote for you! The objective of redistricting is simple enough to understand. You don't change the voters you just change the outcome of the election. Exactly how that happens is a bit more complicated, that's where that degree comes in handy.
The whole deal is about fair and equal representation. That's the reason for the electoral college as well. If we were a straight up democracy, something the main stream media would like you to believe, that representation wouldn't be fair or equal any way you look at it. The classic example is that the five boroughs of New York City could win the election every single time. Why is that? Because their concerns, wants and needs are vastly different than the ones in Fargo, North Dakota. Fargo has a population of about 138,000 while New York City has a population exceeding eight million! Just where do you want your district? And that is only the beginning of all of that. As I said I won't pretend I have a full understanding of the process but I do know the outcome of elections may be changed by redrawing the lines. I also know this, I want to be the one drawing those lines. That part I understand fully.
The thing is this. This has been an ongoing thing since the very beginning. When it is done, those not drawing the line will call it gerrymandering. Those that drawing the line will tell you it is to provide a fair and balanced representation of the people. Which political party will actually gain the advantage? Well, that all depends upon the voters doesn't it? In theory it should, but in actual practice will it? That is all dependent upon the accuracy of the census. what information can be gleaned from that census and some assumptions based on that data. Yes, assumptions have to be made. That's what they mean when they talk about their "base." The demographic voting pattern is all important when it comes to district line drawing.
For more information about that I'm including this: How voting patterns changed in the 2024 election: A detailed analysis | Pew Research Center
Do I get it? No, not really. I do understand the necessity for all of that though. The politicians are playing chess and I'm still playing checkers. I'm just a little pawn in the game and I accept that role freely. I go to the poll and make my choice based on what I want and what I believe. Sometimes it goes the way I had hoped, sometimes it doesn't. If I don't like my congressional district I can move to another one. Or I can just wait and have the politicians change the lines. What if you could just vote in any district you wanted to? That would sure throw a wrench into the works. But, we have thousands of people that don't even want to be bothered going to the polls at all, just mail it in. And going strictly by the popular vote, a straight democracy surely would be unfair to millions of people in this country. The entire state of North Dakota has a population of just 800,000. Would they really be represented? About as much as a five year old in Harvard! Yeah, ain't no body listening to them. California has a population of 40 million, you really want them deciding on everything. The United States has a population of about 350 million. Forty eight million is California and New York City. The guys in the middle. well not so much. It's tough being the monkey in the middle you just catch whatever you can, whenever you can.
No comments:
Post a Comment