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Old 02-22-2016, 08:57 PM   #1
xoxoxoBruce
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Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is a particularly distasteful maneuver politicians use to influence elections in favor of a party or even a powerful incumbent.



The scumbag politicians in North Carolina have created #1, the worst of the worst.

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Old 02-23-2016, 07:20 AM   #2
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Think of the hours of hard work in finely crafting that form, I vote for it being art, it certainly represents something beyond it's base physical appearance, the lust for power beyond reason?

good job they didn't have anything better to do
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Old 02-23-2016, 12:28 PM   #3
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My rule: If you cut the pattern out of wood, and then put a rubber band around it, the area in the rubber band (not counting area that is out of the jurisdiction, or substantial bodies of water) cannot be more than 150% of the area of the wood.

I'm sure it could be gamed a bit, but perhaps less.
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Old 02-23-2016, 04:01 PM   #4
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There are ONE HUNDRED counties in North Carolina.

Wow, those seem like they must be tiny counties.
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Old 02-23-2016, 04:06 PM   #5
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Once upon a time, most American politicians were moderates - not anti-Amiercan and power hungry extremists.
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Old 02-23-2016, 06:41 PM   #6
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Prove it.
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Old 04-09-2016, 11:25 AM   #7
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I keep seeing arguments on gerrymandering saying it does or doesn't make a difference in the outcome. After all, Citizens United only spent 30 million after the last census presented the opportunity, on gerrymandering. So the obvious path for me is to look at the structure and results for my residence, because who's more important than me. Rhetorical, no question mark, shut up.

Looking at the districts laid out for the PA House and Senate, and how they changed in the last redistricting, they look pretty reasonable. They reflect the expected 60/40 split in the election results.



Now looking at the district carved out for the US House of Representatives definitely gives me a WTF feeling. It's pretty obvious somebody did this with intent, and likely to benefit the carver/his friends. The resulting elections give a pretty good indication. Now instead of a 60/40 split shown in the state elections, there's a 72/28 split. That's a significant shift from the state's divide.



So to me the answer is yes, it does make a difference, and when the Republicans were in the position to do so, they orchestrated the redistricting to insure the results would be skewed in their favor.
I mean just look at it, that shit can't be an accident, it was carved with a surgeon's precision. I believe with ulterior motive because... politicians.



What the fuck? Who the fuck? Why the fuck? I think I know the answers and highly doubt it's an isolated case.
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Old 04-20-2016, 05:40 PM   #8
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The new gerrymandering (or cherry-picking) is the database algorithms they use to scrub voter registrations. Used expertly by the Florida establishment to capture that razor-thin margin Bush needed in 2000. There might be some more recent examples in the news.
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Old 04-22-2016, 10:11 AM   #9
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Gerrymanering is how scumbag liberals and conservatives get elected at the expense of educated and intelligent moderates. That is its only purpose - to subvert the American political system for the benefit of those who make the worst politicians.
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Old 04-27-2016, 12:53 AM   #10
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OK, here's an example of gerrymandering which was successful here in Australia, but particularly in my state of Qld.

The party at the time who happened to be conservatives, divided the state up into equal sized portions for the electorates, so basically, every electorate was the same size. Whilst this might seem fair, it actually was heavily tipped in favour of the conservative land owners at the time. Some of the electorates only had 6 people living in them thanks to them basically covering a whole cattle station. So in effect, there were a whole heap of electorates which only needed to benefit one person who would represent their families direct best personal interests in the parliament. Naturally these farmers weren't required to even show up in parliament, they just gave their proxy to the party. They actually didn't even have to be a party representative. They could run as an independent, get voted in by their wife, then just give their preference to the conservatives.

It was a dark period. Only about 40 years ago.
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Old 04-27-2016, 07:14 AM   #11
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Equal size by land area? That's totally fucked up.
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Old 04-27-2016, 01:25 PM   #12
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Here, it's supposed to be by population.
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Old 04-27-2016, 04:29 PM   #13
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The Senate is a bit closer to the "by land area" paradigm.

It brings to mind the "red map" images we've seen (and will probably see again in a few months) showing all of the acres that vote Republican.
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Old 04-27-2016, 06:40 PM   #14
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The very thread that roped me into the cellar. :-)
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Old 04-27-2016, 07:06 PM   #15
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I once thought gerrymandering was a Nazi wandering lost on a battlefield. Apparently that war came home and survives. It is still found where extremists exist.
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