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Gerrymandering has nothing to do with the electoral college. I'll say it again: Gerrymandering has nothing to do with the electoral college. Unless you think

Gerrymandering has nothing to do with the electoral college. I'll say it again: Gerrymandering has nothing to do with the electoral college. Unless you think that state lines were drawn (all at the latest in 1866, when the last gray area between Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada was cleared up) with modern political considerations in mind, gerrymandering (the manipulation of electoral boundaries for some political purpose) has nothing to do with the electoral college.

danShumway 9y ago
Good catch, I misspoke - but, the point still stands when talking about the electoral college, right? What I was getting at is that the actual winner of the election wouldn't change anything about the 46% of voters who chose Trump over Hillary. That speaks of problems and divides that are deeper than Facebook.
- InitialLastName 9y ago
  That's true. To me the bigger issue though is the 45% of eligible voters who didn't bother to show up (or were prevented from showing up).
sjg007 9y ago
Sure it does. Republicans use gerrymandering to maintain control and then roll out voter suppression programs under the guise of real id or random re-registration or whatever. Statistically voter fraud is a non issue. Republicans know that their base is dwindling and in the long term the US will become more democratic. As people live closer together and see the impact of policies on other humans they tend to become more sympathetic and democratic. Bush won the Presidency because of the supreme court split based on politics. Trump lost the popular vote. This is why Republicans fought tooth and nail to ensure that Obama couldn't appoint a supreme court justice. They want to maintain a conservative judiciary. Controlling the court, they can limit liberal interpretations of the law. The second amendment reinterpretation hinged on a fucking comma. There shrinking base is is why they defund education and court the evangelical vote. It's why they argue for faith based charities instead of government support. It aligns with the rich paying less taxes and it is the rich who fund this nonsense.

danShumway 9y ago

Good catch, I misspoke - but, the point still stands when talking about the electoral college, right? What I was getting at is that the actual winner of the election wouldn't change anything about the 46% of voters who chose Trump over Hillary. That speaks of problems and divides that are deeper than Facebook.

InitialLastName 9y ago
That's true. To me the bigger issue though is the 45% of eligible voters who didn't bother to show up (or were prevented from showing up).

sjg007 9y ago

Sure it does. Republicans use gerrymandering to maintain control and then roll out voter suppression programs under the guise of real id or random re-registration or whatever. Statistically voter fraud is a non issue. Republicans know that their base is dwindling and in the long term the US will become more democratic. As people live closer together and see the impact of policies on other humans they tend to become more sympathetic and democratic. Bush won the Presidency because of the supreme court split based on politics. Trump lost the popular vote. This is why Republicans fought tooth and nail to ensure that Obama couldn't appoint a supreme court justice. They want to maintain a conservative judiciary. Controlling the court, they can limit liberal interpretations of the law. The second amendment reinterpretation hinged on a fucking comma. There shrinking base is is why they defund education and court the evangelical vote. It's why they argue for faith based charities instead of government support. It aligns with the rich paying less taxes and it is the rich who fund this nonsense.