• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Texas wants to stop Democrats from Voting?

tumbleweed41

tumbleweed41

Resident Liberal Hippie
From the Republican Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott;

DOJ’s accusations of racial discrimination are baseless. In 2011, both houses of the Texas Legislature were controlled by large Republican majorities, and their redistricting decisions were designed to increase the Republican Party’s electoral prospects at the expense of the Democrats....The redistricting decisions of which DOJ complains were motivated by partisan rather than racial considerations, and the plaintiffs and DOJ have zero evidence to prove the contrary. It is perfectly constitutional for a Republican-controlled legislature to make partisan districting decisions, even if there are incidental effects on minority voters who support Democratic candidates.


They are not even attempting to hide it. :facepalm:
 
Revoltingest

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
tumbleweed41 said:
They are not even attempting to hide it. :facepalm:
Click to expand...
Why is this even proffered as controversial?
Partisan redistricting is normal practice for all.
Note that Dems also oppose "at large" voting because third parties would see increased representation.
 
Falvlun

Falvlun

Earthbending Lemur
Premium Member
Just to be clear, it appears that was a very loose paraphrase of what was said.

Here's what was said:
Attorney General Greg Abbott said:
DOJ’s accusations of racial discrimination are baseless. In 2011, both houses of the Texas Legislature were controlled by large Republican majorities, and their redistricting decisions were designed to increase the Republican Party’s electoral prospects at the expense of the Democrats....The redistricting decisions of which DOJ complains were motivated by partisan rather than racial considerations, and the plaintiffs and DOJ have zero evidence to prove the contrary. It is perfectly constitutional for a Republican-controlled legislature to make partisan districting decisions, even if there are incidental effects on minority voters who support Democratic candidates.
Click to expand...

However, I do find such ability to be very concerning. Apparently, in clearing the charges of racism, they have admitted to rigging the voting system to favor one party over the other.

How the hell is this legal?

I am fully aware that gerrymandering is something that both parties have employed. (Though, the Republicans have perfected it to the art form that allows them to maintain control of the House.)

We need to pass laws that take the ability to redistrict out of elected officials hands. This needs to be done by some nonpartisan agency, with watchdogs. There needs to be sound reasons behind redistricting. It should never, ever be allowed to be "So that we can increase X Party's electoral prospects."

And we call this democracy.
 
tumbleweed41

tumbleweed41

Resident Liberal Hippie
Falvlun said:
Just to be clear, it appears that was a very loose paraphrase of what was said.

Here's what was said:


However, I do find such ability to be very concerning. Apparently, in clearing the charges of racism, they have admitted to rigging the voting system to favor one party over the other.

How the hell is this legal?

I am fully aware that gerrymandering is something that both parties have employed. (Though, the Republicans have perfected it to the art form that allows them to maintain control of the House.)

We need to pass laws that take the ability to redistrict out of elected officials hands. This needs to be done by some nonpartisan agency, with watchdogs. There needs to be sound reasons behind redistricting. It should never, ever be allowed to be "So that we can increase X Party's electoral prospects."

And we call this democracy.
Click to expand...

Well said!
 
lewisnotmiller

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
You guys allow gerrymandering? Wow...
We've had it occur over here as well, but NO-ONE would be as blatant about it as that sounds. They'd be run out of office. Never knew that about your system.
 
tytlyf

tytlyf

Not Religious
This isn't anything new. The republicans have been doing this for years. Funny how you don't see democrats doing it. Sure, they target democrat voters without mentioning race. But people are smart enough to know exactly what's up. Well, people with half a brain.
 
Dirty Penguin

Dirty Penguin

Master Of Ceremony
Last edited:
Revoltingest

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
lewisnotmiller said:
You guys allow gerrymandering? Wow...
We've had it occur over here as well, but NO-ONE would be as blatant about it as that sounds. They'd be run out of office. Never knew that about your system.
Click to expand...
You have it occur, but don't admit it.
We have it too, & we admit it.
I'll take our way over yours.
 
M

Mercy Not Sacrifice

Well-Known Member
lewisnotmiller said:
You guys allow gerrymandering? Wow...
We've had it occur over here as well, but NO-ONE would be as blatant about it as that sounds. They'd be run out of office. Never knew that about your system.
Click to expand...

Oh it's horrible. Gerrymandering has become such a huge part of our political system that it's almost never a political issue any more. This has real effects--for example, without gerrymandering, the Democrats would have taken back the House of Representatives last fall. So we wouldn't have seen nearly as much obstructionism in Congress.

There was a reason why the Republicans tried to push for assigning electoral votes by congressional district instead of by population per state. To make a complicated matter simple, this would have made different people's votes in different parts of the same states have different statistical weights.

This is American politics in the year 2013. The system is broken. Simply electing new people is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
 
lewisnotmiller

lewisnotmiller

Grand Hat
Staff member
Premium Member
Revoltingest said:
You have it occur, but don't admit it.
We have it too, & we admit it.
I'll take our way over yours.
Click to expand...

You're missing the point, I suspect.
Human nature is human nature. Gerrymandering has occurred here, and it was problematic in Queensland State Parliament back in the 80's. That was (eventually) a big deal.
When I say it occurs here, there are occasional changes to the voting boundaries. Humans being humans, and politicians being almost human, the cynic in me always supposes they'll find a way to push a boundary a little this way or that for their own purposes. But it's in no way a regular occurrence.

If gerrymandering was even close to regular, I'd absolutely prefer it to be in the open. But it's non-democratic, whatever way you want to cut it. I'd prefer no gerrymandering, and that's almost where we're at.

Antony Green's Election Blog: A Beginners Guide to Gerrymandering

Boundary redraws are done independently of the government, for one thing...

Meh, anyways...I'll definitely take our method, but I wasn't trying to denigrate the US, to tell the truth. I have a passing interest in US politics, and hadn't really realised the extent, and open acceptance of this is all.
 
Revoltingest

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
lewisnotmiller said:
You're missing the point, I suspect.
Human nature is human nature. Gerrymandering has occurred here, and it was problematic in Queensland State Parliament back in the 80's. That was (eventually) a big deal.
When I say it occurs here, there are occasional changes to the voting boundaries. Humans being humans, and politicians being almost human, the cynic in me always supposes they'll find a way to push a boundary a little this way or that for their own purposes. But it's in no way a regular occurrence.
If gerrymandering was even close to regular, I'd absolutely prefer it to be in the open. But it's non-democratic, whatever way you want to cut it. I'd prefer no gerrymandering, and that's almost where we're at.
Antony Green's Election Blog: A Beginners Guide to Gerrymandering
Boundary redraws are done independently of the government, for one thing...
Meh, anyways...I'll definitely take our method, but I wasn't trying to denigrate the US, to tell the truth. I have a passing interest in US politics, and hadn't really realised the extent, and open acceptance of this is all.
Click to expand...
I didn't miss the point you reiterated, but I preferred to address the aspect of openness.
I'm no fan of gerrymandering either, btw.
 
C

challupa

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the answers. I'm not from the States so was really curious as to how this could happen or even why Texas would want it to happen.
 
esmith

esmith

Veteran Member
tytlyf said:
This isn't anything new. The republicans have been doing this for years. Funny how you don't see democrats doing it. Sure, they target democrat voters without mentioning race. But people are smart enough to know exactly what's up. Well, people with half a brain.
Click to expand...

You know tytlf I really don't enjoy picking on you but you make it so easy with your false bravado and facts that I just can't help myself:shrug:.


The Fix - Illinois: Democrats' lone redistricting prize is a big one
 
esmith

esmith

Veteran Member
tumbleweed41 said:
I think we have all agreed that gerrymandering by either party is a political evil that should be removed from the system.

You do agree, don't you?
Click to expand...

Not exactly sure what evoked this question, but if you could get all politicians, or at least the majority, to agree then the answer is yes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top