.

NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Sunday, September 18, 2011

GOP looks to rig 2012 election

Gerrymandering  -  Preventing free elections is as American as apple pie.
The above cartoon was first printed in March of 1812.  The Massachusetts Democrat-Republican Party drew the State Senate districts in such a way as to prevent free elections and keep the Federalist Party out of power.  Governor Elbridge Gerry signed the bill rigging the election in favor of his party. When mapped, one of the contorted districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander. . . . now a Gerry-mander in "honor" of the Governor.


Pennsylvania's GOP wants to award the state's Presidential electoral vote based on corrupt congressional district lines. 

The United States is close to becoming a Banana Republic.

It is bad enough that seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are virtually sold on the open market to Billionaire Cartels of labor unions and business groups with hundreds of millions in corrupt special interest campaign money.  But now Pennsylvania to looking to drag us into the category of being a political joke.

Pennsylvania state Republican leaders have been pushing a plan to radically change the 2012 Presidential election. If they succeed — and the GOP now controls both the state legislature and executive branch — it could cost Obama, who carried Pennsylvania in 2008, at least half of the state’s electoral votes in 2012.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a Republican from Chester, proposes to switch from the traditional winner-take-all system for electoral voters to a format that would award electoral votes based on the winner of each of the state’s 18 individual congressional districts. The winner of the statewide vote would receive two electoral votes, reports the Washington Times.

Pennsylvania has the right

Under the Constitution all states can select their Presidential electors any way they want.  Pennsylvania can do this if it wants to.  But to have our system of electing a President based on which party carries corrupt gerrymandered districts is near insanity.

Congressional District lines are drawn by the two political parties in order to prevent free elections.  That is the dark and dirty secret of American democracy.

The Electoral College itself is a relic of the past.  Since the 1820s the people of the U.S. expect to have the right to select their Presidents by their vote on a state-by-state basis.  To go down this road of selecting Presidents based on corrupt districts could destablize the nation and the political process.

The effect in Pennsylvania

“Pennsylvania is a very diverse state, and the diversity is lost in a winner-take-all system,” Mr. Pileggi said in an interview. “We want to make sure individual Pennsylvania citizens know their vote is going to matter.”

The proposal, which will be the subject of a legislative hearing in a few weeks, has raised protests from Democrats who claim Senator Pileggi is motivated by partisanship. Former Democratic Governor Ed Rendell, who argues that Pennsylvania now is the third most important swing state behind Florida and Ohio, called the move “blatantly political.”

One practical effect of the proposal would be to neutralize clout of Democratic-dominated Philadelphia. Democrats often joke that Pennsylvania consists of the progressive bastions of Philadelphia in the east and Pittsburgh in the west, “with Alabama in between.” They sometimes refer to the state as “Pennsyltucky.”

The sparsely populated middle of the state frequently loses out in presidential elections to Philadelphia, with its powerful Democratic machine and get-out-the-vote efforts, and the city’s moderate suburbs. Democratic candidates routinely win Philadelphia’s wards by a margin of 9 to 1, attracting enough votes in the area to carry the state overall.

The Gerrymandered 12th Congressional District of Pennsylvania.
Since the dawn of the Republic the political hacks that draw corrupt district lines all over the United States.  They have no interest in any way, shape or form in having a free election.  They want to rig every Congressional and state legislative seat possible to favor their party.


For more on this story

No comments: