• DarkFuture@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Our nation will continue circling the toilet until gerrymandering is outlawed.

    And with how many stupids there are here that are scared of change, even when presented with facts proving it’s better for them, the odds of things getting better are pretty slim.

  • riquisimo@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    18 days ago

    It bothers me that the graphic lists red-then-blue but there text lists blue-then-red. It’s inconsistent to how we read the information and makes it confusing to process.

    …like gerrymandering

  • arc99@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Most sane countries leave electoral boundaries to an independent commission

    • Zwiebel@feddit.org
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      6 days ago

      Most sane countries just count the total votes, making the boundaries not matter

  • Jarix@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    This is kinda if topic, but why does the US have term limits for the presidency, but not all the other major positions?

    • bitjunkie@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      In the original Constitution, there are no limits for any of them. George Washington made it a tradition not to seek a third term, but it wasn’t actually enshrined into law until ~150 years later.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        18 days ago

        It was invented because FDR was so popular that without that rule, his bones would probably still be president to this day.

        • Jarix@lemmy.world
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          16 days ago

          Ive never understood why someone who is popular can’t keep doing the job. I also don’t understand lifetime appointments like the supreme court without mandatory retirement ages or other mechanism to prevent mentally deficient people in the role

  • AndrewZabar@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    The United States is not a nation anymore. It’s a corporation. It’s also 100% corrupt. When will people come to terms with this? As long as most people are in denial of this, it will always be so.

    • 3x3@lemy.lol
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      17 days ago

      You guys are entering the late decadence phase as already experienced in the Roman Empire

      • AndrewZabar@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        Not exactly, but similar. The dynamics of the haves and have-nots are different because of the sheer numbers. But we are at a point where if just a certain amount more of the wealth is shifted to the oligarchs, then the entire system will collapse.

        I’ve already gotten a three day ban on Reddit for making certain statements, so I’ll just state my opinion that the only way to stop this is to mortify a few billionaires. But aside from that, the problem is apathy, complacency, and lack of unity. This is why they came up with all the petty divisive “issues” which are really not issues. This is why the Orange Feces-Man did that whole mask thing. Because if people were united and everyone felt they were on the same side, there would be rebellion - nay, revolution. It’s happened in the past many, many, many times around the world through history. But I don’t think they ever had the sheer magnitude of distractions that we have today. Bread and Circuses vs Streaming, social media, entertainment more than all the humans of the earth could collectively consume. THAT, the Romans did not have at their disposal to weaponize.

  • SuperCub@sh.itjust.works
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    18 days ago

    It’s almost like the idea that representation based on land instead of based on people is flawed to begin with.

      • SuperCub@sh.itjust.works
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        18 days ago

        Yes. Representation should be proportional. In other systems of democracy, you vote a party and if that party wins 25% of the vote, then they win 25% of the representatives. Gerrymandering works because it’s based on land being more important to representation than people.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Number 2 is the actual ideal, not number 1. Number 1 represents, “good,” gerrymandering that politicians argue for, but it really only serves them. They get to keep highly partisan electorate that will reelect them no matter what, which means they can be less responsive to the will of their voters. They only have to worry about primary challengers, which aren’t very common, and can mostly ignore their electorate without issue.

    It’s also important to note that this diagram is an oversimplification that can’t express the nuances of an actual electorate. While a red and blue binary might be helpful for this example, a plurality of voters identify as independents, and while most of them have preferences towards the right or left, they are movable. The point is that actual voters are more nuanced and less static than this representation.

    Number 2 is how distracting would work in an ideal world; it doesn’t take into account political alignment at all, but instead just groups people together by proximity. A red victory is unlikely, but still possible if the blue candidate doesn’t deliver for his constituents and winds up with low voter turnout. It also steers politicians away from partisan extremism, as they may need to appeal to a non-partisan plurality. That being said, when literal fascists are attempting number 3, we’ll have to respond in kind if we want any chance of maintaining our democracy, but in the long term, the solution is no gerrymandering, not, “perfect representation,” gerrymandering.

    • pyre@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      the fascists aren’t attempting 3, they’ve already been doing it for decades. now they just want to do even more, because it’s open fascism season so why be coy about it.