01-18-2017, 06:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-18-2017, 06:19 PM by Eric the Green.)
(01-18-2017, 05:59 PM)David Horn Wrote:(01-18-2017, 03:09 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:(01-18-2017, 12:17 PM)David Horn Wrote:(01-18-2017, 08:19 AM)Odin Wrote: Things are too polarized on a national level for coherent action on a federal level, I think most of the action is going to happen on the state level.
Democrats have a demographics problem that makes state-level solutions very hard. Most states maintain a bias toward the suburban and rural, which is not the Dems strong suit. Every election cycle, Virginia tallies more votes for Democrats vying for Federal House and state Legislature seats, but the GOP still maintains dominance over both. Based on nationwide results, this is not uncommon.
Is this because of gerrymandering?
How can gerrymandering be eliminated in VA?
If you kill gerrymandering, the bias gets better but remains in place. Mostly, it's due to the distribution of Progressive voters. Most pile-up in urban areas, so the votes are a lot like California: too many in too few places.
That may well be true. I wonder though; isn't the margin of Republican power in VA pretty small? One resignation changed the balance of power, iirc.
Are the urban areas in VA too full of progressives, while the rural areas also have some? Or vice-versa? I'm not very clear on how this happens.
Of course, on the state level, California has now escaped this problem. The urban areas are just way more populated than the rural in CA, and so it has a veto-proof 2/3 Democratic majority (though the Democrats are not all reliably progressive).