08-27-2021, 12:30 PM
(08-27-2021, 12:11 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: I don't think breaking up CA would work anyway, since a few of those pieces would be right-wing.
That's OK actually, If California was 7 Blue states and 3 Red states, the net gain in the Senate would be 6 Blue votes.
Then Eric Wrote:I think a few changes will push the levers and shift our system. But it will depend on millennials voting, so that the Democrats win midterms. That's the biggest and the tallest order, but a possible one. If Democrats can get enough of a majority that can get us past Sinema and Manchin, then the filibuster can be reduced or eliminated for a while, even as an emergency measure, since that's where we are; in full-scale emergency right now and for the foreseeable future. Maybe these 2 laggards can be persuaded to remove it for the voting rights acts. If somehow this reform can be done, then Puerto Rico can be admitted as a state and DC can be given 2 senators and a representative. The systemic Republican advantage in the Senate and electoral college would then be evened out. It's not that big when you consider that it's already close to even, even with all the rural small Republican states. The Democrats have some small states too.
Soon, 30% of the population will control 70% of the seats in the Senate. True, not all are Red, but most are.
Then Eric Wrote:Gerrymandering needs to go. The voters favor this, and it's part of the For the People Act. Gerrymandering is how Republicans can take away democracy these days on the state level. The final hurdle may be the Courts. If the Supreme Court enforces the removal of democracy, by for example allowing legislatures to change election outcomes, then 4 additional seats or some other reform will be needed. Again, removal of democracy is a 4th-turning emergency, and we need to oppose it by any means workable and necessary. Further reforms have been introduced in the For the People Act that are just what I predicted would be made in the 2020s. It needs to be passed as soon as possible.
It still takes votes. Dems seem intent to compromise before they actually try to do anything. The media environment doesn't help. The RW media are all-in for the GOPpers, regardless of their actions. The so-called MSM tends to keep to the facts, and the recent criticism of Biden over Afghanistan is a perfect example of that. If it had been Trump, the MSM wouldn't have been very different, but the Fox/OANN/Breitbart media phallange would have been all Trump all the time.
We can all thank Saint Ronny for killing the Fairness Doctrine, and making insanity acceptable.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.