Page 1 of 1 [ 12 posts ] 

Shahunshah
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 May 2016
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,225
Location: NZ

09 Oct 2017, 6:31 pm

Gerrymandering: In much of the South Republicans have implemented a system of Gerrymandering, whereby they rearrange congressional districts in order to ensure victory. As a result in 2016 despite around 40% of people voting Democratic in the House of Representatives only half of that number receives actual congressional representation. This is even worse in other states such as Arkansas, in which despite 33% of the population voting Democratic in Congress, they received zero representation. This problem is so bad that in 2012 despite Republicans losing the popular vote by 1.2 in the House, they kept a firm majority. This is a problem of the Republican Party in particular as Democratic states like New York, California and Washington do not share these same problems in limiting representation.

Anti Sodomy Laws: Prior to the Supreme Court decision of Lawrence versus Texas. Much of the Republican South banned sodomy and gay sex state-wide. This was reversed only in 2003 and had that decision not taken place. It is likely that these states would still be holding the same exact laws. Republicans too this day have supported these kinds of initiatives. Take for instance, Roy Moore whom is likely to be the next Senator from Alabama. He is quoted with having compared homosexuality to incest and child abuse. And in these situations Republicans support the idea of taking away freedom.



Last edited by Shahunshah on 09 Oct 2017, 6:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mikah
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Oct 2015
Age: 36
Posts: 3,201
Location: England

09 Oct 2017, 6:39 pm

I might be missing something, but what do gerrymandering and anti-sodomy laws have to do with freedom of speech?


_________________
Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory, Farewell!


Shahunshah
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 6 May 2016
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,225
Location: NZ

09 Oct 2017, 6:46 pm

Mikah wrote:
I might be missing something, but what do gerrymandering and anti-sodomy laws have to do with freedom of speech?

Went ahead of myself. I did mean freedoms.



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

10 Oct 2017, 12:45 pm

Gerrymandering has been occurring since the early 19th century. It is done, usually, when certain populations in a certain area within, or near, a Congressional district are predominately for one political party.

For example, if a certain Congressional District has Democrats within the "previous" boundaries---but a Republican wants to win the Congressional District from the Democrat, this Republican will seek to move the boundaries of the Congressional District so that the area which is predominately Republican will become part of the Congressional district, when previously it was part of another Congressional district.

Gerrymandering, basically, is a process whereby the boundaries of a district are "moved" for primarily political reasons.



ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,237
Location: Long Island, New York

10 Oct 2017, 5:46 pm

Gerrymandering is one of these things that is wrong but pretty much everybody that has an opportunity to do does.

The large number of Republican/Conservative rail against government overreach but are for government involvement in what people do with their bodies is the biggest problem I have with them.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


RetroGamer87
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Jul 2013
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,932
Location: Adelaide, Australia

14 Oct 2017, 12:34 am

Impossible! The Liberals want to take your freedom from you but the conservatives would never do anything to restrict your freedom! /sarcasm


_________________
The days are long, but the years are short


Mikah
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Oct 2015
Age: 36
Posts: 3,201
Location: England

14 Oct 2017, 8:10 pm

A bit of a stretch.

I suppose if you took the most extreme libertarian ideas, you could say the Republicans were freedom-restricting monsters. But "Freedom" in the West was never a march towards libertarian anarchy. It was about protecting specific freedoms "under the law". That being freedom of speech, economic liberty, freedom of association, protection against arbitrary imprisonment etc etc.

From the modern point of view you could see restrictions on homosexuality as an attack on fundamental freedoms. Forgotten today though is just how disturbing such behaviour was to most people. Their reaction was akin to many peoples' reactions today towards bestiality or paedophilia. Who knows? In 20 years time perhaps a younger version of yourself will attack the republicans for historically restricting freedoms on those things too... stranger things have happened.

As for gerrymandering, I struggle to see how it violates the fundamental freedoms. It's certainly not above board, but such behaviour isn't restricted to nominally conservative parties. Gerrymandering is probably much less dangerous than deliberately opening a country's borders to millions of future democrat voters anyway, a charge you could certainly level against certain parts of the Democrat party.


_________________
Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory, Farewell!


Raptor
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Mar 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 12,997
Location: Southeast U.S.A.

14 Oct 2017, 11:40 pm

RetroGamer87 wrote:
Impossible! The Liberals want to take your freedom from you but the conservatives would never do anything to restrict your freedom! /sarcasm


Liberals traditionally preach freedom more than conservatives so it comes off as hypocritical when they want to ban things, which they do...........a lot


_________________
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
- Thomas Jefferson


RetroGamer87
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Jul 2013
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,932
Location: Adelaide, Australia

15 Oct 2017, 5:06 am

Raptor wrote:
RetroGamer87 wrote:
Impossible! The Liberals want to take your freedom from you but the conservatives would never do anything to restrict your freedom! /sarcasm


Liberals traditionally preach freedom more than conservatives so it comes off as hypocritical when they want to ban things, which they do...........a lot


So it's ok to do something bad so long as you don't do it hypocritically?

Does that mean it would be ok for the conservatives to ban a lot of stuff because they didn't preach freedom?

This is as bad as the time a few months ago when you said it's ok for conservatives to not want to give a hearing to other views because they never claimed they want to.


Anyway Raptor I've been meaning to ask you something. What's up with your 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler profile pic? Are you just a big fan of them?


_________________
The days are long, but the years are short


MaxE
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Sep 2013
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,224
Location: Mid-Atlantic US

15 Oct 2017, 5:31 am

To put things in perspective, between 2008 and 2010 all 9 congressional districts in the US state of Maryland were held by Democrats. Since then, there has been one district held by a Republican. If you look at this district on a map, it appears as though it occupies almost half the area of the state, although it avoids any densely populated areas. So the most Congressional representation Republicans have had is 11%.

I think I can safely say that most white people in Maryland are Republicans, although I can't find any numbers on line to corroborate that. I can see that Maryland is 59.3% white, so if 60% of whites are Republican, they still only represent 36% of the population. In reality, though, not all Republicans in Maryland are white. A lot of Asians vote Republican, as do an appreciable (if not actually large) minority of blacks. Maryland has in fact had a Republican (albeit mostly anti-Trump) governor for the last 3 years.

Full disclosure: I am a registered Democrat, although I have become increasingly apolitical in recent years.


_________________
My WP story


Raptor
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Mar 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 12,997
Location: Southeast U.S.A.

16 Oct 2017, 12:12 am

RetroGamer87 wrote:
Raptor wrote:
Impossible! The Liberals want to take your freedom from you but the conservatives would never do anything to restrict your freedom! /sarcasm


Liberals traditionally preach freedom more than conservatives so it comes off as hypocritical when they want to ban things, which they do...........a lot


RetroGamer87 wrote:
So it's ok to do something bad so long as you don't do it hypocritically?

Does that mean it would be ok for the conservatives to ban a lot of stuff because they didn't preach freedom?

It's harder to take the hypocrisy seriously.

Quote:
This is as bad as the time a few months ago when you said it's ok for conservatives to not want to give a hearing to other views because they never claimed they want to.
Yes, I really am awful.


Quote:
Anyway Raptor I've been meaning to ask you something. What's up with your 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler profile pic? Are you just a big fan of them?

Well all of us Trump voters are Nazis and other sorts of deplorables ya know. If you don't believe me just ask any liberal.


_________________
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
- Thomas Jefferson


RetroGamer87
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Jul 2013
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 10,932
Location: Adelaide, Australia

16 Oct 2017, 2:14 am

If conservatives never talk about freedom, does that mean you'd take them seriously if they started banning things?


_________________
The days are long, but the years are short