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Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

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Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

Craig P. said:
You'd have to break it down further than that. Just about any big city will be large enough to require multiple representatives.

There's also an important philosophical issue that I think should be addressed: Should districts tend toward homogeneity, or should they tend toward being as broadly representative as possible? I think I lean more toward the former. Even setting aside gerrymandering, it's an important question for the drawing of districts.
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Absolutely. If the population is 50-50 on an issue, is it better to have two districts that are 50-50, or is it better to have everybody on each side in their own districts?

For the sake of compromise and actually getting anything done in the legistlature, it sure seems like it would be better to have two 50-50 districts so that each representative had to actually consider both sides of the issue.
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

Craig P. said:
There's also an important philosophical issue that I think should be addressed: Should districts tend toward homogeneity, or should they tend toward being as broadly representative as possible? I think I lean more toward the former. Even setting aside gerrymandering, it's an important question for the drawing of districts.
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Yeah that's a toughie.

By having districts be homogenious, you could make the argument that a rep would better represent the will of his/her contituents because their needs are clear cut. The implications are that with a diverse and competing set of perspectives...that a rep might be more tempted to say 'the heck with it' and vote based on their own bias or even that of special interests.

On the other hand, you could make the argument that with a more diverse continuency...that with our two party system, that a dem or gop rep would not be 'elected for life' due to uncompetitive races.

In either case, it really comes down to the quality of rep to overcome the temptation to ignore their continuency inherent in either an elected for life homogenious or ambiguious 50/50 district. I see problems either way but might also tend towards 50/50 districts.
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

LynahFan said:
Absolutely. If the population is 50-50 on an issue, is it better to have two districts that are 50-50, or is it better to have everybody on each side in their own districts?

For the sake of compromise and actually getting anything done in the legistlature, it sure seems like it would be better to have two 50-50 districts so that each representative had to actually consider both sides of the issue.
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However, the problem homogenous districts are supposed to solve is when the population splits 60/40 on an issue. If ten districts are divided homogeneously you get 6 reps from the majority vs 4 from the minority. If they are divided heterogeneously, you get 10 reps from the majority and the minority gets bupkus.

It's hard to find a balance. We tend to think of "set aside" districts now as racial because of the 60's SCOTUS decisions, but it seems to me that the idea goes back to having representation from, say, rural districts vs city districts, or cattlemen vs farmers, or fishermen vs landlubbers.
 
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Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

Kepler said:
Is that a sum of least squares algorithm on perimeters? It actually looks very clean.
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It also looks close to what the Maryland GOP proposed. That was DOA (or maybe Dead Before Arrival).
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

joecct said:
It also looks close to what the Maryland GOP proposed. That was DOA (or maybe Dead Before Arrival).
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I'm all for redistricting by an independent commission, but incumbents will always find a way to stop that.

The other problem is one party doesn't want to unilaterally disarm, but for that perhaps they can try what they are trying to do with EVs and create a system that will only kick in when a critical mass of states adopt it.

I think we should stop apportioning Congressmen by geography completely. Congressional districts should be virtual and based on communities that are meaningful in the contemporary world. Some ideas for districts:

+ Pentacostals
+ Gun nuts
+ Furries
+ College hockey fans
+ Dressage competitors
+ Gang bangers
+ Militiamen

I would pay to watch CSPAN with debates between Congressman (R - Dark Knight fanboys) and Congressman (D - Anarcho-Syndicalist Dairy Farmers).
 
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Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

Kepler said:
I'm all for redistricting by an independent commission, but incumbents will always find a way to stop that.

The other problem is one party doesn't want to unilaterally disarm, but for that perhaps they can try what they are trying to do with EVs and create a system that will only kick in when a critical mass of states adopt it.
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Until Maryland starts putting more Republicans in the legislature, it's not going to happen. And since most of the population resides in the leftist outposts of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties and Baltimore City, its not going to happen.

How did redistricting hijack the Global War on Terror?
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

joecct said:
Until Maryland starts putting more Republicans in the legislature, it's not going to happen. And since most of the population resides in the leftist outposts of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties and Baltimore City, its not going to happen.
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The solution to that is to have the state GOP move left, just like the Utah Dems should move right. Not every state is going to have the same politics (thank God).
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

Kepler said:
The solution to that is to have the state GOP move left, just like the Utah Dems should move right. Not every state is going to have the same politics (thank God).
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I would think that the MD State GOP is more towards the middle than, say, the GOP in Utah. It's a big tent.

Trouble is the Dems in Annapolis appear (to me) to be skewed to the left.

Kepler said:
They are left of the GOP in the deep south. IINM the MD GOP does not advocate the stoning to death of unwed mothers.
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No we just want our mothers married -- preferably to the male sex.
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

Kepler said:
The solution to that is to have the state GOP move left, just like the Utah Dems should move right. Not every state is going to have the same politics (thank God).
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I propose that the GOP move about 100 miles to the east of Annapolis. That would help things tremendously.
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

joecct said:
I would think that the MD State GOP is more towards the middle than, say, the GOP in Utah. It's a big tent.

Trouble is the Dems in Annapolis appear (to me) to be skewed to the left.
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Which one would expect -- the parties aren't actually supposed to be monolithic, they stake out territory roughly equidistant from the popular centerpoint in each state. If they go too far out they lose; if they move too close to the centerpoint they aren't efficiently delivering to their supporters.

Whenever I see statewide offices going to the same party by large margins like 25 or 30 points, I see it as a missed opportunity for the party backers to nominate someone more strongly in line with their principles.
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

joecct said:
How did redistricting hijack the Global War on Terror?
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Something about Michele Bachmann and Communists. I tried to save the thread at one point, but it's almost closed anyway... :p
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

Priceless said:
Something about Michele Bachmann and Communists. I tried to save the thread at one point, but it's almost closed anyway... :p
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I thought it may have been Michelle and a member of SoS Clinton's staff whose family may have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

In any event, think some numbnut tries something during the Olympics?
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

joecct said:
I thought it may have been Michelle and a member of SoS Clinton's staff whose family may have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

In any event, think some numbnut tries something during the Olympics?
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If security is as lax as they showed on TDS, yes. And hopefully it will only be one or two numbnuts. If it's a group of organized people with an actual plan...
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

They should have played a medley of Tom Jones songs.
 
Re: Global War on Terror III: Dick Cheney's Hague ICC Vacation

joecct said:
They should have played a medley of Tom Jones songs.
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.
 
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