While listening to an episode of The Gist recently, I was shocked to hear Mark Lilla make the statement that Republicans need only win complete control of two more state governments in order to call a constitutional convention. You read that right. In case you weren't aware, the Republican party currently holds complete control in 32 of the state governments. This is from Wikipedia:
A Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution, also called an Article V Convention, or Amendments Convention, called for by two-thirds (currently 34) of the state legislatures...
Once that threshold of 34 states is reached, they can call a convention to amend the US Constitution. That should strike fear into the hearts and minds of any red-blooded, freedom-loving American. According to Gallup, as of September the US breaks down into 29% R, 30% D, and 40% Independent. Either party gaining such power in the state governments that they can call a convention to change the very fabric of our greatest governing document in a day and age when a plurality of voters doesn't identify itself with either of the major parties is a frightening prospect. A majority of the people being ruled by a minority group seldom works out well. They even write novels and musicals about it. I'm looking at you Victor Hugo, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Alan Boublil!
We all know that in the 2016 election the candidate for the Democrats won about 3 million more popular votes, yet still lost the election to the Republican candidate. What gets overlooked is that roughly 6 million more people voted for Democrat candidates for Senate than for Republican candidates. In the House, Republicans received 49.9% of the votes, but 55.2% of the seats. This is a trending problem.
I understand the geography of it. It is not lost on me that more land mass is inhabited by people who vote for Republican candidates. Nor is it lost on me that our system is set up in order to ensure some representational equality for a bygone era. We no longer are tethered to the town or city in which we were born. We have the option of going off to the big city, to the coast, to the farmland, to the mountains, or wherever our heart desires. Therefore, people who are born in the country but sympathize with city-dwellers can take their vote and their influence off to the urban area of their choice. By the same token, the city-born who identifies with rural ideals can leave and start farming, selling, trading in whatever area of the country they would like.
Neither way of life is inherently better than the other. They are just different. At the time our system for selecting representation was constructed, people stayed, for the most part, and bloomed with their political ideologies wherever they happened to have been planted. That allowed for the opportunity for equal representation and the opportunity for red and blue to live side by side and have purple children, neighbors who might help them see the other side of the coin, and co-workers who might be influenced in a debate by their own insight.
We don't live this way anymore. Sadly, we can choose exactly the influence we want to have swaying our thoughts. Democrats tend to move to, or stay in, cities while Republicans tend stay in, or move to, the country. The nation is becoming imbalanced and when you look at the maps here, you will see that the trend is to an ever-redder heartland.
This undoubtedly thrills at least 29% of Americans. It undoubtedly terrifies 30% of Americans. It's the 40% in the middle who need to understand that if one party gains control of enough land they can determine the future of government in America. At that point, there will be roughly 70% of Americans whose opinions will be at the very least uninteresting to those in power. At worst, the opinions of the 70% could be suppressed, muted, or even criminalized.
So, to the independents in the heartland I say WAKE UP!
To the Democratic leadership I say, WAKE UP and get it together! It can not be allowed to happen that a party which stands for supporting the workers, providing a helping hand to the unemployed, providing medical service for those among us who need it but can't quite afford it, and which garners more votes than its opponents be outmaneuvered and boxed out of any opportunity to have a voice in governing the country in which they live.
To Democrats in the heartland I implore you to be courageous and talk with your Republican neighbors. Invite them over for cake and discuss, like grown-ups, the issues in the world today. Do whatever you can to have civil discourse to influence the understanding of those in your circle of influence. It is only in pursuing this sort of equality in representation that we can insure "that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
A Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution, also called an Article V Convention, or Amendments Convention, called for by two-thirds (currently 34) of the state legislatures...
Once that threshold of 34 states is reached, they can call a convention to amend the US Constitution. That should strike fear into the hearts and minds of any red-blooded, freedom-loving American. According to Gallup, as of September the US breaks down into 29% R, 30% D, and 40% Independent. Either party gaining such power in the state governments that they can call a convention to change the very fabric of our greatest governing document in a day and age when a plurality of voters doesn't identify itself with either of the major parties is a frightening prospect. A majority of the people being ruled by a minority group seldom works out well. They even write novels and musicals about it. I'm looking at you Victor Hugo, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Alan Boublil!
We all know that in the 2016 election the candidate for the Democrats won about 3 million more popular votes, yet still lost the election to the Republican candidate. What gets overlooked is that roughly 6 million more people voted for Democrat candidates for Senate than for Republican candidates. In the House, Republicans received 49.9% of the votes, but 55.2% of the seats. This is a trending problem.
I understand the geography of it. It is not lost on me that more land mass is inhabited by people who vote for Republican candidates. Nor is it lost on me that our system is set up in order to ensure some representational equality for a bygone era. We no longer are tethered to the town or city in which we were born. We have the option of going off to the big city, to the coast, to the farmland, to the mountains, or wherever our heart desires. Therefore, people who are born in the country but sympathize with city-dwellers can take their vote and their influence off to the urban area of their choice. By the same token, the city-born who identifies with rural ideals can leave and start farming, selling, trading in whatever area of the country they would like.
Neither way of life is inherently better than the other. They are just different. At the time our system for selecting representation was constructed, people stayed, for the most part, and bloomed with their political ideologies wherever they happened to have been planted. That allowed for the opportunity for equal representation and the opportunity for red and blue to live side by side and have purple children, neighbors who might help them see the other side of the coin, and co-workers who might be influenced in a debate by their own insight.
We don't live this way anymore. Sadly, we can choose exactly the influence we want to have swaying our thoughts. Democrats tend to move to, or stay in, cities while Republicans tend stay in, or move to, the country. The nation is becoming imbalanced and when you look at the maps here, you will see that the trend is to an ever-redder heartland.
This undoubtedly thrills at least 29% of Americans. It undoubtedly terrifies 30% of Americans. It's the 40% in the middle who need to understand that if one party gains control of enough land they can determine the future of government in America. At that point, there will be roughly 70% of Americans whose opinions will be at the very least uninteresting to those in power. At worst, the opinions of the 70% could be suppressed, muted, or even criminalized.
So, to the independents in the heartland I say WAKE UP!
To the Democratic leadership I say, WAKE UP and get it together! It can not be allowed to happen that a party which stands for supporting the workers, providing a helping hand to the unemployed, providing medical service for those among us who need it but can't quite afford it, and which garners more votes than its opponents be outmaneuvered and boxed out of any opportunity to have a voice in governing the country in which they live.
To Democrats in the heartland I implore you to be courageous and talk with your Republican neighbors. Invite them over for cake and discuss, like grown-ups, the issues in the world today. Do whatever you can to have civil discourse to influence the understanding of those in your circle of influence. It is only in pursuing this sort of equality in representation that we can insure "that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth."
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