The Little-Noticed Conservative Plan To Permanently Lock Democrats Out Of Policymaking

[applegrove]

The Little-Noticed Conservative Plan To Permanently Lock Democrats Out Of Policymaking

by Ian Millhiser at Think Progress

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/11/16/3722395/the-little-noticed-conservative-plan-to-permanently-lock-democrats-out-of-policymaking/

"SNIP..............

Ultimately, however, these are very modest successes in comparison to the bold proposals offered at the Federalist Society. Take the REINS Act, for example, which would automatically invalidate any new regulation that impacts more than 0.0006 percent of the nation’s economy unless this regulation is approved by Congress “by the end of 70 session days or legislative days.” Given congressional dysfunction, this bill would likely shut down many new federal rules entirely — regardless of whether those new rules expand the scope of federal regulation, update an existing regulation in light of new technological or other developments, or even if the new rule repeals an existing regulation entirely.

As a practical matter, however, REINS and similar proposals would likely effect a massive shift in power from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.

Much of our electoral system, at the moment, places a thumb on the scale in favor of Republicans. The GOP-controlled Supreme Court gave state lawmakers more leeway to enact voter suppression laws than they have enjoyed since Jim Crow. U.S. House districts tend to favor Republicans because Democrats tend to cluster in cities where they are concentrated into relatively few congressional districts. These geographic factors are then exacerbated by partisan gerrymandering, which also give Republicans a significant advantage in many key states.

Indeed, in 2012, ThinkProgress estimated that Democrats would have needed to win the national popular vote in all U.S. House races by 7.25 percentage points in order to eek out a bare majority in Congress’s lower chamber.



..............SNIP"

[randys1]

1. OH MY GOD

I have been saying this about any election for a long time

Indeed, in 2012, ThinkProgress estimated that Democrats would have needed to win the national popular vote in all U.S. House races by 7.25 percentage points in order to eek out a bare majority in Congress’s lower chamber.

[Takket]

5. found this.........

http://www.thenation.com/article/republicans-only-got-52-percent-vote-house-races/

 Looking forward, it’s even worse for Democrats. FairVote’s Monopoly Politics projection model was, as usual, highly accurate in this election—of 368 projections made a year ago, only two were wrong. We’ve already released our projections for 2016—that’s two years away, folks—and picked sure winners in 373 districts, leaving only 14 percent of the House even potentially in play. To win a majority of 218 House seats, we project that Democratic candidates would need to win ten million more votes than Republicans.

Imagine if analysts assumed that structural bias in the Electoral College would allow the Democrats to keep the White House in 2016 even if their candidate lost by 10 million votes. That distortion would stir an uproar—remember that when Al Gore lost in 2000, he had won the popular vote by 500,000 votes. Yet the partisan skew in House elections draws barely a yawn.

~snip

I'm curious if anyone has any data on how many people the GOP reps actually represent vs. how many the democrats do?

[randys1]

6. Well that is just fucking insane. Unacceptable. God dammit

[hifiguy]

9. Ifyou control the districting

you control the results.

[applegrove]

10. I'm sure someone has done the math on senators and the math. I remember hearing that somewhere.

[msongs]

2. dems have been sleeping the past 7 years. no surprises here nt

[hifiguy]

8. And collaborating actively

during their few bouts of wakefulness.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. This group of Ultra Neo Conseratives or Facists

have their boy Paul Ryan all set to go with their agenda. Noticed a couple of weeks ago the House did some rule changes which pretty much shuts out the Democrats on any or all legislative matters. Remember Hastert,well that was one of their trail runs. Same again with Senenbrenner,and to think we just plain got lucky.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Until we can control the House, it doesn't really matter.

Because it's not like any sort of sane legislation is gonna get through there anyway, certainly not with the Hastert rule back in place.

[hifiguy]

7. Yes, it is fascism now.

Beyond all doubt.