In 1917, an extreme-right fascist minority staged a military coup and overthrew the majority democratic socialist government. Lenin [R-RU] called his minority Bolsheviks, which means majority. He called the majority Mensheviks, which means minority. This Republican Reich dominated Russia for almost a century, and now that nation has fallen prey to another Republican Reich under Vladimir Putin [R-RU]. A similar minority holds the US hostage under Resident Donald "Putin’s Pervert" Trump. Here’s how they do it.
There is an old saw that politics is about numbers, and in a true democracy that would be the case. But ours is not a true democracy. Even after addressing the fact that nearly 90 million eligible voters do not vote, our system weights some votes more than others, and these weighted votes almost always work to the Republicans’ advantage, giving some 35 percent to 40 percent of the electorate a disproportionate share of power.
Here’s how it works:
1. Rural votes are worth more than urban votes.
For the first few months of his presidency, Donald Trump delighted in showing guests an electoral map of the country in which huge splotches from the South through the Midwest and into the far West were red, indicating Trump’s support. He was right, of course. Those were areas that voted for Trump. Except that those splotches were sparsely populated. The dark blue dots in urban America were the densely populated Democratic areas — areas with more votes.
In most nations, geographical advantages don’t mean much. In our system, however, geography plays an outsized role. It’s not how many votes; it’s where they are cast…
2. White votes are worth more than minority votes.
White voters are deeply advantaged not only because they still constitute a majority of the electorate, but also because (a) they can be gerrymandered into white-controlled districts while diluting minorities; and (b) because white majorities often work to increase their power at minorities’ expense. We see the latter most dramatically in voter suppression laws. A Washington Post study showed that these laws, designed expressly to reduce minority participation, have a tremendous impact:… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Alternet>
It is imperative that we correct these injustices, and I have shared only the beginnings of parts 1 and 2. Click through to read the rest of those parts and for parts 3 through 7.
RESIST THE REPUBLICAN REICH!!
10 Responses to “Why the Minority Hold Us Hostage”
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This article and the companion one (well, maybe not intended as a companion but has companion material) are both, IMO, required reading. I have not finished either yet because they have been very slow loading (which I HOPE is because so many people are trying to read them at once.) Thanks for this, TC.
Good articles, passing on too.
Thank you for this, Tom.
Very interesting article; thanks for posting, TomCat. Some points are very obvious, some examples rather surprising (the numbers on guns, gun owners and gun control really threw me), some just so darn frustrating. With elections probably remaining as they are, there’s only one thing for it at the moment: vote, vote and vote again. Because you can be sure that Republicans always do.
Adorable puppy!
Understood! That’s why this is a Plutocracy!
Just a wee bit of perspective: A Cartogram Map Reflecting ACTUAL VOTING PEOPLE – CITIZENS (not tumbleweeds or heifers) of 2016 Election by County
(Not quite so “red”, is it?):
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2016/
Thanks! I was looking for that graphic for the article, but could not find it.
To me, there are two primary things that are needed to reclaim some semblance of majority rule: 1) electoral reform; and 2) getting the money out of politics.
To put this in numeric terms, the populations of CA, NY, IL and MA constitute 77.67% of population of the South. On a proportional basis, they should then be allowed 17.09 Senate seats, not the 8 they have. Talk about a disconnect!
“… one of the major reasons the GOP persists with its inane health care repeal plan — again, the public be damned — is that big donors have threatened to withhold their money if the Senate doesn’t proceed. The GOP, needless to say, has a near-monopoly on oligarchs.”
Look at the massive amounts of money spent during the 2012 campaign. From Politico:
That’s a lot of money that could be better used, and it is more heavily weighted to Republicans.
I agree with Lona when she says:
Unfortunately, though, if WE vote, vote, and vote again like Republicans, WE will get locked up. But IOKIYAR.
Thanks all. Nap time.