...parties may resort to using deceptive tactics in order to gain a voting advantage over the opposition. Gerrymandering is a commonly used practice in order to get that advantage. The term was coined as a combination of “gerry” and “salamander” after Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts signed a bill in 1811 that created a district that resembled a salamander. By definition, gerrymandering is the act of redrawing the lines of a congressional district to give one political party a voting advantage over the other. Rather than creating compact and clear district lines, it creates oddly shaped boundaries. Gerrymandering generally exists in two methods: packing and cracking. Packing is when a legislature chooses to concentrate another group’s members into fewer districts in order to weaken them elsewhere. On the contrary, cracking is making the opposing party the minority by breaking up their bloc, making it impossible for them to win elections. Although it is a commonly used tactic by some political parties, it is illegal, but in a way that is hard to prove. In essence, gerrymandering is nothing more than gaining a manipulated advantage over the outcome of elections since the altercation of district lines does not show an accurate and...
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...branches; which they have used to forge the United States by devising laws that politically favor their party and support their views. Undermining the recent decline of political party influence, the Supreme court is now debating over the constitutionalism of Gerrymandering and other disfranchisement methods. Although it has become part of the United States history to have a two party system, where the winner...
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...Being neither fair nor ethical, gerrymandering is not a good practice. It is at the heart of the collapse of American democracy. It is the cause of numerous political issues including the degradation of citizen votes and the lack of competition in political races. The Washington Post article explains a scenario from 2010 in which activists yearned for their thoughts to be heard, but found that they were stuck with a representative that was either purely Democrat in a strong Democratic district or purely Republican in a strong Republican district. The article states, “Those representatives would not listen because the electoral map meant that they didn’t need to.” Gerrymandering has caused an issue that makes citizens feel that their voices are not heard and that their votes do not count. It seems that no matter what they say or do, no one can be swayed, which forces them to just give up and have no desire to participate in politics....
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...Gerrymandering is the practice of redrawing congressional district lines so that one political party has an advantage over the other. In most states the state legislature has control over redrawing district lines, thus the majority party has control of congressional districts. The party in control of the state legislature will redraw district boundaries to give them more seats in Congress. The U.S. Constitution calls for a national census to be taken every ten years for reapportionment purposes (which is determining how many representatives each state gets based on its population at that time). This means that the federal redistricting process takes place the year after each census is taken. For example, the last national census was in 2010, and the redistricting process started to take place in 2011....
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...Introduction: “Partisan gerrymandering is almost as old as the nation, and both parties have used it. In the 1980s, when Democrats had more political power in state legislatures, they were enthusiastic proponents of partisan gerrymandering. In recent years, the two major political parties, leveraging the technologies of the modern age, have intentionally and systematically excluded each other from state legislatures like never before.”1 Gerrymandering is collective and bi-partisan in nature. Considering, the span of citizens across the United States and levels of government it impacts. Background: Gerrymandering has had a background with both political parties. Maryland’s 3rd district in Democratic Representative John Sarbanes is currently...
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...Competing demands balance by Congressman -what I think -whats best for my constituants -whats best for the country -whats the right thing Bicameral- two houses, one more populace, one more elitist. Reapportionment- happens every 10 years after census, readjusts how many representatives. Redistricting- within a state, you redraw districts according to how many representatives you have Gerrymandering- You mess around with redistricting…the state senate redraws the districts in favor of how they want. Advantages of being an incumbent- they win 85% of the time. They have name recognition Pro’s for term limits- when politicians become professional they begin to lose touch with the people and become corrupt… Con- when you have a really good one, they are limited to what they can do Who presides over the Senate? Vice President Powers of the Speaker of the House- Call on people to speak, assign bills to committees, set time limits for debates. Nancy Pelosi- Speaker of the House, from San Francisco, California. Pro tempore- has to do with the fact that the vice president never shows up to the senate, the senior member of the major party is the leader of the senate Majority leader- the person who sets the agenda for the party Whip- the one who counts the votes and makes sure it gets done…twists peoples arms to get them to vote their way. Filibuster- somebody talks as long as they want Cloture- two thirds majority vote in the senate, you can...
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...The Electoral College: How Our System of Elections Needs to be Changed Richard Brookman Metropolitan State University of Denver Author Note This paper was prepared for ENG 1020, Section 031, taught by Professor Clark. Abstract Article two, section one of the Constitution details the creation and operation of the Electoral College. Each representative of each state, both senators and representatives, cast a vote for the President based on the wants of their constituents. This is the basis for the Electoral College; however our forefathers had little insight into the problems that can arise from crafting a quick solution to the problem of electing the commander-in-chief. Over the past 200 years, many changes have been made to the Electoral College when a problem has risen to give us the Electoral College of today. The people of the United States have seen what the Electoral College has become and want the election process to change into a popular vote system. The popular vote system isn’t the answer. Only a combination of the two systems will help to give fair representation to all of the states, while keeping the essence of majority rule that the people desire. This system includes a single vote for districts that are won by popular vote, getting rid of the human form of electors, and using today’s technology to make it easier to maneuver through the complexities of the voting process. The Electoral College: How Our System of Elections Needs...
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...THE STRUCTURE OF THE AMERICAN JUDICIARY I. Intro --Court organization CAN become the focus of political battles. --e.g. There are 12 circuit courts (federal courts of appeals). The 9th circuit is the largest as it includes 9 states and two territories. It stretches from Alaska to Arizona and from Montana to Hawaii and then to Guam. -- 28 full time judges and several more retired judges who help out part time. --Hears over 5000 cases a year. -In 1990 the U.S. Senate considered a bill to split the 9th circuit into 2 circuits. California, Arizona and Nevada would make up one circuit while the other states and territories would make up a second circuit. -to some this division made sense since the circuit was considered too large to handle business efficiently. However, this seemingly routine matter of administration met intense opposition. --The bill was sponsored by Senators from the northwestern states and was opposed by senators from California. Interest groups were also involved: The Sierra Club and other environmental groups argued fiercely against the proposal. --Why would the division of a judicial circuit into two parts stir up such political controversy? -->The 9th Circuit had a majority of judges from California which gave broad interpretations to environmental protection laws. --People from the Northwest saw these decisions as damaging to their timber industries. --So splitting the circuit would prevent California judges from ruling on environmental...
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...Contents Title Page Dedication Prologue CHAPTER ONE: Republicans and Democrats CHAPTER TWO: Values CHAPTER THREE: Our Constitution CHAPTER FOUR: Politics CHAPTER FIVE: Opportunity CHAPTER SIX: Faith CHAPTER SEVEN: Race CHAPTER EIGHT: The World Beyond Our Borders CHAPTER NINE: Family Epilogue Acknowledgments About the Author Also by Barack Obama Copyright Prologue IT’S BEEN ALMOST ten years since I first ran for political office. I was thirty-five at the time, four years out of law school, recently married, and generally impatient with life. A seat in the Illinois legislature had opened up, and several friends suggested that I run, thinking that my work as a civil rights lawyer, and contacts from my days as a community organizer, would make me a viable candidate. After discussing it with my wife, I entered the race and proceeded to do what every first-time candidate does: I talked to anyone who would listen. I went to block club meetings and church socials, beauty shops and barbershops. If two guys were standing on a corner, I would cross the street to hand them campaign literature. And everywhere I went, I’d get some version of the same two questions. “Where’d you get that funny name?” And then: “You seem like a nice enough guy. Why do you want to go into something dirty and nasty like politics?” I was familiar with the question, a variant on the questions asked of me years earlier, when I’d first arrived in Chicago to work in low-income neighborhoods. It signaled a cynicism...
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