Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The Tyranny of the Minority

The republican minority, not just in Wisconsin, but nationwide also has taken over our government and it is going to be here to stay for a while!

As Dana Milbank of the Washington Post writes:


The mantra has been intoned by John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, Grover Norquist and many other party eminences, and there is a certain logic to saying that the voters, by giving Republicans the House, were asking for divided government.

But the claim to represent the voters’ will doesn’t add up.

The final results from the November election were completed Friday, and they show that Democratic candidates for the House outpolled Republicans nationwide by nearly 1.4 million votes and more than a full percentage point — a greater margin than the preliminary figures showed in November. And that’s just the beginning of it: A new analysis finds that even if Democratic congressional candidates won the popular vote by seven percentage points nationwide, they still would not have gained control of the House.

Why would that be?  Redistricting of course:

 In a very real sense, the Republican House majority is impervious to the will of the electorate. Thanks in part to deft redistricting based on the 2010 Census, House Republicans may be protected from the vicissitudes of the voters for the next decade. For Obama and the Democrats, this is an ominous development: The House Republican majority is durable, and it isn’t necessarily sensitive to political pressure and public opinion.

Of course the EXACT same thing has happened in Wisconsin:

 Gordon analyzed election results in state senate races and this was his conclusion: “Based on the numbers reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, adding up all votes cast in the Wisconsin State Senate races shows that Democrats received 475,116 votes (50.5%), Republicans received 451,928 votes (48.1%), and others received 13,100 (1.4%), yet the Republicans gain seats and take the majority in the Senate.”
It also happened in the Wisconsin State Assembly!

They continually take electorol votings beating and continue to keep or gain control of the Government.

Its of no wonder why the "tea party" has been dropping in popularity as quick as  you can say "earl gray".   I guess all the pretending to "wrap themselves in the Constitution" and then loving their artificial hold on Government has shown them to be the hypocritical astroturf group we all knew they were!  

Even the right wing editor of the Beloit Daily News thinks the republicans have gone too far

However the best quote of all of this comes from Robin Vos, new speaker of the Assembly:

 "I don't have any plans to ever run for a political office higher than this one," Vos says. "I'm not using this position as a steppingstone to run for Congress, to run for governor or became the state treasurer or whatever. I care for the institution. I love the Legislature. I think we should be the most powerful branch of government because we are the most representative of the people. And I want to do everything I can to make my constituents proud back in Racine County."
 What Vos really needs to say, to make it more accurate is, that they are most representative of the least amount of people.

Somewhere Thomas Paine is rolling over in his grave!


"The right of voting for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce a man to slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the election of representatives is in this case."  -Thomas Paine, First Principles of Government (1795)






27 comments:

  1. Who is in the photo?

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  2. Robin Vos and one of his ex wives he was using as a prop at the time

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  3. someone poor another beer on that guy pronto.

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  4. Vote totals mean nothing. Democratic Assembly candidates in many Dane County and Milwaukee County did not face a republican challenger. A perfect example is Chris Taylor's district. She received 30,000 plus votes and there was not a republican on that ballot. Guess what that means?? Yep, 30,000 more democratic votes than republican. Add all those contests than did not have a republican challenger and you come up with 200,000 more votes. Not too hard to understand.

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    1. The same could be said for Republicans who run without a challenger.

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    2. There were not any races that did not have democratic challengers.

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    3. let's be real here, I can not help that there is a failure of leadership and depth in the republican party that allows seats to go unchallenged.

      However, the fact that Chris Taylor was unchallenged means that she also received less votes than she would have had she had a challenger. many people do not vote down ticket, especially if there isnt a race.

      While we are a fairly evenly divided state, there is no disputing that we are a center left state!

      If you think these numbers are misleading, then maybe we can check those of the two statewide races - Senator Baldwin and President Obama.

      Not too hard to understand at all!

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    4. @Anon 1213PM: There were no Democratic Party candidates last November in AD-22, AD-40, AD-58, AD-59, SD-2 or SD-8.

      With your assertion being laughably wrong, I laugh.

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    5. For the record, I think its a failure of leadership on both parties to let any district go unchallenged! thanks for the info!

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  5. The picture? That is Speaker Vos's wife. They are technically separated, although certainly still married. Hopefully she comes back to Wisconsin and helps him deal with his commitment issues.
    No matter how you look at the math it is apparent that this state is nearly equally divided. The folks in Madison should legislate accordingly. We will know within the next few weeks.

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  6. I don't think there will be moderation, except of the kind where something radical is called moderate, but maybe I am too pessimistic.

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  7. So let me get this straight. This post boasts how Dems turn out and win the popular vote. But the post that immediately preceded this one is just a bunch of cheap shots at electeds Capper has a beef with because he knows Dems would get whooped in the popular vote(referendum on cutting the CB)?

    What is it Capper? In your impotent rage you're in conflict with yourself in back-to-back posts.

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    1. First thing is I wrote this not Capper, why is reading comprehension so hard for those on the right?

      Secondly, i am not boasting that when dems turn out .....I am pointing out that we have a center left state thats all and everytime robin vos says the voters gave him a mandate he will be lying to you!

      thats all

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    2. So then lets allow the people vote on the shitty CB?

      Sorry, I'm a newb to this site. I lurked years back and thought this was still only Chris.

      And, no- this is not a centre-left state. That's the most humourous thing I've heard so far this year.

      But, feel free to cope however you must and try to enjoy the next few months.

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    3. How are you going to vote when apparently you can't read? You won't know what you're voting for. (Which is really rather obvious.)

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    4. Listen assclowns, you guys think you're such hot shit with the popular vote? Then lets have the county board referendum.

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    5. Wow, temper, temper.

      Don't get all pissy just because the truth is painful to you. Especially when your only fallback is a rigged referendum. That's not exactly democracy now, is it?

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    6. You can gerrymander the farking county borders, dipshits.

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    7. Can't. So stick that gerrymandering shit up your ass.

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    8. Children, behave. Leave that language for the right wing blogs, thank you very much.

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    9. Sure Chris, you're the king of obscene and overheated rhetoric. Let's have the referendum, OK?

      Winners of the popular vote are a hot topic of your blog. The people of MKE county will blow it away regardless of your accusation of redistricting gerrymandering, and your premise will be proven wrong. How will you claim gerrymandering tilted the vote of the people of MKE county?

      Was that clean enough for you?

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    10. Obscene?

      Anyway, why would they need to put in language forbidding any other referendums if this was clean?

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    11. The problem isnt the referendum, the problem is the Milwaukee referendum is mandatory thanks to a Madison politician.

      How do you think the right would have taken it if the dems forced a referendum in Waukesha county? Heaven knows they cant really take care of themselves and need oversight(i am talking to you Kathy kickolaus). Yet because the dems believe in local control they stayed out of it.

      So please do not have any pretense of local control being of importance to your party, we know what is important to you is big government republican control ...nothing else matters.

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  8. Most of the dire predictions about GOP dominance in cleverly redistricted federal and state seats assume a known and static electorate. If the Dems could get off their asses long enough to leave their latte' settings and venture out into rural communities/neighborhoods of low wage working families, with a sincere message of concern for their plight, all bets are off.

    Badgercare, EITC, tech school funding, fair wages. These are bread and butter kitchen table issues that the average person cares more about than God, guns and gays.

    But you can't be afraid of trailer parks or frozen pizzas. Especially while you're looking down your nose.

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    1. It's not that easy to turn die hard republicans Steve.

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    2. Besides, I can't go without my latte...
      Just kidding, Steve, I agree with you, not that Dems are all too busy looking down on others, but, I agree that if the Dems were to show true concern and to really publicize that idea it would work.

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  9. When the JS is questioning Vos on the gerrymandering and Vos like Walker avoids answering the question- we got a problem. Watch the video. Vos didn't have a good answer. Fast talker - lousy popcorn.

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