The Many Faces of US Politics...

Started by Tyrones own, March 20, 2009, 09:29:14 PM

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J70

#18210
Quote from: RedHand88 on September 22, 2020, 09:19:35 PM
Quote from: J70 on September 22, 2020, 07:35:50 PM
Quote from: Roesider on September 22, 2020, 07:33:27 PM
Quote from: J70 on September 22, 2020, 07:29:15 PM
The number of justices is set by law.

If Congresses passes it and the president signs it, that's it.

Whether its a good idea or not, is a separate issue.

When Biden wins could they add 20 new justices straight away?

In theory, IF they take back the Senate too and abolish the filibuster

Is this a serious conversation

Not yet, at least when it comes to the Democratic leadership.

The idea is being discussed though.

Edit: I'm pretty sure TWENTY justices is not a serious conversation! :D

five points

Quote from: Jell 0 Biafra on September 22, 2020, 07:36:43 PM
Quote from: five points on September 22, 2020, 05:52:35 PM
Gerrymandering usually backfires though.

Giving the vote to people who live in the US (or in a US territory in the case of PR) is gerrymandering?

Depends on the circumstances. Creating new states motivated by the hope of creating a party political advantage is the essence of gerrymandering.

J70

Quote from: five points on September 23, 2020, 10:36:56 AM
Quote from: Jell 0 Biafra on September 22, 2020, 07:36:43 PM
Quote from: five points on September 22, 2020, 05:52:35 PM
Gerrymandering usually backfires though.

Giving the vote to people who live in the US (or in a US territory in the case of PR) is gerrymandering?

Depends on the circumstances. Creating new states motivated by the hope of creating a party political advantage is the essence of gerrymandering.

Denial of statehood the same.

What's the justification for DC residents not to have senators and a voting congress person?

five points

Quote from: J70 on September 23, 2020, 12:14:57 PM
Denial of statehood the same.

What's the justification for DC residents not to have senators and a voting congress person?

Quotegerrymander
/ˈdʒɛrɪˌmandə/
Learn to pronounce
verb
gerund or present participle: gerrymandering
manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favour one party or class.

What's the justification for any city not to have its own senators and a voting congress person?

J70

Quote from: five points on September 23, 2020, 12:34:21 PM
Quote from: J70 on September 23, 2020, 12:14:57 PM
Denial of statehood the same.

What's the justification for DC residents not to have senators and a voting congress person?

Quotegerrymander
/ˈdʒɛrɪˌmandə/
Learn to pronounce
verb
gerund or present participle: gerrymandering
manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favour one party or class.

What's the justification for any city not to have its own senators and a voting congress person?

Residents of all the other US cities have representation in the senate through their states and, in many cases, multiple voting congress people of their own.

As DC isn't part of any state, its residents are unrepresented in a major branch of government situated in their very midst.

sid waddell

It's mad to see people trying to make out that some other people should have no political representation based on where they live

On that basis we could just cancel whole Dail constituencies and leave the inhabitants of them without any TDs

I propose abolishing Kerry for the laugh, they don't pay taxes  down there anyway






five points

Quote from: J70 on September 23, 2020, 12:42:12 PM
Quote from: five points on September 23, 2020, 12:34:21 PM
Quote from: J70 on September 23, 2020, 12:14:57 PM
Denial of statehood the same.

What's the justification for DC residents not to have senators and a voting congress person?

Quotegerrymander
/ˈdʒɛrɪˌmandə/
Learn to pronounce
verb
gerund or present participle: gerrymandering
manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favour one party or class.

What's the justification for any city not to have its own senators and a voting congress person?

Residents of all the other US cities have representation in the senate through their states and, in many cases, multiple voting congress people of their own.

As DC isn't part of any state, its residents are unrepresented in a major branch of government situated in their very midst.

Fair enough, but the does that in itself warrant statehood? If lack of congressional representation is a problem, could that be fixed by appending it to Maryland or Virginia, in whole or in parts?

trileacman

By making DC a state could Republicans not simply respond in kind by making a republican voting city into a state?
Fantasy Rugby World Cup Champion 2011,
Fantasy 6 Nations Champion 2014

J70

#18218
Quote from: five points on September 23, 2020, 01:12:07 PM
Quote from: J70 on September 23, 2020, 12:42:12 PM
Quote from: five points on September 23, 2020, 12:34:21 PM
Quote from: J70 on September 23, 2020, 12:14:57 PM
Denial of statehood the same.

What's the justification for DC residents not to have senators and a voting congress person?

Quotegerrymander
/ˈdʒɛrɪˌmandə/
Learn to pronounce
verb
gerund or present participle: gerrymandering
manipulate the boundaries of (an electoral constituency) so as to favour one party or class.

What's the justification for any city not to have its own senators and a voting congress person?

Residents of all the other US cities have representation in the senate through their states and, in many cases, multiple voting congress people of their own.

As DC isn't part of any state, its residents are unrepresented in a major branch of government situated in their very midst.

Fair enough, but the does that in itself warrant statehood? If lack of congressional representation is a problem, could that be fixed by appending it to Maryland or Virginia, in whole or in parts?

A potential solution, certainly, if not for the whole district, then at least part.

Apparently the rationale against the federal government ceding control of DC, either to a state of DC in its own right, or it being annexed by VA or MD, is they don't want to be reliant on or subject to the control and whims of a state governnment.

But that still doesn't excuse the lack of representation at a federal level.

J70

Quote from: trileacman on September 23, 2020, 01:46:18 PM
By making DC a state could Republicans not simply respond in kind by making a republican voting city into a state?

Based on what justification?

LeoMc

Quote from: sid waddell on September 22, 2020, 10:54:25 PM
Quote from: LeoMc on September 22, 2020, 10:12:00 PM
So if Democrats take the White House and Senate, push statehood through for DC and PR and pack the Supreme Court what stops the Republicans splitting Texas to create additional states to take the Senate back?
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/messing-with-texas/amp/
Why should DC and Puerto Rico not have statehood and senate representation if they so desire, which they quite clearly do?

What's the argument against it?

Colonialism?
Where did I say they shouldn't have statehood?


Eamonnca1

Quote from: trileacman on September 23, 2020, 01:46:18 PM
By making DC a state could Republicans not simply respond in kind by making a republican voting city into a state?

Admission to the union requires approval by congress.  Quoth wikipedia:

The Admission to the Union Clause of the United States Constitution, often called the New States Clause, found at Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1, authorizes the Congress to admit new states into the United States beyond the thirteen already in existence at the time the Constitution went into effect.

The Constitution went into effect on June 21, 1788, after ratification by 9 of the 13 states, and the federal government began operations under it on March 4, 1789.[1] Since then, 37 states have been admitted into the Union. Each new state has been admitted on an equal footing with those already in existence.[2]

Of the 37 states admitted to the Union by Congress, all but six have been established within an existing U.S. organized incorporated territory. A state so created might encompass all or a portion of a territory. When the people of a territory or a region thereof have grown to a sufficient population and make their desire for statehood known to the federal government, in most cases Congress passed an enabling act authorizing the people of that territory or region to frame a proposed state constitution as a step toward admission to the Union. Although the use of an enabling act was a common historic practice, a number of states were admitted to the Union without one.

In many instances, an enabling act would detail the mechanism by which the territory would be admitted as a state following ratification of their constitution and election of state officers. Although the use of such an act is a traditional historic practice, a number of territories have drafted constitutions for submission to Congress absent an enabling act and were subsequently admitted. The broad outline for this process was established by the Land Ordinance of 1784 and the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, both of which predate the present U.S. Constitution.

The Admission to the Union Clause also forbids the creation of new states from parts of existing states without the consent of all the affected states and Congress. The primary intent of this caveat was to give Eastern states that still had western land claims (there were four at that time[which?]) a veto over whether their western counties could become states.[3] This clause has served the same function since, each time a proposal to partition an existing state or states has arisen.

sid waddell

Quote from: Jell 0 Biafra on September 23, 2020, 11:58:10 PM
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/what-if-trump-refuses-concede/616424/

Some light bedtime reading.
Read that earlier

It's all too believable

Timothy Snyder says that "There is a failure of imagination. In order to see reality, you need imagination. And imagination comes from history, it comes from a recognition that these things have happened before."

He's dead right

I listened to a podcast tonight featuring the Irish based US commentator Larry Donnelly - this is it here https://blog.hereshow.ie/2020/08/heres-how-109-trumping-the-media/

Larry sounds like a nice fella and would probably be good to have a pint with, but if his views are in any way representative of the DNC and those tasked with stopping Trump stealing the election, America is well and truly fucked, because pushover views like Larry's sum up why the Democratic party so consistently loses fights to focussed, calculating enemies who only care about power

You'd get more fight in an 89 old quadriplegic hoked up to a ventilator, in a critical condition with Covid

Gmac

Watching cnn and their talking about trump encouraging violent protests while a cop was shot in the background in Louisville, what a sc**bag news station .