Dead Man Blogging

The current districting scheme in Texas is such that we have more Democratic members in the US House of Representatives than we do Republicans. Clearly, though, Texas is a Republican state. This demonstrates that our elected officials are not actually representative of us.

There are many other voting systems that produce an outcome more proportional to the views of the voters. I suggest we implement one right away. My favorite is cumulative voting, but there are many good systems.

Let’s consider the impact a more representative, hypothetical voting system could have on Houston. It’s represented by no less than eight Congressional districts. Each district selects a single representative. This opens Houston up to gerrymandering.

What you could do instead is make Houston one big district with eight representatives. All Houston candidates would run against each other, competing for the eight seats. Each voter gets eight votes, to be cast as they see fit (all 8 votes for one candidate, one vote each for 8 candidates, etc). Then the eight candidates who received the most votes would be elected.

Of the registered voters in Houston, about 43% vote Democrat and 57% vote Republican. (Data is here). Yet the 8 Congressional districts in Houston are split evenly among Democratic and Republican representatives. Implementing a more representative voting system in Houston would probably shift the mix to 3 Democrats and 5 Republicans, which is clearly more representative of Houston voters.

By creating larger districts (say, one each for Houston, Austin, San Antonio, D/FW, one for north central Texas excluding D/FW, etc) but using a more complicated voting system, you hypothetically maintain the close voter-representative connection, continue to fairly represent various localities, and vastly reduce the potential for gerrymandering. I believe it’s the way to go.

You also get the side benefit of probably reducing the number of elected Democrats!

The lead story at FOXNews.com right now is about the return home of the USS Abraham Lincoln. It’s a very touching story, and conveys a very supportive attitude towards our troops and our President. It really hammers home the fact that our soldiers, and their families, willingly made sacrifices to protect us, and that they believe in the President and the mission he sent them on.

Here’s a sample:

Sailors carried flowers and presents for their families as they walked down the ship’s ramp through an arch of red, white and blue balloons, and then stepped into the crowd.
…
“It’s been 10 months — 10 long months — but we know that he’s been in God’s hands,” said another mom. “All this has been for a purpose. God bless the USA and God bless the president for taking a stand against Saddam and against all evilness.”
…
Hundreds if not thousands greeted the aircraft carrier at the water’s edge, waving signs and flags in support of the troops.

Still giddy from Thursday’s visit by President Bush, the sailors landed with a spring in their step after the commander in chief told them they had served their country well.
…
About 2,500 sailors on the deck of the 1,092-foot-long Nimitz-class carrier cheered wildly as Bush told them they were “homeward bound.”

Many said they were surprised by how down-to-earth Bush seemed.
…
Many of the 5,000 sailors said they will never forget their last day away from port and several praised Bush for making it special.

“It’s like when you thought everybody forgot about you,” said Djossou. “He came out here and made everything better because he didn’t forget.”

The lead story at CNN? Scott Peterson hired Winona Ryder’s old lawyer.

ABC News features a story about Elizabeth Smart.

Last Friday, we were informed that exempt employees at our site would begin a mandatory 72 hour work week “until further notice”. We have some budget shortfalls and delayed projects, and it’s claimed that we have to use extreme measures like this to close the budget gap for this quarter.

Today we are having a plant-wide meeting “to discuss the issues and requirements for drastic measures (EXTENDED WORK HOURS) to close the gap”.

This is May 1, known as “May Day” throughout much of the world - pretty much like Labor Day is in the US. Here’s some interesting information about how May Day got started.

The timing of this meeting is so ironic that I almost believe it’s intentional.

This is from http://ilalocal273.com/April_99.htm#origins

I have bolded some parts for emphasis.

The Origins of May Day - International Workers’ Day

In most countries around the world, May 1st or May Day is officially recognized as International Workers’ Day. Ironically, it is only in North America — where May Day got it’s start– that recognition has been given to another day (Labour Day).

May Day has it’s origins in the movement for an eight-hour day that swept the United States and Canada during the mid-1880’s. In 1886, and association of unions and other supporters of the eight-hour day began making preparations for mass demonstrations for May 1st in most major North American cities. At this time, most people worked between 10-12 hours a day, 6 days a week.

As the workers made their plans, the other side prepared as well. Everywhere, police and military were readied for emergency actions, and leading business men created anti-labour committees which began arming and training volunteers for the expected confrontation.

When May 1st came, impressive demonstrations occurred in dozens of cities across the United States and Canada, including Toronto and Montreal. At the same time, workers and many plants decided to strike in support of their demands - over 30,000 in Chicago alone walked off the job.

Mrs. du Toit has discovered that Dennis Kucinich (a Democratic presidential hopeful) wants to establish a “Department of Peace” which will be “charged with preventing both domestic and foreign violence through enlightened social policies. ”

I think this is a good idea. Here are two “enlightened social policies” that would go a long way: constitutional representative democracies, and free market capitalism.

I’m just speculating, but I bet this wasn’t what Kucinich had in mind.