Kennedy Ice- up for grabs

Sat Nov 10 04:09:04 CST 2018

Thanks for the compliment, but you're not quite getting my point. It's not about Trump's numbers, Its about the tiny fraction of the population in rural states whose senators are yielding enormous power over the vast majority of the country, and are being played by Trump, et al., for that reason. Maybe this timely op-ed by Paul Krugman, who compares Wyoming, with even fewer people- 600,000- than North Dakota's 755,393, to California's 35,000,000+, and yet has equal senatorial representation:

"But here’s the thing: The Senate, which gives each state the same number of seats regardless of population — which gives fewer than 600,000 people in Wyoming the same representation as almost 40 million in California — drastically overweights those rural areas and underweights the places where most Americans live."

And,

"So what happened Tuesday, with Republicans getting shellacked in the House but gaining in the Senate, wasn’t just an accident of this year’s map or specific campaign issues. It reflected a deep division in culture, indeed values, between the American citizenry at large and the people who get to choose much of the Senate.

This divergence will have profound implications, because the Senate has a lot of power, especially when the president — who, let us not forget, lost the popular vote — leads the party that controls it. In particular, Trump and his Senate friends will spend the next couple of years stuffing the courts with right-wing loyalists.

We may, then, be looking at a growing crisis of legitimacy for the U.S. political system — even if we get through the constitutional crisis that seems to be looming over the next few months."

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/midterms-senate-rural-urban.html

But more importantly, Trump doesn't actually give a rat's ass about the average folks in those states. He plays to their fears and tells them what they want to hear- pretends he's their great white hope- and then goes off to Mar-a-Lago, or Trump Tower, and signs off on the next tariff that will end up crippling their economic future, or eliminating some regulation that wil end up destroying their environment. They are merely a means to his and his wealthy clients' ends.

jody

Sent with [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com) Secure Email.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
On Friday, November 9, 2018 2:02 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jody,
>
> It's the Constitution we have. And the part ain't gunna get changed, ever (though I dream of a parliament-style tweak).  But even so, Trump was elected shy just 3 million popular votes, not 52/1.  But it was a nice rant.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Thu, Nov 8, 2018 at 7:00 PM jody2.718 <jody2.718 at protonmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hey Becky-
>>
>> I did think about you when I picked North Dakota to compare with California, re: the crazy way the Senate over compensates for majority rule. And that 11 y/o granddaughter- that couldn't be the "child of the storm" born in the wake of that F5 twister, could she be? If so, I'm getting old way to fast.  Thanks for responding.
>>
>> But no, I'm totally sympatico with the farmers of North Dakota, especially in juxtaposition to the agribusiness giants gobbling up farms that have been in families for generations- an American Tragedy supplanting The American Gothic:
>>
>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gothic#/media/File:Grant_Wood_-_American_Gothic_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
>>
>> My aim was to indicate how the Trumpublicans are undermining democracy by using the Senate to allow minority rule and frustrate the will of the vast majority of the country, including many fair-minded folks in "red" states who voted for democrats, or even moderate leaning republicans who ccould't be heard in their own party. Trump does not care about North Dakota except as a means to a very bad end.
>> But more people in rural states need to realize that his policies, wrapped in a sheep's clothing of pseudo-concern for their fears of being forgotten, are endangering their environment, and way of life.
>>
>> jody
>>
>> Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.
>>
>> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>> On Thursday, November 8, 2018 6:12 PM, Becky Lindroos <bekah0176 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>
>>> If elections go to straight popular vote (or equal population ratios for states), who’s going to bother even listening to the concerns to any rural area, much less visiting? Will farm policies count anymore? Will commodities and farm land be heavily taxed - drop all those stupid subsidies to farmers? (Well, duh, who cares? Their scattered votes don’t count like the votes of millions of people concerned with prices and urban housing and transport.)
>>>
>>> Nowhere near all farmers are anything like big business - many barely get by with both mom and pop doing other jobs like teaching and equipment repair. The prices they get are pretty well determined by big business (grain and bean buyers). It’s coming though, big business farms will rule if enough big city people want to stop rural US from getting a vote which actually counts. (ironic heh)
>>>
>>> Note - I’m kind of on the fence about this, but my family has been involved in farming (North Dakota no less) one farm since 1876), about 6 generations plus one growing up. It got divided up so it’s not a big farm now. Family farms tend to sell out after about the 3rd generation, but this one and many others like it haven’t! My daughter and son-in-law farm it (while working as a teacher and a mechanic). It would be so cool if my granddaughters decided try it. One might but she’s still only 11. lol -
>>>
>>> Becky
>>> https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com
>>>
>>> > On Nov 8, 2018, at 6:19 AM, jody2.718 jody2.718 at protonmail.com wrote:
>>> > The future is cute and cuddly, but every time grandma tries to grab a hold of the "little bargain" he just seems to melt away. The U.S. Senate, however, now there's a real bargain.
>>> > North Dakota- pop., 755,393, and Two senators
>>> > California- pop., 39,536,653, and Two senators
>>> > Ratio- about 52 : 1
>>> > In Senatorial Mathematics, each person from North Dakota is worth 52+ Californians.
>>> > Excuse me while I dust off my degree in rocket science, but in terms of power, why would anyone even bother trying to persuade the voting percentage of 39.5 million people in California to vote for them when the same effect could be had by persuading 2 percent of that many in North Dakota?
>>> > 322,613 people voted in North Dakota for the senatorial race. In California, no senate seats up for re-election, but 7,140,132 people voted for the governorship. On a percentage basis the turnout was way higher in North Dakota- almost 43 % of the estimated 2017 population (hard to believe, actually), while in California, about 20% of the estimated 2017 population voted for governor. Still, 51% of 322,613 in N.D. needed to control a senate seat, or about 165,000 votes, versus 51% of the estimated 7,140,132 voting public, or, about 3,641,500, in California- 22 times as many votes needed in California to control a senate seat.
>>> > Where would you spend your money?
>>> > "Does Dellman's sell Shoes?"
>>> > [Population estimates- Wikipedia. Voting numbers- Washington Post]
>>> > jody
>>> >
>>> > Sent with ProtonMail Secure Email.
>>> >
>>> > -----------------------------------
>>> >
>>> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l