I would like for Mr. Mahoney to consider for a moment how he might feel about at-large voting for Congressmen. I understand the system doesn’t function like that but, humor me.
In the last election the Republican Party kept control of the House of Representatives. Curiously there were more votes cast for Democratic candidates throughout the country, yet there are 33 less Democrats than Republicans currently sitting in the House. Now how did that happen and is that representative of the will of the people?
Every 10 years states are reapportioned based on the U.S. Census. That reapportionment in each state is performed by whatever party happens to be in power in that state. Republicans controlled enough state houses to gerrymander enough districts so that in spite of their general unpopularity, they continue to run the House of Representatives.
Wouldn’t a more “fair” and representative method of governance be at-large voting for Congressmen? Why is that any different from the debate we’re enduring right now in Fayette County?
You could use the scale argument or the culture argument or the history argument, but in the end it would still devolve to fairness and representation. I detest the Republican fools in the House of Representatives but I understand how they came to be where they are.
I’m also familiar with the arguments put forth at the Constitutional Convention and certainly don’t fault those gentlemen for their pragmatism.
So don’t tell me we need district voting on a national level but those same precepts somehow don’t apply on a local level.
Finally I thank Mr. Mahoney for hanging himself with his own words. (“One has to wonder why blacks started coming to Fayetteville in the first place” … holy Buddha Batman).
The U.S. Supreme Court just overturned the pre-clearance section of the Voting Rights Act because the states to which that section applied are free of the shenanigans which led to those protections in the first place … aren’t they?
I am mailing my $30 to the NAACP this morning.
Timothy J. Parker
Peachtree City, Ga.
