Cheating is the only way fascists ever win majorities in countrywide elections. It started in 2000 with Al Gore vs. W, continued on with the McConnell/Roberts inferior court, and it will continue in that vein, until there are no more pesky Democratic voters
Exactly right. This has been going on since Reagan. Citizens United was another SCOTUS head-scratcher that allows candidates (and judges) to be bought. This is corrupt as hell. I never thought I'd see this in the United States.
Very important points! This article and partisan gerrymandering and the SCOTUS majority's deceitful efforts to convince us that it is constitutional accentuate how SCOTUS justices lied to us in Trump v. Anderson (regarding the power of states to control state elections).
Trump v. Anderson was founded on at least two lies. One was the obvious fairytale-type falsehood that all "federal officers" '‘owe their existence and functions to the united voice of the whole, not of a portion, of the people.' ” That's obviously false in multiple respects. In no election do "the whole people" speak with a "united voice."
No president since George Washington can even potentially plausibly claim to have been elected by "the united voice of the whole" of "the people." As every election for national office highlights, the multitude of voters clearly do not speak with one voice. Many people do not speak (vote) at all. Moreover, we clearly have no national election.
Every election in which voters vote and that culminates in or contributes to a federal employee being elected is a state election. As states like Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah have highlighted recently, state legislatures make state laws, e.g., governing who can vote and where they can vote (including redistricting/gerrymandering) to determine how the president is chosen. The president clearly is not chosen by "the united voice of the whole" of "the people."
As Article II established clearly, the president must be chosen by the votes of state electors. State electors must be chosen according to state law and their votes are expected (or required) to reflect (according to state law) the votes of state voters who often have been corralled into districts by state legislators.
Article II of our Constitution proves the truth of Madison's statement in The Federalist No. 45 that "Without the intervention of the State legislatures, the President of the United States cannot be elected at all. [State legislatures] must in all cases have a great share in [the president's] appointment, and will, perhaps, in most cases, of themselves determine it."
Another obvious falsehood by SCOTUS justices in Trump v. Anderson was that "powers over [the] election" of the president "must be specifically 'delegated to, rather than reserved by, the States.' ” That contention was clearly contrary to the plain text of our Constitution. Our original Constitution was amended very promptly to identify and distinguish "delegated" powers from "reserved" powers in the Tenth Amendment. It's not even plausible that any SCOTUS justice, much less all SCOTUS justices, failed to grasp the significance of the plain text of the single sentence of the Tenth Amendment.
The Tenth Amendment summarized our Constitution in a single sentence: "by the Constitution" We the People "delegated to the United States" limited "powers;" We "prohibited by it [our Constitution] to the States" certain powers; We "reserved to the States" certain specific powers and general powers; and We "reserved" to "the people" the remaining powers.
Stated another way, the Tenth Amendment emphasized that all powers relevant here were "reserved to the States" except to the extent that our Constitution "delegated" limited powers "to the United States" government or "prohibited" certain powers "to the States."
State legislators are actively working to use partisan gerrymandering to rig not only the upcoming congressional elections, but also the next presidential election.
This whole thing seems absolutely crazy. Alabama has 5 of 7 GOP congressional seats no reason for it to be changed now when already there was a big fight over our districting in the SCOTUS in 2023. No way should SCOTUS be allowed to have it both ways.
I read a comment on BlueSky from a Texan who said MAGA-Republican policies right now are SO UNPOPULAR in Texas that even with these new gerrymandered districts it's very likely that Democrats will STILL prevail. Republicans refuse to even entertain the idea that Republicans who supported them in the past are now jumping ship. Could "caving" on the shutdown and allowing Republicans to realize their dream🤩 😍of destroying 💥 the ACA 😈 be a boon to electing people who value our US Constitution, the truth and the rule of law? Clearly this desperate effort to "rig" the vote in the 2026 Midterms is a hallmark of a classic fascist totalitarian who serves only his desires and not the well-being of his countrymen. But since the No Kings II rally and last week's Blue 🌊 my fear of a passive, apathetic American public have diminished. In direct-response marketing and fundraising we have an axiom, "Pay careful attention to all the complaints that come in. For each one you receive there are 10 other people out there who felt (negatively) about your product /organization / effort who didn't extend the effort to let you know." So if we got 7 million to come out into the streets - well, you do the math. 😉 stay positive.
The GOP is going one step further. In WV, there is a movement to annex counties from VA and MD, ultimately changing population and the number of electoral votes allocated to a state. I also read this is happening in other states.
I have reached the sad conclusion that Red and Blue America are like a couple stuck in a bad, rapidly becoming abusive, marriage that’s ruptured beyond repair. We’ve reached the point where the best solution is a (amicable, I hope—but doubt) divorce.
Think of it—Blue America can set up a modern country, with a modern economy based on technology and information. There will be equal rights and representation in a democratic (small d) government. Everyone will have the final say in controlling their own bodies except where endangering others is involved (so we will have immunization mandates). There will be a strong social safety net so nobody goes hungry, un-housed or without health insurance. Nobody will impose their religious beliefs on anyone else, and everyone will be free to follow whatever religion they want, or no religion if they so desire.
And the bumpkins, morons, Yahoos, misogynists, bigots, racists, rubes and boobs of Red America can have their hearts’ delight setting up their very own Third World country, right here on the North American continent! The government will be authoritarian, with no free elections and with few rights. Women will be considered the property of their fathers (or oldest male blood relative if dad is dead) until they marry, and then they will be property of their husband. It will have a Third World economy, based on extraction (agriculture, mining, timber, heavy manufacturing) with a very few ultra-rich people who live apart from society and feel no responsibility toward it. They won’t be in the government because they don’t have to be—the government will be at their beck and call. There will be a small middle class, running ever faster on the economic treadmill just to stay even. There will be a good-sized working class, working several jobs, none of which have benefits, just to make ends meet. And there will be a large underclass, living in shantytowns, just trying to survive. There will be epidemics of (and deaths from) measles, German Measles (with its attendant lethal birth defects), Hepatitis A and B, and many other vaccine-preventable diseases so the morons can have their freedom to spread disease.
I don’t pretend that the divorce will be easy. First, all of us have been living high on the hog from other people’s borrowed money so we’ll need to split up the national debt. We’ll also need to divvy up Federal property. Even harder will be the fact that even in deep Blue states, rural areas are solidly red—like the Eastern Shore and Appalachia in Maryland. Similarly, in ruby-Red Texas, the big cities (Houston, Austin, San Antonio) are solidly Blue and even Dallas is competitive. The disruption will be akin to setting up India and Pakistan when British South Asia was partitioned in 1947. But we’ll work it out.
Who the hell can stop this insanity? The GOP has all the levers of power. I never thought I would suggest this, but it might be time for a good old military coup. I think Trump lost the military the day he and that oaf "Secretary of War" flew in the generals and basically insulted them.
Cheating is the only way fascists ever win majorities in countrywide elections. It started in 2000 with Al Gore vs. W, continued on with the McConnell/Roberts inferior court, and it will continue in that vein, until there are no more pesky Democratic voters
Exactly right. This has been going on since Reagan. Citizens United was another SCOTUS head-scratcher that allows candidates (and judges) to be bought. This is corrupt as hell. I never thought I'd see this in the United States.
Very important points! This article and partisan gerrymandering and the SCOTUS majority's deceitful efforts to convince us that it is constitutional accentuate how SCOTUS justices lied to us in Trump v. Anderson (regarding the power of states to control state elections).
Trump v. Anderson was founded on at least two lies. One was the obvious fairytale-type falsehood that all "federal officers" '‘owe their existence and functions to the united voice of the whole, not of a portion, of the people.' ” That's obviously false in multiple respects. In no election do "the whole people" speak with a "united voice."
No president since George Washington can even potentially plausibly claim to have been elected by "the united voice of the whole" of "the people." As every election for national office highlights, the multitude of voters clearly do not speak with one voice. Many people do not speak (vote) at all. Moreover, we clearly have no national election.
Every election in which voters vote and that culminates in or contributes to a federal employee being elected is a state election. As states like Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Utah have highlighted recently, state legislatures make state laws, e.g., governing who can vote and where they can vote (including redistricting/gerrymandering) to determine how the president is chosen. The president clearly is not chosen by "the united voice of the whole" of "the people."
As Article II established clearly, the president must be chosen by the votes of state electors. State electors must be chosen according to state law and their votes are expected (or required) to reflect (according to state law) the votes of state voters who often have been corralled into districts by state legislators.
Article II of our Constitution proves the truth of Madison's statement in The Federalist No. 45 that "Without the intervention of the State legislatures, the President of the United States cannot be elected at all. [State legislatures] must in all cases have a great share in [the president's] appointment, and will, perhaps, in most cases, of themselves determine it."
Another obvious falsehood by SCOTUS justices in Trump v. Anderson was that "powers over [the] election" of the president "must be specifically 'delegated to, rather than reserved by, the States.' ” That contention was clearly contrary to the plain text of our Constitution. Our original Constitution was amended very promptly to identify and distinguish "delegated" powers from "reserved" powers in the Tenth Amendment. It's not even plausible that any SCOTUS justice, much less all SCOTUS justices, failed to grasp the significance of the plain text of the single sentence of the Tenth Amendment.
The Tenth Amendment summarized our Constitution in a single sentence: "by the Constitution" We the People "delegated to the United States" limited "powers;" We "prohibited by it [our Constitution] to the States" certain powers; We "reserved to the States" certain specific powers and general powers; and We "reserved" to "the people" the remaining powers.
Stated another way, the Tenth Amendment emphasized that all powers relevant here were "reserved to the States" except to the extent that our Constitution "delegated" limited powers "to the United States" government or "prohibited" certain powers "to the States."
State legislators are actively working to use partisan gerrymandering to rig not only the upcoming congressional elections, but also the next presidential election.
This whole thing seems absolutely crazy. Alabama has 5 of 7 GOP congressional seats no reason for it to be changed now when already there was a big fight over our districting in the SCOTUS in 2023. No way should SCOTUS be allowed to have it both ways.
I read a comment on BlueSky from a Texan who said MAGA-Republican policies right now are SO UNPOPULAR in Texas that even with these new gerrymandered districts it's very likely that Democrats will STILL prevail. Republicans refuse to even entertain the idea that Republicans who supported them in the past are now jumping ship. Could "caving" on the shutdown and allowing Republicans to realize their dream🤩 😍of destroying 💥 the ACA 😈 be a boon to electing people who value our US Constitution, the truth and the rule of law? Clearly this desperate effort to "rig" the vote in the 2026 Midterms is a hallmark of a classic fascist totalitarian who serves only his desires and not the well-being of his countrymen. But since the No Kings II rally and last week's Blue 🌊 my fear of a passive, apathetic American public have diminished. In direct-response marketing and fundraising we have an axiom, "Pay careful attention to all the complaints that come in. For each one you receive there are 10 other people out there who felt (negatively) about your product /organization / effort who didn't extend the effort to let you know." So if we got 7 million to come out into the streets - well, you do the math. 😉 stay positive.
THIS IS FRIGHTENING.
The GOP is going one step further. In WV, there is a movement to annex counties from VA and MD, ultimately changing population and the number of electoral votes allocated to a state. I also read this is happening in other states.
I have reached the sad conclusion that Red and Blue America are like a couple stuck in a bad, rapidly becoming abusive, marriage that’s ruptured beyond repair. We’ve reached the point where the best solution is a (amicable, I hope—but doubt) divorce.
Think of it—Blue America can set up a modern country, with a modern economy based on technology and information. There will be equal rights and representation in a democratic (small d) government. Everyone will have the final say in controlling their own bodies except where endangering others is involved (so we will have immunization mandates). There will be a strong social safety net so nobody goes hungry, un-housed or without health insurance. Nobody will impose their religious beliefs on anyone else, and everyone will be free to follow whatever religion they want, or no religion if they so desire.
And the bumpkins, morons, Yahoos, misogynists, bigots, racists, rubes and boobs of Red America can have their hearts’ delight setting up their very own Third World country, right here on the North American continent! The government will be authoritarian, with no free elections and with few rights. Women will be considered the property of their fathers (or oldest male blood relative if dad is dead) until they marry, and then they will be property of their husband. It will have a Third World economy, based on extraction (agriculture, mining, timber, heavy manufacturing) with a very few ultra-rich people who live apart from society and feel no responsibility toward it. They won’t be in the government because they don’t have to be—the government will be at their beck and call. There will be a small middle class, running ever faster on the economic treadmill just to stay even. There will be a good-sized working class, working several jobs, none of which have benefits, just to make ends meet. And there will be a large underclass, living in shantytowns, just trying to survive. There will be epidemics of (and deaths from) measles, German Measles (with its attendant lethal birth defects), Hepatitis A and B, and many other vaccine-preventable diseases so the morons can have their freedom to spread disease.
I don’t pretend that the divorce will be easy. First, all of us have been living high on the hog from other people’s borrowed money so we’ll need to split up the national debt. We’ll also need to divvy up Federal property. Even harder will be the fact that even in deep Blue states, rural areas are solidly red—like the Eastern Shore and Appalachia in Maryland. Similarly, in ruby-Red Texas, the big cities (Houston, Austin, San Antonio) are solidly Blue and even Dallas is competitive. The disruption will be akin to setting up India and Pakistan when British South Asia was partitioned in 1947. But we’ll work it out.
Amen!
Who the hell can stop this insanity? The GOP has all the levers of power. I never thought I would suggest this, but it might be time for a good old military coup. I think Trump lost the military the day he and that oaf "Secretary of War" flew in the generals and basically insulted them.
Not so sure this would even work. Hegseth is actively removing any flag officers who are not fanboys of the president.