I think that is an over- & inaccurate generalization. Perhaps my upbringing in the racist, isolated, rural South makes me similar enough to a Republican for you. This SOCIALIST still gripes (& educates others) about Reagan. I’ve successfully converted several early Gen Xers (regularly called Reagan Youth 35 yrs ago) who initially claimed Prion Ronnie was their favorite President, including a fellow Nat’l Merit Scholar, into perceiving reality & educating others out of their delusions. I wasn’t conceived yet, but I also regularly explain that JFK-worship only developed after his death…his father had to BUY the election.

What have you got against history?

Yes, I understand that there is more than one method. Each method might well be more useful in some states at some times than in others at other times, depending in part on relative total populations between urban and rural areas, between which majority political opinions often differ significantly.

Yes, that is how gerrymandering works, except you aren’t distributing one party among lots of districts, you are packing them into a few districts, conceding these and making it easier for your party to win the remaining districts.

The flip side of this is if one party is being aggressive with its gerrymander, it makes it more likely they will lose seats. This is part of why Republicans lost the House in 2006. In gerrymandering, they are taking their strong districts and making them weaker to make the weaker districts strong. Now instead of having districts with 60+% Republicans, you have more districts with 55% or less. These districts are more likely to fall if the party loses favor.

What about the inequality of drawing districts so as to deliberately distribute one party’s voters among a number of other districts so as to keep them a minority party in as many districts as possible? Are you saying that this hasn’t happened/doesn’t happen? Within such districts, the minority voters votes are dependably going for nothing. Or, of course, there is the other way to manipulate votes, making it as difficult as possible for voters of one party to vote as possible. Haven’t there been many GOP moves in this direction?

You yourself gave examples of successful rigging of the system in Texas. You want to say that it is done by both parties. Maybe so but I don’t care who does it; it’s wrong.

Yep – it could happen.

As a Minnesota fan, we are always waiting to lose in the first round of the playoffs – so I am not sure what to do now that we made it past the first round.

Now they just have to beat a backup QB to be the first team to play a Super Bowl at home.

It’s interesting that amongst all the reason that you give for voting, you don’t list that objectively he was the best candidate.

If you mean that a lot of people voted for Obama because of the color of his skin, than I agree – there was racism in the 2008 and 2012 elections.

That is why I voted for Obama – because he was black and I thought it was time for the first black president.

It certainly wasn’t because Obama was more qualified than Hillary Clinton.

I also like that Obama was young.

I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Senator McCain – who was just to old (and white).

Maybe everybody who voted for Obama is a racist. Hmmm – I never would have thought of that without your comment.

Thanks Aaron.