Joe Mathews, a California political analyst, writes here that the California top-two system does not help centrists.
Comments
California Political Analyst Joe Mathews Says California Top-Two Does Not Help Centrists — 6 Comments
“Top Two” doesn’t help anyone except the current, established, corrupt status quo of Democrats and Republicans
Abolish the gerrymander USA Senate —
CA folks chief victims of it for 50 years plus.
PR and AppV
Kyle… I agree except I don’t see how Republicans are benefitting at least in statewide races. This is essentially the old Soviet-style “Top One”.
Demo Rep… Your comments make about as much sense as a squirrel chasing a dog most of the time.
A states boundaries are its boundaries… They can’t be gerrymandered. I’m assuming you mean make the representation more proportional to the populations? That’s in part the point of breaking Cali into multiple states. The constitution specifically states that in order for the Senate to not have equal representation between all the states, EVERY state must agree to an amendment to abolish that practice.
In addition, the entire point of the senate is to reduce the amount of progressive policies being implemented. It’s a basically a “Whoa there, slow down” mechanism, so the public can’t sweep in a bunch of populists and entirely fuck up the entire system by passing 100s of amendments in one congressional session, which would cause complete chaos. That’s the reason most states also have what otherwise seems like a useless bicameral system.
The creation of each State was a gerrymander machination.
Esp the SMALL [LOOOOW population] western States during and after the horrific Civil War — See KS, NE, NV, WV [WV by USA Army force].
— which was due in part to creating the new States earlier in 1791-1861
— ie free or slave States (in pairs) — obvious gerrymander machinations.
CA — a somewhat special case due to the Mexican WAR — having few non-Spanish whites in 1850 —
plus more machinations relating to he various 1850 *compromises* about slavery
— Civil WAR I held off until 1859-1861 events — esp. 1860 gerrymander election of Prez Lincoln.
—
PR and AppV
“Top Two” doesn’t help anyone except the current, established, corrupt status quo of Democrats and Republicans
Abolish the gerrymander USA Senate —
CA folks chief victims of it for 50 years plus.
PR and AppV
Kyle… I agree except I don’t see how Republicans are benefitting at least in statewide races. This is essentially the old Soviet-style “Top One”.
Demo Rep… Your comments make about as much sense as a squirrel chasing a dog most of the time.
A states boundaries are its boundaries… They can’t be gerrymandered. I’m assuming you mean make the representation more proportional to the populations? That’s in part the point of breaking Cali into multiple states. The constitution specifically states that in order for the Senate to not have equal representation between all the states, EVERY state must agree to an amendment to abolish that practice.
In addition, the entire point of the senate is to reduce the amount of progressive policies being implemented. It’s a basically a “Whoa there, slow down” mechanism, so the public can’t sweep in a bunch of populists and entirely fuck up the entire system by passing 100s of amendments in one congressional session, which would cause complete chaos. That’s the reason most states also have what otherwise seems like a useless bicameral system.
The creation of each State was a gerrymander machination.
Esp the SMALL [LOOOOW population] western States during and after the horrific Civil War — See KS, NE, NV, WV [WV by USA Army force].
— which was due in part to creating the new States earlier in 1791-1861
— ie free or slave States (in pairs) — obvious gerrymander machinations.
CA — a somewhat special case due to the Mexican WAR — having few non-Spanish whites in 1850 —
plus more machinations relating to he various 1850 *compromises* about slavery
— Civil WAR I held off until 1859-1861 events — esp. 1860 gerrymander election of Prez Lincoln.
—
PR and AppV
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicameralism
ONE house legislative bodies — national and sub-national.
Lots of regimes manage to survive.
Major work compiling the lists.
PR and AppV