By Lone Shark
Months before the ink is dry on Florida’s new legislative and congressional maps, the redistricting process has succeeded in fleshing out what everyone’s real concern is as it pertains to redrawing our electoral districts- race, and the so called “racial divide”. Recall that those much ballyhooed 2010 ballot initiatives, the so-called ‘Fair Districts’ Amendments 5 & 6, were drafted to ‘even out’ the playing field (whatever that means) and do away with funny looking ‘gerrymandered’ districts that were drawn to protect either incumbents or political parties.
Silly Floridians, legislative tricks are for kids!
Now, many of the same state legislators that campaigned for the Fair Districts Amendments can’t pander their hypocrisy fast enough by insisting that certain districts must be drawn up as ‘minority districts,’ that are ostensibly drawn that way to help ‘even the playing field’-
“I think the constitution mandates that we protect those (racially gerrymandered) seats.” – Sen. Gary Siplin, Democrat
“I do believe that racial protection is clearly paramount.” – Sen. John Thrasher, former state GOP chairman
“We shape the rest of the map around those (racially gerrymandered) seats.” – Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater.
There is one goal that legislatures should be moving towards when it comes to redistricting- the drafting of more evenly balanced districts- based on voter registration- that encourage more competitive elections, as much as the population as it’s currently situated allows. Unfortunately, this goal doesn’t nearly seem to have the same priority that drawing so called “safe” seats for minorities does, which is why Amendments 5 & 6 were a farce to begin with.
Let’s be dead honest here. Every legal resident of Florida that is eligible to vote has the right to vote- once. Everyone’s vote should be counted after it has been cast- once. But any claims to the right of a “Black” or “Hispanic” seat or district to be drawn are pleasant fictions at best, and racially regressive at worst. Voting and representative rights, if they were properly understood and codified, should have nothing to do with ensuring electoral outcomes. No seat in the Florida Legislature or within Florida’s congressional delegation should be ever identified or considered a “Hispanic” seat or a “Black” seat, but that’s exactly what these lobbyists and legislators are reinforcing rather than abandoning. So much for living in a “post-racial” society.
For all of the caterwauling about “fair districts”, there is no way to possibly draw numerically proportional, congruent looking districts that neatly use county or city lines, highways, waterways, or other landmarks as boundaries for congressional or legislative seats here in Florida. Any future redistricting will produce very odd-shaped looking districts, and the political party that’s in power gets to draw them. Perhaps Democrats should have considered the ramifications of what cramming ObamaCare down the throats of Floridians in 2010 would mean for redistricting efforts in 2012.
The legislature’s proper goal should be the eradication of electoral fraud and to ensure that everyone’s vote is counted once- therein lies the basis for a fairer representative system of government that truly is able to reflect the will of the people.
7 Responses to “It’s All About Your Race to Redistricting”
We just codified a racial separated society to today and future American generations in our state constitution.
Racism is now the law of the land.
I wish they’d gerrymander me out of Castor’s district as it is now impossible to sell my house and move! I work for each one of her opponents, lets hope next year is a charm.
Democrat legislators (and The League of Women Voters, which claims to be “non-Partisan”, but which in fact adhere’s only to the Democrat platform) want the District lines drawn along Racial/ethnic lines. Not because they care about minorities, but because so far they’ve been able to convince certain minority groups that they care about them, thus most of the people within those groups will vote Democrat!
However, today, many people who are part of a minority have finally figured out that their social, professional and financial situation today is no different than it’s ever been when Democrats are in the majority of any Gov’t body.
The problems of a poor, single, black mother are no different than those of a poor, single, white, or Mexican mother. They need jobs to pay the bills, and to feed and clothe their children, and they need a hand up to help them until they can become self-sufficient.
The truth is that (unless you really want to discriminate against races and ethnicities who are not given special help) the District lines for Elected officials must be drawn compactly, within close distinces to their constituents, so that all (races, ethnicities) will have easy access to their legislator, and will therefore be able to hold them accountable! This would also provide the elected official with more insight into the problems of the area, instead of having the District spread all over the map!
As is Affirmative Action, carving electoral districts to give advantage to black minority is horrendous manifestation of legalized racism. It is implemented under auspices of The Voting Rights Act of 1965 which supposedly had to outlaw discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S. However, politicians turned that noble goal upside down to give the blacks legislative advantage against oppressed white majority. While the blacks as a whole are statistically still lagging behind the whites in economic prosperity (at whose fault?), politically they are the preferred ELITE. So much for liberals’ battle cry of “social equality”! Interestingly enough The Act has been renewed by Congress four times, the most recent being a 25-year extension signed into law by none else than President George W. Bush in 2006. How did that hunt for black votes worked for Rs at 2008 elections? If, by the grace of God, next year we’ll get back legislative majority in DC, repeal of ALL the laws giving ANY kind of preferences based on race/ethnicity/gender/sexual orientation/etc. should become top priority for new administration if we want to avoid another attempt at “obamanization” of the country in the nearest future.
Do they ever stop to think about how insulting it is to everyone involved when they set up these “black districts”
They are assuming that blacks will only vote for a black candidate and that the candidate’s stand on issues doesn’t matter. They are also assuming that whites won’t vote for a black candidate.
Here’s an idea. Lets vote for candidates based on their ideas and beliefs instead of what they look like. They should ban pictures of the candidates on political ads. If voters had to actually educate themselves on the issues and couldn’t see the candidate the voting numbers would drop by 90% in some groups.
I hope Gov.Scott and the Republican legislator do the right thing!
Amendment 6; Here’s the text,
Congressional districts or districting plans may not be drawn to favor or disfavor an incumbent or political party. Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice. Districts must be contiguous. Unless otherwise required, districts must be compact, as equal in population as feasible, and where feasible must make use of existing city, county and geographical boundaries
Here’s the problem with the text of the amendment, “Districts shall not be drawn to deny racial or language minorities the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice.”
I have a bad feeling that my congressional district 20 which snakes from Weston all the way up to Wilton Manors thru Hollywood Beach and then down to Miami Beach, all liberal bastions will somehow be protected to remain gerrymandered to protect the rights of minorities. Something stinks here.