There He Goes Again – Dan Walters Invents a Rationale to Defend All G.O.P. Dirty Tricks

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

Dan Walters wrote in yesterday's Bee that any “dirty trick” the Republicans attempt to impose on voters is OK as long as Democrats continue to control the redistricting process.

The US Constitution has awarded the Presidency to the man selected by the electoral votes of states since the founding. 47 states award all of the state’s electoral votes to the party garnering a majority of the popular vote in the State.

The Republicans, as is typical, seek to change this allocation because they can’t win a majority in California. Rather than play the game better – as Governor Schwarzenegger pleaded with them to do – they choose to try and change the rules so they won’t need a majority to win. The effort will fail. Voters shown the title and summary of this measure reject it 25-48.

But why would Walters call this movement away from majority rule “fairer than the present winner take all system”? Doesn’t it simply reflect what Governor Schwarzenegger railed against at the latest GOP conclave? That Republicans have failed to earn votes by fielding candidates worthy of them?

Not To Walters. He sees GOP defeats as part of a Democratic pattern of “dreaming up schemes to preordain elections”. Democrats, he says,”have a long history of making life difficult for minority parties, treating independent voters like pariahs and not cleaning up voter registration rolls.”

This critique is based on the silly premise that a proportional representation system (like England or Iraq) would serve us better than geographically based single member district system of representation established by Madison, Jefferson and other sagacious men who knew better. Minority parties may serve a function in England. In America, they only interfere with the ability of our major parties to achieve their greatest function – solving problems involving the intransitivity of social choices.