[geeks] Re: [rescue] It's official, the U.S. is screwed for 4 more years

[Francisco Javier Mesa-Martinez]

On Mon, 8 Nov 2004 23:31:34 +0000
  Lionel Peterson <lionel4287 at verizon.net> wrote:

> Have you seen the breakdown *by county* of which 
>candidate won? It is mostly red, with clusters of blue 
>around the northeast & west coast... I've heard that 
>showing that map to democrats complaining about the recent 
>election causes fits of confusion... 

No it doesn't cause any fits of confusion, last time I
checked real estate did not vote in the US.... Unless that
somehow has changed in the past decade. That map only
shows one thing: Rural areas lean republican, whereas
urban areas lean Democrat. Which is a well know fact, and
which is why the DNC needs to get their head out of their
collective asses.


Geraldine
>Ferraro (spelling?) reportedly said "where would those red 
>counties be without the blue counties? (stating that there 
>are areas that are more valuable/important than others - 
>odd, for a group that insists that every vote should 
>count, but I guess they feel that some votes count more 
>than others ;^)...

It is more likely that she was refering to the economic
output of the democratic "counties" vs. the republican
counties. Although I have seen that case being made on a
state basis, not a county basis. Under the current
electoral system, urban areas tend to have a lower
specific weight associated with their votes with respect
to the rural areas. Whether that is fair or not, it is
left as a personal opinion though.

> I hear Mr. Moore is blaming the "upset" on the religous 
>folks in "fly-over" states...

I am an optimist, so I see this actually as a good thing.
Maybe the DNC will finally grow a pair and kick McAullife
and the rest of spineless wimps and get an actual liberal
platform... just "not being Bush" proved to not be enough
specially when you go agains a Rove led team. And I
believe it is fair... if that happens to be what the
American people agreed with. I do, however, find alarming
the rise in the whole "moral based" voting as "morals" are
relative and hard to point as real policies or issues.
  
> Some folks are not taking this well...

I guess Bush is to liberals what Clinton was to certain
elements of the Republican party. In any case, I don't
think the office of the president is that important when
dealing with a "decoupled" system like the US. I do not
like however when the house, senate, presidency and soon
judiciary are tilted towards the same political party, as
it tends to render the whole process a bit powerless to
check itself.

It is going to be an interesting future though... whether
that is good or bad it is obviously debatable. Interesting
none the less...