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Politics : President Barack Obama
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From: ChinuSFO10/7/2013 11:39:33 AM
   of 149317
 
We have the government we asked for

The standoff in Washington isn't about partisan politics, it's about a fundamental divide over the direction of the nation

October 06, 2013|Robert L. Ehrlich Jr

excerpt........

For local context, compare recent redistricting in dark blue Maryland to dark red Texas. (Seems there are a lot of comparisons to Texas going on these days.) Not so long ago, Maryland maintained an equal number of Democrats and Republicans in our Congressional delegation due in large part to the accommodation Gov. William Donald Schaefer afforded Rep. Helen Delich Bentley in the redistricting of 1990. Yours truly was one of the four Republicans, along with Connie Morella, Wayne Gilchrest and Roscoe Bartlett. That is until the powers that be (read: Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller) reversed course and redrew Congressional boundary lines that have now produced a seven-to-one Democratic majority.

Similarly, the former safe haven for House Democrats known as the Texas Congressional delegation was transformed into a decidedly Republican majority after Republican leaders in the state legislature did their partisan line drawing thing during the last two rounds of redistricting. Today, GOP members outnumber Democrats two-to-one in Texas.

The net result of these line drawing exercises in formerly competitive states is a wipeout of northeastern Republican moderates and southern conservative Democrats — once formidable voting blocs within their respective parties. (Indeed, the voting blocs that helped produce the mega Reagan and Clinton era budget deals.) All of which has led to the permanent war footing between today's arch conservative GOP and hyper-progressive Democratic Party. That these respective bases would have difficulty agreeing on the time of day should come as no surprise. But today's stakes are about far more important issues confronting our country.

...read it all at
articles.baltimoresun.com
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