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Written by Floyd Whitley

Category: NEWS

Published: 02 January 2020

Hits: 1297

Here's part of the problem with what is going on in the US House--disproportional committee assignments and therefore disfranchisement of American citizens.

 

One American, one vote. Right? I mean, not for nothing, these United States hold a decennial census and theoretically re-calibrate federal representation of the People. Right?

 

Baloney. Based on the rancorous partisanship in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the dirty back room dealing, the question should be "Why bother counting?"

 

Take the Committee on Rules for example. This House committee is crucial to preserve Congressional order against a majority mob. A lawful republic will always protect minority rights, because if it does not do so, justice cannot be obtained. Nor can honest legislation.

 

So, anything that disfranchises any part of the American electorate is patently wrong, and should be condemned, right?  Well, not exactly it seems.

 

The 116th Congress breakdown currently is: 233 Democrats, 197 Republicans, 1 Independent and 4 Vacancies. [See image below.]   A simple exercise in math gives the majority Democrats 53.6% of the House, and the minority Republicans have 45.3%.

 

Now take a look at the structure of the House Rules Committee [See image below.] Rules is currently comprised of 13 members--specifically 9 Democrats and 4 Republicans. On Rules, Democrats outnumber Republicans by over 2 to 1.  In no way does this reflect the actual House.

 

 

So wait a minute here...another simple math exercise proves the committal assignments on Rules are absolutely corrupted.  Minority Republicans (holding 45.3% of the House) should have 5.889 seats on Rules. Majority Democrats (at 53.6% of the House) should have 6.968 seats...this assume the Rules Committee even remotely considers itself to be representative of the People.

 

Yes, "fractional" seats are not practical. So, we round up. Therefore, if truly representative, the Rules Committee should be comprised of 6 minority members and 7 majority majority, as we speak.  But how is it currently assigned?

 

No.  Democrats hold 9 seats on Rules, which is to say Democrats currently control 69.2% of the seats. Automatically, that is in effect a super majority...even though they do NOT control one the House chamber.  As such, the minority need not apply an opinion on Rules, where Republicans hold 4 seats (i.e. 30.7%). Representatively, Republicans have been reduced by a third.  This one committee (out of many committees) simply does not reflect the American electorate.

 

So, one American, one vote? Gimme a break.  "Adjusting" fair representation with the U.S. Census?  Why bother?

 

The Rules Committee demonstrates the extent of the games being played, of disproportional representation being imposed by whichever duopoly party gains the majority in the U.S. House. The worst part is, assuming "rules" are created to be followed, this particular committee should be the LEAST partisan oriented...if rules are truly rules.

 

 

The longer the People accept this imposition of a totalitarian parliamentary bullying, the deeper the divisive anger and the dirtier the legislation.At the risk of redundancy, when you sleep upon your rights, you will awaken without them.

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Written by Floyd Whitley

Category: NEWS

Published: 11 November 2019

Hits: 1672

CP-Idaho takes this opportunity to inform our readers that the www.cpidaho.org website is undergoing renovation.and migration to a new server.  The work in process will likely require several weeks more, and a steep "learning curve" of new tricks by the old dog who's been responsible for posting and upkeep during the past half decade.

Age of the site architecture more or less forced the renovations.  At the end of the work, we trust the new cpidaho.org website will be better functioning.  Perhaps this upgrade work could not come at a more inopportune time--we are fast approaching statutory deadlines on presidential primary candidate declarations.  And that will precipitate a host of other items of business that must be completed ere we get to the March 10, 2020 primary ballot.

We ask for our readers' temporary indulgence as we kick the tires, turn it over and eye the frame, clean the filters and get this jalopy hot rod safely back on the road.

CP-Idaho will shortly be asking our public for a questions set to be asked of our primary candidates by a table of moderators at the pending presidential debate.  We title the event the "Boise Debate" in keeping with the design of the 2016 presidential debate held at Boise Library Auditorium prior to the primary ballot.  In truth, this 2020 election year, CP-Idaho is working upon a venue just west of the Canyon-Ada county line. 

We realize that this is not strictly "Boise"--and perhaps by styling it so, it will be much to the chagrin of residents that a'way.  No harm intended, but the truth is most of the rest of Idaho refers to the entire Metro Area as being "Boise".  To be sure, the people up in Sandpoint get it.  After all, they're known as "Coeur d'Alene". If it would appease delicate local sensitivities, perhaps we could place an asterisk on the debate venue title, or not.

In any case, be on the lookout for information regarding this upcoming event.  Once we firm up the details a tad more (replace pencil with ink), we will post the public information here on our website under construction.  Until then, we ask our readers to consider policy questions that they wish to be answered by presidential candidates. 

The major dichotomy in the final question set will be Domestic Policy and International Affairs.  To demonstrate, Domestic Policy questions could range from public land use management to security and upgrades to the national electricity grid (both subjects of interest in 2016's debate).  International Affairs could take in the alphabet list of international trade deals (so-called) to immigration across our borders.  And all points between.

Again, please bear with us as we juggle a number of mechanical items in our overhaul of the website.  We don't pretend to NASCAR qualifications.  But with enough creative welding, maybe we can make a heck of a run at the Demolition Derby.