Capt. Orygun
Win the Day
This is of particular interest to me because one of the chief criticisms of Bush was his unethical, possibly illegal (if you ask your local ultra leftist) expansion of the Executive branch.
So Obama is changing all this right? Well hold on now...
The Associated Press: Political fight brewing on census
The census bureau has never been under the eye of the President. The purpose of these censuses are to redraw district maps between elections to adjust for population, etc. In the hands of someone who has a stake in the election, this process could be used to redraw the maps in one parties favor.
Example
Let's say you have two districts which are connected east-west . One district went Republican by a slim margin last year, let's say 52% to 48%. The other district, to the east, is strongly Democratic, 65% to 35% in the last election. There are a fair amount of registered Democrats right on the western border of the "blue district". The solution, if you want to turn both districts blue, is just to redraw the line on the map, moving enough of those Democrats into the "red district" so that in the next election you can carry both districts.
Do you really think ANY career politician will purposefully make a decision in redrawing maps they know will hurt their chances for reelection? Me neither...
This expansion of executive power gives Obama the opportunity to do just that, redrawing the lines just in time for his 2012 reelection campaign.
So Obama is changing all this right? Well hold on now...
The Associated Press: Political fight brewing on census
The census bureau has never been under the eye of the President. The purpose of these censuses are to redraw district maps between elections to adjust for population, etc. In the hands of someone who has a stake in the election, this process could be used to redraw the maps in one parties favor.
Example
Let's say you have two districts which are connected east-west . One district went Republican by a slim margin last year, let's say 52% to 48%. The other district, to the east, is strongly Democratic, 65% to 35% in the last election. There are a fair amount of registered Democrats right on the western border of the "blue district". The solution, if you want to turn both districts blue, is just to redraw the line on the map, moving enough of those Democrats into the "red district" so that in the next election you can carry both districts.
Do you really think ANY career politician will purposefully make a decision in redrawing maps they know will hurt their chances for reelection? Me neither...
This expansion of executive power gives Obama the opportunity to do just that, redrawing the lines just in time for his 2012 reelection campaign.