Election Results

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I think the point is that most of the state IS farmers besides that one area. You see it in FL alot. If you look at it broken down MOST of the state is red but a few areas are blue and since they are the highly populated areas thats what we usually end up with.
But that would mean the majority of the people, or MOST of the state (population wise) is blue. Geographical size shouldnt matter.
 
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The point is, especially for statewide issues, policies on things like how much water farmers are allowed to divert from the Columbia River and things like that are being determined by people who live in the corridor from Olympia to Seattle, who were elected by people in Seattle, who all have NO IDEA about how anything to do with agriculture works and live really far away from the farmers.
They might not have any idea about farming, but the Columbia flows to them right? How many cities use water from the Columbia to do all sorts of things? Why shouldn't they have a say in it?

But I meant this more as a national election policy point, not a state specific one because a lot of people argue that it's not "fair" when most of the population votes one way, the electoral votes go that way too.

I think the point is that most of the state IS farmers besides that one area. You see it in FL alot. If you look at it broken down MOST of the state is red but a few areas are blue and since they are the highly populated areas thats what we usually end up with.
Most of the state isn't "Red", most of it is unpopulated space. Most of the people actually voted "blue", so I ask again, Why should unpopulated land with few people have more say in elections than those with more people?
 

Romy

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But that would mean the majority of the people, or MOST of the state (population wise) is blue. Geographical size shouldnt matter.
Well, dividing a state and slicing up electoral votes shouldn't make that big of a difference really, because they will still be divided according to population. If anything it would make them more accurate because a wider demographic will be represented (hey! maybe even a 3rd party candidate would get some! *gasp*).

Here about half the population of the state is rural and half is in king and pierce county.

Our state elections are pretty dang close. This last governors race there was only a difference of 51%-49%.

The election before that Gregoire only won by 133 votes.

I just think that it's reasonable for people to be governed by folks they chose and that actually know something about their needs, etc. so it isn't a big liberal city folks vs. farmers thing. It wouldn't be as big of a problem if people bothered to be educated about how statewide policies affect agricultural practices, but they don't.
 

Romy

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They might not have any idea about farming, but the Columbia flows to them right? How many cities use water from the Columbia to do all sorts of things? Why shouldn't they have a say in it?

But I meant this more as a national election policy point, not a state specific one because a lot of people argue that it's not "fair" when most of the population votes one way, the electoral votes go that way too.
Like I said in the last post, it's not "most" in our state. It's consistently been 50/50 for decades.

The electoral votes are divided by population anyway, so they aren't getting more of a say. Alaska has something like 3, even though they're huge vs. New Jersey or any of those other small eastern states.
Not that many cities use Columbia water. Seattle and Thurston county doesn't get any of it. It's more than 100 miles south of Oly. It runs directly through eastern WA , then cuts due west along the Oregon/WA border. Portland probably uses some.

Usually the water use stuff boils down to a knee jerk OMGSAVETHESALMON!!! feel good thing. But there are a bunch of hydroelectric dams up and down the Columbia anyway that already screwed up the salmon runs. And they're never going to let water levels drop enough to effect hydro power. Even the farmers don't want that.
 

darkchild16

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Well, dividing a state and slicing up electoral votes shouldn't make that big of a difference really, because they will still be divided according to population. If anything it would make them more accurate because a wider demographic will be represented (hey! maybe even a 3rd party candidate would get some! *gasp*).

Here about half the population of the state is rural and half is in king and pierce county.

Our state elections are pretty dang close. This last governors race there was only a difference of 51%-49%.

The election before that Gregoire only won by 133 votes.

I just think that it's reasonable for people to be governed by folks they chose and that actually know something about their needs, etc. so it isn't a big liberal city folks vs. farmers thing. It wouldn't be as big of a problem if people bothered to be educated about how statewide policies affect agricultural practices, but they don't.
This. We are always VERY close as well.
 
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I know the electoral votes are based on population, that was my point. You said this
Our entire state's election/electoral votes hinge on King County alone, which really isn't fair for the rest of the state's population
You said it wasn't fair, I asked why not and how it should be changed.

as for your state's water issues??? I don't know, I happen to think farming in areas that aren't prone to fruitful yields without that much intervention are probably areas left unfarmed, but I live in the midwest where water isn't much of an issue yet. But starting to become as dry areas want to build pipelines from the great lakes and water bottling companies set up shop and drop the water tables to sell bottled water around the world.

and saving salmon isn't knee jerk, any fertile ground in the western states can mostly be traced back to having the salmon in the first place. no argument on how much we've screwed that up, but doing things to protect them is hardly knee jerk. There's a much bigger picture to be educated about than just farming practices and water.
 
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Right, we are agreeing its based on population...but how is that not fair? It was said the "big cities" decided but its not that, its the majority of the population decided.

Also, its not like everyone in rural areas is conservative and everyone in cities is liberal. My one SIL and her family have a farm and are very "blue"...one of my BILs lives in a very big "blue" city and is red.
 
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Ya, but I don't think a voting thing is going to fix how broken we are. Texas might have the right idea if they can get enough other states to follow. Sometimes knocking down a house and building a new one is better than trying to repair the old one.
It's not that voting will fix it, it's that why would I expect that someone who won't look beyond the first two names on a ballot to do anything more drastic?

Again, though: no one is seceding. The SCOTUS decided the issue in 1869, and found that it's unconstitutional.
I always thought that declaring secession unconstitutional was a lot like making suicide a crime ;)
 

Romy

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I know the electoral votes are based on population, that was my point. You said this

You said it wasn't fair, I asked why not and how it should be changed.

as for your state's water issues??? I don't know, I happen to think farming in areas that aren't prone to fruitful yields without that much intervention are probably areas left unfarmed, but I live in the midwest where water isn't much of an issue yet. But starting to become as dry areas want to build pipelines from the great lakes and water bottling companies set up shop and drop the water tables to sell bottled water around the world.

and saving salmon isn't knee jerk, any fertile ground in the western states can mostly be traced back to having the salmon in the first place. no argument on how much we've screwed that up, but doing things to protect them is hardly knee jerk. There's a much bigger picture to be educated about than just farming practices and water.
Eastern Washington is the largest apple producer in the world. We also produce a huge amount of wheat and they were the only farmers that whose corn wasn't wiped out completely by the weirdo heat that got everyone else this year. It's very fertile, but it has nothing to do with the salmon and everything to do with all that nice rich volcanic stuff the Cascades spewed east over the past several million years.

And when people went and screwed up the world's biggest salmon run by plopping fourteen dams across it, farmers wanting some water for their orchards is the last thing that's going to hurt the runs.

Western WA has no problem with water supply (lol!). We're sitting on an underground lake right here. Our city has it's own artesian well.
 
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volcanoes add minerals, and millenia of salmon spawns adding organic material to not only the water, but by feeding the populations of animals that depended on them, added organic material to the soil that in turn allowed other organic materials to form, were pretty important to the soils of most western states. all that windblown silt that settled full of organic material didn't come only from volcanoes and the nutrients they see in organic matter high up in the mountains that are discovered to be from the oceans are there because of salmon.

so yeah, they did have a lot to do with it. The entire columbia river basin was hugely impacted the the salmon spawn all up and down the basin. To discredit their impact is very short sighted.
 
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I always thought that declaring secession unconstitutional was a lot like making suicide a crime ;)
I keep meaning to look into this, but Im pretty sure AK cannot secede even if we wanted to. Dont get me wrong Im down with it, Im pretty sure we could even afford to payout Sam for the federal infrastructure.
 

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Letting some of those States secede might actually be a good thing. They are huge money suckers. They get a lot of federal money and put hardly back in the economy.

My husband and I have been making jokes about making them territories. Let them secede, conquer them again, make them territories. Don't let them back in the Union.

Make Puerto Rico a state in their place.
 

Pops2

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Sorry, if Texas was successful in secession, yeah, they would not last long at all. I think it is ridiculous to use it as some kind of threat when there is no real plan.

And for governors trying to block the affordable health care act, again, ridiculous. Obama was voted in TWICE, by the majority, and one of his biggest platform positions was on reforming healthcare. Now, I am not happy with the act as it stands personally, it needs to go much further.

If you (general you) dont like the way the federal government is running (which I dont think anyone is totally happy with in all aspects) come up with an actual viable working plan. I hear a lot of pipe dreams but see very little that would actually work in the real world. Get a viable plan that does not ostracize huge chunks of the population. Stop trying to use one religion as the basis of policies.

Yes, I will lump all the people who signed a petition to secede into a group...its absolutely ridiculous
although not likely to actually happen & DEFINITELY NOT peacefully, TX is one of the few states that could THRIVE as an independant country. they have the 2nd largest GDP in the USA (larger than mexico's and about equal to australia), they have a stong defense industry manufacturing base, world class university system, one of the largest ports in the USA (and several smaller ones with room to grow), and a substantial amount of surplus petroleum refining capacity. ASSUMING a peaceful secession and 90% or more active duty military personnel returning to their homestate, and retaining all reserve unit & at least 50% of the active duty military hardware currently in state, TX would have the combat power AT LEAST equal to pakistan (which is significantly stronger than mexico) and up to equal to iran (minus the nukes).
obama was voted in by approximately 27% of registered voters, not exactly a mandate. about half of all registered voters failed to vote, some because they didn't see ENOUGH difference between the two candidates. which is pretty accurate if you look at their actual performance record. in fact, obama wasn't significantly different from bush in the ways that garnered the most complaints. the ONLY difference between bush, obama & romney is whose buddies are going to get rich off mispent tax dollars.
the only viable plan is one that is going to allow industrial growth and leave the middle class and below more money to spend while eliminating deficit spending and generating a surplus with which to begin eliminating the debt. neither republicons nor demoncrats are willing to put forward such a plan as career politicians lack the testicular fortitude to be real leaders & make the hard decisions that would benefit the country & infuriate a lot of special interest groups.
 

Lyzelle

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Major issue with letting Texas secede is there are a LOT of military bases there. Including Lackland, which is the only existing base for the USAF's BMT training.

That would definitely require a lot of moving around.
 
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Major issue with letting Texas secede is there are a LOT of military bases there. Including Lackland, which is the only existing base for the USAF's BMT training.

That would definitely require a lot of moving around.
Texas is another state that could buy their secession with their mineral wealth.
 

Pops2

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Again, though: no one is seceding. The SCOTUS decided the issue in 1869, and found that it's unconstitutional.
bogus decision by a scotus packed w/ reconstruction judges by the republican party (yes the same party that ended slavery also opposes excessive welfare and supports deregulation of business).
at least one CURRENT scotus justice has officially stated that secession could be legal IF done w/ the consent of the federal govt.
in actual law the constitution did not SPECIFICALLY address secession nor has any amendment, nor has the congress bothered to pass a law against it since the yanks won the war. however the constitution DOES give congress the SOLE authority to dispose of US territory. (and no it doesn't say the president has to sign off on it, nor does it require a 2/3 majority)
 

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