Government
101
If
you live in the U.S. you have to read this, especially if you are a minority!
They
don’t teach you this in civics class.
Today is July 4th, a day we celebrate the independence of our
nation. In 1789 with the establishment
of our government we all know of the three levels of government, legislative, judicial
and executive, but few people actually understand how our government really works. Hopefully this gives you a little insight to
how government works and why they say all politics are local. I’m going to try and keep this as simple as
possible without getting too far in to the weeds.
Most
people have no idea how ward boundaries, state and federal districts get
decided and drawn. It all starts with
the census. You know, those strangers
who come around ever 8 to 10 years, knock on your door and want to know how
many people live in your house, along with other statistics. The census is one of the biggest government factors
there is and quite frankly far too many people take it way to lightly. A member of the census bureau comes to your
door you ignore them, don’t answer the door or lie to them. This is one of the biggest mistakes a
community could make. The census bureau
is not there to get information on you to arrest you; they are there to gather
information on demographics of a particular area. At the national and state level census
information is used to plan the provision of health care, education,
employment, and transportation. It is
also used to help determine where to build new schools, roads, health care
facilities, child care and senior centers.
The census is also used for federal and state fund allocations. Another and very important function of the
census is, it’s used to determine how many representatives, (Congressmen) a
state will have. It is this factor that
has been overlook in the past that contributed to the government we have today,
including the President we have, but that’s another article for another day. For the purpose of this article, the census
is used every 10 years to recalculate state, county, city and town populations. Why is this? Other than for the purpose of
funding, election districts are drawn based on population. For example, if the census shows a state lost
710,000 people since the last census and another state gained 710,000 people
since the last census, those states would lose or gain a Congressional seat
respectfully. The census is also VERY
important on the state level. In New
York State for example, the census is used every 10 years to determine Assembly
district lines as well as State Senate district lines. Why is this so VERY IMPORTANT? In many cases throughout our nation it is the
State houses who draw the new Congressional, State Senate and State Assembly
districts lines which will be in place for the 10 years to follow. The effect of being in control of the state
house at the time of drawing lines can easily be seen in many states all across
the U.S. Take New York for example, the
Republicans were in Control of the Senate, they for the most part got to
determine where boundary lines were going to be drawn. An examination of New York’s boundary lines
one would quickly see boundaries drawn to give the Republican Party an edge in
winning a particular district during an election cycle. The drawing of district lines is a science
and a real expertise. New district lines
can be challenged in court if they appear to be gerrymandered: definition –
manipulate the boundaries of an electoral district so as to favor one party or
class. Both parties are aware of the advantage
of being able to draw district lines, but in my opinion the Republican Party
has been better at it over the last 10 years and the effects are being felt all
the way up to the white house. The
Republicans even came out and told Democrats their plan, called Red Map. Either the national Democratic Party didn’t
take the plan serious or they were arrogant enough to think it couldn’t happen,
either way, it did, which is part of why we are where we are today. Here’s a clue people, you heard it here! People get all caught up in President Trump’s
immigration rhetoric, yes, it’s terrible, yes, separating the kids from parents
isn’t who we are, but the big picture is, the fear immigrants pose to the
control of power. When the census was
created it was created to count PEOPLE for the apportionment of resources, but
if you look at what the Justice Dept. is trying to do now, they are pushing the
census bureau to ask if a person is a citizen or not in the 2020 census count. The justice dept. claims it needs this
information to protect voter’s rights, but we know better.
The
census is a big freaking deal! If you didn’t know it, now you do! Running good candidates and voter turnout are
all very important, but if we ignore the census it makes our job at that much
harder for years and years to come.
I
hope you read to the end this issue is much too big to ignore, we did it once
and we are now paying the price for it, we can’t afford to do it again.
Part
two of Government 101 coming soon
William
Hughes Jr.
