[troutman]

Originally Posted by driveway

I really don't know what to make of the Republican Party in America. On the one hand, they've never been stronger.

They hold 31 Governorships in the States. Of those, 20 have been Republican since at least 2011. they've had a majority in the House since 2010, took majority control of the Senate in the last Election.

There are 13 states which are pure-red, that is they went Republican in the last Presidential election, they have a Republican Governor, Republican control of both State House and Senate, both their US Senators are Republicans and a majority of their Representatives are Republicans.

A great deal of Republican success is related to gerrymandering.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed...007-story.html

California and Arizona have shown the way out by taking the job of redistricting away from politicians in the state legislature and turning it over to independent citizen commissions. And in June, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Arizona-California method, giving the green light to citizen-led reform elsewhere.

Other states are also taking action. Seven have already set up independent nonpartisan or bipartisan redistricting. In six more states, gerrymandering is under assault in the courts. And in yet another six, either political leaders or citizen groups have mounted campaigns to reduce or eliminate gerrymandering.

Perhaps public shock over Boehner's downfall will give new impetus to a long-overdue reform movement. Otherwise, these insurgencies will continue to shackle American democracy.