Commentary | You Would Think Republicans have a Mandate...They DO NOT!
Based on the way the GOP has tried--with total disregard for the vast majority of Americans--to ram harmful and unpopular legislation down our throats, it's almost like they believe they have some kind of a mandate. On the contrary, if representation in the U.S. Senate was distributed equally by population, there would be one Senator representing every 3,213,906 residents. In reality, on average, there is a Republican Senator representing every 2,771,199 persons in red/purple states, while there are on average 3,618,128 persons in blue/purple states for every one Democratic Senator representing them! For a little perspective--seven of the central PA counties served by Central Pennsylvania Action Agenda (Dauphin, Cumberland, Lebanon, Lancaster, Berks, York, and Adams) have a combined population of 2,108,223—more than the combined population of Alaska, South Dakota, and Wyoming (2,088,207), which collectively, are represented by six (Republican) seats in the U.S. Senate!
Similarly, in the 2016 House of Representatives election, there was one Republican Representative elected for every 262,093 Republican votes cast. In the same election 318,303 Democratic votes were cast for every one Democratic seat won; in large part, a result of "Red Map" Gerrymandering? Oh, and of course our Republican “president” was elected by a margin of minus 2,868,916 votes!
Yet, here we are:
The Republican dominated FCC voted today to repeal regulations that protected the free flow of information on the internet.
800,000 "Dreamers" and their families languish, waiting for action to give them status in the country they have lived for years--some most of their lives!
Nine million children are at risk of losing health insurance covered by CHIP because of inaction.
The House and Senate Republicans are poised to brashly and precipitously trash the Individual Mandate of the ACA, and drive up the Federal Deficit to give corporations and the wealthiest Americans obscenely huge tax breaks, as they sharpen their axes to ravage entitlements such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security in the upcoming year!
Yes, you'd think they had a mandate from the American People, but no, theirs is a mandate of greed from the Oligarchs and the Party's corporate donors! If people aren't incensed, they aren't paying very close attention. Go ahead--be outraged--you should be! But don't stop doing everything you can to turn this around. It may feel discouraging, but keep up the fight...passivity will only embolden them!