How-To Restore Democracy in America with Operation #BlueSpatula
If about five million Americans relocate to five new areas spanning the corners of fifteen states, they could put 30 senate seats and 30 electoral college votes solidly in the blue column.
As you may know, Democrats have been winning the popular vote for President for a long time, but sometimes that’s not enough because the Electoral College vote can favor Republicans. Because every state gets two “free” electoral college votes because every state, regardless of population, has two Senators, a Montana voter’s vote for President ultimately carries about seven times the weight of a Californian’s vote. This is not how a democracy is supposed to work.
But, because the number of Senators allowed per state and the rules governing the Electoral College are enshrined in the constitution, amendments to which would require a nearly impossibly high bar of approval of 2/3 of the 50 states, there is little to no hope that will ever happen. Does that mean a remedy to this situation is impossible?
Not necessarily.
Another approach would be to move voters away from states with a surplus of Democrats into states with a deficit and, thus, attempt to make the Senate and Electoral College better represent the will of the majority of voters nationwide by more evenly distributing voters of both parties across the entire country.
California has about Five (5) million more Democratic voters than necessary to win against Republicans in a presidential race. New York has about Two (2) million extra Democratic voters. Look at the charts in the link below to see how easily Biden beat Trump in these two states in 2020:
2020 Popular Vote Tracker | The Cook Political Report
Edit descriptioncookpolitical.com
With the addition of relatively small numbers of Blue voters, many states could be flipped from Red to Blue, affecting Congressional and Senate delegations, Electoral College balances and control of the Senate:
South Dakota +125,000
North Dakota +125,000
Montana +125,000
Wyoming +125,000
Kansas +225,000
Mississippi +250,000
Idaho +300,000
Nebraska +300,000
Utah +325,000
Arkansas +350,000
Missouri +500,000
Louisiana +500,000
Oklahoma +550,000
Alabama +700,000
Tennessee +750,000
TOTAL : 5.27 million relocated voters.
Clearly there are enough extra voters in California alone to achieve the objectives, but how crazy is it to propose moving over Five million people (or even just 500,000 to flip the “low-hanging fruit” in the most sparsely populated four states)?
When I originally wrote this column/update on June 24, 2021, the “Rent-pocalypse” was less than one week away — the day when approximately 28 million Americans were going to suddenly be held liable for unpaid rent during the pandemic and made to face the very real threat of eviction. Where would they go? As it turned out, many of the eviction bans were extended.
But, whether it’s due to eviction bans coming to an end or double-digit rent increases, the economic pressure to leave high rent areas like California and New York continues to increase. For many, it may make sense to hit the road and live out of RVs (as in the movie “Nomadland”) or move into relatively low-rent area such as North Dakota. Displaced folks might also be able to buy, with help from friends, family or GoFundMe, housing in more rural locations that are currently in red states.
Obviously, the logistical challenges are massive, but so are the numbers of people affected and the potential for positive change in our country.
Let’s talk more about this strategy, please.
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UPDATE: 7 MAY 2022— Continuing eviction bans in many states could be holding some people in place. On the other hand, rental pricing is experiencing double-digit inflation so the pressure to move away from high-rent states is still increasing, albeit sometimes masked by the bans on evictions in some locations.