Just Politics: How Republicans Plan to Rig the 2016 Elections

 Do you guys remember the 2012 presidential election? How we all came out in support of President Barack Obama and successfully re-elected him for a second term? Do also remember the disastrous train wreck of Mitt Romney and the Republican Party? Well, I hope you all know that train wreck almost won the election if they would've had their way with the Electoral College, and they already have a plot in place to rig the next election when 2016 comes rolling around. Most of us won't even see it coming. But just what are they planning to do?





Their most notable tactic would be the practice of gerrymandering. What is gerrymandering? It is a practice that attempts to establish a political advantage for a particular party or group by manipulating district boundaries to create partisan advantaged districts. It is because of gerrymandering that Republicans gained control of the House of Representatives, and now it is noticeably more difficult for our president to make any sort of action. Let me remind you, people, Democrats were supposed to be in control of the House since, you know, that's who Americans actually voted for. I'm not making this up. Americans actually voted for ONE MILLION MORE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES...yet Republicans are the ones in control. You can bet Republicans will vigorously increase their use of this tactic when we get closer to 2016.

Another tactic would be legally rigging the Electoral College. Yes, I said legally. Let's focus our attention over to Pennsylvania, a historically blue-state that was key in Obama's re-election.  Back in early January of this year, seven Pennsylvania Republican state representatives introduced a bill. Under this bill, the winner of Pennsylvania as a whole will receive only 2 of the state’s 20 electoral votes, while “[e]ach of the remaining presidential electors shall be elected in the presidential elector’s congressional district.” Had this plan came into affect last year, Obama would have likely won only 7 of the state’s 20 electoral votes. Similar plans are being created in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Virginia, 4 states that were key in the Obama re-election.

And perhaps the weirdest, most appalling, disgusting, and downright racist tactic Republicans are currently using is the fact that they are lobbying the Supreme Court of the United States to rule that the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional. Mind you, this is the exact same Voting Rights Act that civil rights activists such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. were fighting for back in the 50s and 60s. The same act that gives every single African American the constitutional right to vote without being disenfranchised. If this does not prove to any of you that the Republican party is full of greedy, bigoted, and senile old men who don't care if they trample on the rights of others, then I don't know what will.

Mind you, a majority of these tactics have gone far under the radar of unsuspecting Americans. How it has is beyond me. But how do we stop this, you ask? Well, first off, we must raise awareness for those that are uninformed of this Republican plot. The more people know of this sad state of affairs, the more likely they will be to go out and vote for those that will actually do some good for this country. Second off, we have to demand our politicians to close the number of loopholes in our laws so that the GOP can never exploit American rights ever again. However, in order to do any of that, WE HAVE TO WAKE UP! Remember, WE are the ones with the power, and the sooner we accept that into our minds, the sooner we can stop Republicans from ever rigging any election.

We already allowed our rights to be trampled on back in 2001 when George W. Bush signed the PATRIOT Act into law. Let's not let it happen again, for the sake of our future generations.