It's no secret Republicans in state houses across the country have done all they can to rig district boundaries, defund supporters of the American majority and restrict as many urban voters as possible through a multitude of voter suppression strategies in order to win elections. So following the GOP's national party chairman, Reince Preibus, down that same path of deception and dishonesty was easy when he suggested rigging the electoral system in favor of their party's presidential candidates to win the 2016 Presidential Election. Yes, when your policies and candidates suck really, really bad, sometimes there is no other choice.
Several weeks have passed since then and to my surprise, several key swing-state governors and publicity hound GOP politicians have come out in gentle opposition to Priebus' proposal. Among them Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Rep. Paul Ryan. Walker at first said he was intrigued by the notion of Wisconsin divvying up its electoral votes by congressional district, but later said he’s worried it may reduce Wisconsin’s influence in presidential politics.
Politico Excerpt:
Walker continued: “What may look appealing right now depending on who your candidate was might, four or eight years from now, look like just the reverse. And the most important thing to me long term as a governor is what makes your voters be in play. One of our advantages as a swing state is that candidates come here … that’s good for voters. If we change that, that would take that away and would largely make us irrelevant.”
Sure, Walker wants Wisconsin voters to be "in play." Why he's so concerned about our welfare that immediately after the 2012 Election, he suggested eliminating same-day voter registration. He's such a swell guy. Paul Ryan is no different. In fact they appear to be reading from the same script.
USA Excerpt:
Rep. Paul Ryan doesn't want to change the way the Electoral College allocates presidential votes in his home state of Wisconsin.
"I've always kind of liked the idea of being targeted as a state," Ryan told the Wisconsin State Journal's editorial board. I'd hate to be a flyover state. I'd like to be in the hunt for being a targeted state. I think it's good for us."
But if Paul Ryan wouldn't like Wisconsin to be a flyover state, why does he seem to enjoy a congressional district he all but ignored, essentially flew over during his campaign for the House? If he wants a challenge and voters to experience a good debate, why did he avoid Rob Zerban? If Wisconsin's GOP really enjoyed the sweat from an honest political challenge in a strongly contestable arena, why did they go through all the trouble of gerrymandering districts for easy election wins? As usual, Ryan's reasoning doesn't align with his own reality. It never does.
If there's a puzzle, particularly a political one, the best way I found to solve it is by following the money. Always follow the money. I suspect swing state status brings about $100 million more into a state's economy than the flyovers. Much of this money trickles into the personal caches of the right-wing owned media from campaign ads while locals pick up extra $$$ from travel, lodging, food and drink services. Establishment supporters of swing-state governors have tasted the fruit and don't want to lose it, even if it's every four years. It's sort like their very own mini-olympics. Their raw pursuit of the buck shows how petty and false much of their political rhetoric is. It's mostly just rhetoric.
Secondly, it's very possible Scott Walker, Paul Ryan and others are starting to see an uncontrollable back-fire element beginning to push more voters away from their party's radical policies and candidates. Changing the rules of the electoral college in the middle of game will only make that back-fire even louder and more repetitious. It'll be playing a tune they don't want to hear and thanks largely in part to social media's ability to get the truth out, the Republican Party looks like a party that can only win elections by gerrymandering districts and blocking voters from voting. That's a pathetic dynamic for the future of any political party so the last thing they want to do is build on that growing sense of fraud to gain public office. I could be wrong about this, but the GOP is beginning to realize that the average American voter's sense of decency and fair play will prevail over cheaters, like it did in November. I hope so.
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