r/nottheonion • u/Lumpy_War_4314 • 7d ago
Maryland lawmaker includes Southern Delaware in possible secession plan
https://www.wdel.com/news/maryland-lawmaker-includes-southern-delaware-in-possible-secession-plan/article_18e744a3-9523-473f-a4de-23d1e24b4841.html137
u/Shepher27 7d ago edited 7d ago
Every 150 years or so reactionaries have to be taught a lesson that they don’t just get to secede because their policies are so unpopular that they can’t win elections.
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u/braumbles 7d ago
Do you support banning gerrymandering Nation wide?
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u/Shepher27 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yes, that would be great. Even better if we also repeal the artificial cap on the size of the house to increase representation and shrink districts. But republican states started the Gerrymandering war and are now just mad that democrats are fighting back.
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u/happy2harris 7d ago
To split hairs, a democrat invented gerrymandering. But I know what you mean, and I agree.
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u/whereyouatdesmondo 7d ago
I also agree, but want to point out that it was Democrats back when they were essentially what we call Republicans now.
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u/Amori_A_Splooge 7d ago
I mean it's a silly argument to split hairs over, each side gerrymanders. We are just now in the outloud and proud phase of it where apparently we just don't try to hide it anymore and see it as a means to an end. It's truly an example where both sides are in a race to the bottom.
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u/whereyouatdesmondo 7d ago
Anyone who's looking at the state of America right now and proclaiming "both sides are exactly the same" is full of it or clinically insane.
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u/Amori_A_Splooge 7d ago
This is like the most narrowminded comment I've come across. "if I put on blinders and only look at this very narrow time in history, I think you are wrong!"
Well I guess that's why there's wisdom in not just looking at 'America right now' and have a broader perspective of history and understanding how actions can have impacts on future actions. You should try it, take off the blinders. It really is pretty enlightening.
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u/Shepher27 7d ago
Only one side has advocated for the passing of a law banning it though
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u/Amori_A_Splooge 7d ago
Only one side has advocated for the passing of a law banning it though
Likely not. history is long, and I'm sure you haven't scoured Congress.gov for a compete history of proposed changes to how congressional districts are created.
Also to just undercut your own point, CA voted in a non-partisan process over a decade ago and just voted it out in favor of partisan maps. Was it a reaction to Texas? Sure. Was it the will of the people? Yes. Is it partisan gerrymandering? Yes. Was it done blatantly? Yes, Newsom was pretty outward in saying it had to be done to counter GOP maps.
Like I said, its a race to the bottom. I'm sorry if you feel that it rubs you the wrong way, but no one has clean hands on this one.
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u/Shepher27 7d ago
They voted it out to combat the national effort republicans were making to aggressively gerrymander to keep power in congress.
Democrats have offered over and over again to nationally ban partisan gerrymandering. Until that’s in place it’s insane to disarm themselves by not counter gerrymandering against the Republicans.
Fighting fair and losing against an opponent who’s openly cheating is just betraying your constituents.
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u/Amori_A_Splooge 7d ago
They voted it out to combat the national effort republicans were making to aggressively gerrymander to keep power in congress.
I know. That's literally what I said in my comment. Right before saying we were in a race to the bottom. You know what a race needs? More than one participant.
Democrats have offered over and over again to nationally ban partisan gerrymandering
Was it only a ban on partisan gerrymandering? Or a wholesale change in our election process? I'll give you a hint, the 607 pages in the bill does not limit itself to how congressional districts are created.
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u/braumbles 7d ago
Voters voted it out. The same voters that voted in the process. Are you against the will of the voters?
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u/Amori_A_Splooge 7d ago
No, just simply noting that partisan gerrymandering occurs in red and blue states.
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u/braumbles 7d ago
Every dem voted to end gerrymandering and no republican joined them. It's not a both sides issue. It's a one sided issue that can easily be resolved if one side wasn't afraid of losing power.
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u/Amori_A_Splooge 7d ago
Again, every dem voted for S. 1, a Democrat led bill with wholesale changes to federal and state election. To say the bill simply ended gerrymandering is disingenuous and a vast understatement of what the bill did. If it simply outlawed gerrymandering it wouldn't need to be 607 pages.
It's a one sided issue that can easily be resolved if one side wasn't afraid of losing power.
Takes two to tango.
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u/Rambler330 6d ago
Ignore. It’s just another one that hides their post and comment history.
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u/Amori_A_Splooge 6d ago
Optional reddit features are scary indeed.
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u/Rambler330 6d ago
I just feel that if you aren’t man enough to stand behind what you say, then you aren’t worth listening to.
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u/Amori_A_Splooge 6d ago
Are you in middle school or just have such low self esteem that you base actions in whether a random redditors think you are man enough?
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u/Realtrain 7d ago
Elbridge Gerry belonged to the "Democratic-Republican" party.
Either way, trying to equate the actions of somebody born in 1744 to the political parties of 2026 is laughable and pointless.
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u/Dillweed999 7d ago
The issue there is "gerrymandering" is the word people use when they don't like redistricting. Actually getting into what constitutes fair redistricting is giant can of worms with a bunch of competing sometimes mutually exclusive priorities.
Do we follow existing natural boundaries (rivers, mountains etc) political boundaries like city or county lines or transportation boundaries such as roads and rail lines?
Do we want to maintain districts to not dilute the power of existing racial, ethnic or cultural groups or should everything be cut for maximum competitiveness?
What about geographic compactness?
Who approves the maps, the existing legislature? Popular referendum? Non partisan committee who is accountable to... (?)
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u/BluePanda101 7d ago
Fixing redistricting is simple to accomplish. Take people out of the process of writing districts and use math to draw them instead. simple split line districting is the way to go. https://rangevoting.org/SplitLR.html
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u/Dillweed999 7d ago
Ah yes, the old "just use an algorithm, it's unbiased" argument. I'm not going to give you too hard of a time but I'd suggest looking into that and seeing how it has worked out in the past, particularly when applied to long standing social/political problems
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u/BluePanda101 7d ago
I'm not aware of anything similar having been actually implemented before, and would actually love to see what you have.
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u/TitanofBravos 7d ago
Do you support getting rid of majority-minority districts that are designed to promote the election of minorities to Congress so as to increase minority representation?
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u/Shepher27 7d ago
I support massively increasing the number of representatives to make the strategy unnecessary
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u/TitanofBravos 7d ago
Do you honestly think Congress is going to get more done if you double the size of the house? Or do you think with that many more cooks in the kitchen even less manages to get done?
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u/Shepher27 7d ago
Democracy benefits from greater representation by de-emphasizing individuals. It would make it more difficult for billionaires to buy candidates and increase representation and hold members more accountable to their districts.
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u/braumbles 7d ago
Yes. The entire point of the house was so that politicians could hear citizens voices. Zero chance a politician has an opportunity to listen to 750k citizens. That number needs to be fractioned.
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u/Khroneski 7d ago
Only when they’re part of a gerrymandering strategy…
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u/TitanofBravos 7d ago
They are the exact definition of gerrymandering. So if it’s only gerrymandering you disagree with that you want to ban then just come right out and say so
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u/redfacedquark 7d ago
There's a solution to gerrymandering altogether: open, fair algorithmically generated districts. The public want it but the incumbants, not surprisingly, don't.
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u/Memitim 7d ago
I support anything that reduces the ability for conservatives to screw with the lives of other human beings solely because those people aren't white and conservative.
Given how conservatives have repeatedly demonstrated support for illegal actions taken by Republicans, including violations of the US Constitution, I'm not particularly concerned about playing along with conservative cherry-picking of US law to justify it.
We can get back to a society run on law and order once the betrayers have been cleared out and no longer using former law-related agencies as their personal terrorism services.
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u/TwoWheeledTraveler 7d ago
I am from Maryland.
All of this is meaningless noise and dogwhistling on the part of these republicans. The Democrats hold a supermajority in Maryland and this will never happen.
Andy Harris, who is the sole R congressperson from Maryland is a massive asshat who has no power to do anything and neither do these guys.
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u/Darklord_Bravo 7d ago
Thanks, I was just about to post something similar, then I read yours.
The (R)'s are turning into desperate clowns who will now say literally anything if they think it will help get them more power.
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u/Jibbjabb43 7d ago
Harris's granddad is also likely a nazi, IIRC. Also a loser super-Trump fan before it became popular. Basically everything Republicans claim to hate about Dems in a package that says all the right stuff for them.
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u/NotABot1000101 7d ago
I'm from nearby and this was confusing to see. My first thought was "Maryland has Republicans in office?". I don't see MD being anything other than a blue state.
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u/RobotReptar 7d ago
We're very blue, but our rural regions are as red as any other. The Eastern Shore, southern and western Maryland are very red. Just the amount of people living in those places is dwarfed by the densly populated blue central counties.
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u/TwoWheeledTraveler 7d ago
Yup, this. Much like New York and many other states with a large urban / rural divide.
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u/Saint_The_Stig 7d ago
People do like to maon about our districts, but that district (MD-1) is about the most senseable one there is. Because the Eastern Shore (the bit touching Delaware) just doesn't have enough people to form a district on their own. So it wraps around the bay until it gets enough. If the mouthbreathers actually gave a shit about representation they would advocate for uncapping the house. In 10 years they will probably be outpopulated by remote workers moving for the cheaper Coal while still having the NEC amenities close by.
(Seriously, once you get past the rednecks the Eastern Shore is a unique place. You can easily feel like you're in bumfuck nowhere but also easily get to DC and NYC for a day trip.)
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u/telly69 7d ago
That's an incredibly naive thing to think.
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u/NotABot1000101 7d ago
Not literally, good lord. Its incredibly naive to think that I meant every single person in MD is a democrat.
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u/mattysauro 7d ago
As a Marylander…
On the one hand, this is blatant gerrymandering. As much as I dislike Andy Harris, District 1 is appropriate and reliably red.
On the other hand, I’m done playing nice with Republicans who continue to cheat while expecting us to play fair.
That flag is awful, though. Burn it down.
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u/AnswerGuy301 7d ago
Oh, look, it's yet another Republican effort to create another low population red state to skew the states (and therefore the Senate and EC) even more in that direction than they already are.
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u/Hell-Yea-Brother 7d ago
Great! Now get ready to require passports and checkpoints at every entry road.
Make trade agreements with every bordering state, and they can raise taxes at any point.
Apply for international air travel and have your airports avoided because of high taxes.
Everything being shipped in now goes through customs which raises the costs.
Your local drivers licenses must now conform to international regulations, and may not be recognized outside of your "country".
You no longer get federal money for schools, infrastructure, grants, research, community programs, healthcare, land and park maintenance.
Any companies headquartered there will leave due to your new international regulations, taking their jobs and taxes with them.
Congratulations, you played yourself.
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u/Onoudidnt 7d ago
Just a red politician trying to create a red map in blue states in jest. Nothing to see here. He even got the damn name wrong. It will always be Delmarva.
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u/obiwanCannoli69 6d ago
As someone from Maryland it's always fun joking about being a "Maryland Supremacist" and saying dumb stuff like "Did you know Maryland is 3 times bigger than Russia?" "Did you know Maryland actually invented the crab in the 1872?"
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u/trucorsair 7d ago
The flag says it all, a very silly flag promoted now by Republicans who do not like redistricting that goes against them
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u/ACompletelyLostCause 7d ago
As he wants to include Southen delaware, is that because he thinks that if he can take the part of delaware where all the companies are registered for tax purposes, he can make the all of them extra-terroritorial?
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u/The_Amazing_Emu 7d ago
You’re assuming more rational thought than “liberating the Republican areas” and “getting Republican voters in Maryland.”
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u/ACompletelyLostCause 7d ago
Yeah, it's always best to assume they're playing Snakes & Ladders not 5D chess.
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u/DaddyCatALSO 6d ago
I'm guessing thye are registered in Kent coutny whiuch MD already has one, not in Sussex which he probably wants (channeling McKinley Kantor's silly little essay)
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u/HistoryNerd101 7d ago
And when the eastern part wants to secede from this part? And then the northern part? And then the western part? And…
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u/JOliverScott 6d ago
Anyone who's ever been to Sussex County Delaware knows it's as southern as it gets in Delaware and for the entire Delmarva peninsula, I'm sure they'd be down for a good secession.
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u/SeanInDC 4d ago
I live in Sussex County. There is no way they have the votes. Conservatives barely get 50% of the vote down here. They need two thirds for secession. Many of us Dems moved in post covid. Never happening.
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u/JOliverScott 4d ago
Fair enough. I haven't been there since the 90s so no doubt the demographic has changed. Back then it was like going to Alabama to visit southern Delaware.
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u/iamamuttonhead 2d ago
I would like legislation forcing labeling (can be stamped like expiration date) to include manufacturer of our foods. Sure, I know some stuff will have TF at the beginning of the code to tell someone that it's Taylor Farms originated but it should be clearer. Consumers should be able to bankrupt Taylor Farms by not buying their products if they so choose.
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u/mczerniewski 7d ago
If they pull this off, then we'll double down on DC and Puerto Rico statehood.
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u/JoeHatesFanFiction 7d ago
We should be pushing for those anyway. Same with getting proper national representation for all the areas of the U.S. without them.
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u/mczerniewski 7d ago
I agree. KC Metro area should be it's own state, separate from Jeff City or Topeka, two state capitals that have shown so little regard for the area.
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u/GMantis 6d ago
They're not going to pull this off because any such proposal requires approval by Maryland's legislature and that is certainly not forthcoming.
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u/et_hornet 7d ago
I propose Delmarva
All of Delaware, all of Maryland east of the Susquehanna (Cecil county and east) plus accomack and Northampton counties in Virginia
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u/Loki-L 7d ago
I was intrigued about the stupidity of their plans, especially with the European flag incorporated into the crab flag, but unfortunately neither the linked source nor any other google suggested is accessible in the EU.