How about that? - eviltoast
  • SCB@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The people of this region still vote and the way our government is set up means large cities don’t get to dictate everything

    Quite the opposite. Pockets of people from nowhere have outsized control over our federal government. This isn’t a constitutional issue either, but an agreement Congress made to stop apportionment.

    We broke our government and we should fix it.

    • dilithium_dame@startrek.website
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      1 year ago

      How would you fix it? If you want to address issues like gerrymandering I’m in complete agreement. Or maybe you meant something else?

      I can’t agree these areas count as “nowhere.” That’s where you lose people who might agree with some of your points. The local tribes have worked very hard to preserve their culture after their homelands were previously treated as “nowhere.” Can you not see that belittling people’s homes will make your goals that much harder? As much as you want to completely dismiss anyone outside your chosen sphere of existence, you are having to deal with their representative regardless of your personal opinion. Maybe someday you will get your dictatorship of the majority but that’s not how it works right now if you want to change things.

      Feel free to dismiss this next part if you don’t care, but for those of you who would like to change areas like Boebert’s district I’ll make a few more points. Personally I think the politics of this region can be helped by better investment in education (my local school district is a mess), which can be helped with improved income levels so that tax money is there. I’d start with infrastructure to support that. High speed Internet would open up so many possibilities for people who can do skilled work remotely. The local Internet provider hasn’t invested in infrastructure for the past decade. Some cities have run fiber… But then the new houses aren’t actually hooked up to it??? This is an issue we are working on locally, but we are having a hard time even getting to these “luxuries” when we are battling poverty, drug use, and domestic violence. Some homes don’t even have electricity. COVID exasperated all of the existing issues here. Local crime and drug use statistics since 2020 paint a bleak picture.

      I’m actually optimistic that the new free school lunch program will be a small step in the right direction. I think that’s an example of the sort of statewide program people can get behind to improve all of Colorado. Isn’t it better to lift people up than steamroll over them?

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        So first off, I live in a rural suburb not unlike her district, and my wife is from a town of 300 people. I used to live in Eastern Kentucky. I am not belittling rural people or rural living. However, ask people from there and they’ll say, “small town in the middle of nowhere.”

        I’m sorry, but I do not believe rural people getting “steamrolled” because there are fewer of them is a bad thing. Quite the opposite. Your town has infrastructure challenges, so who do they elect? Someone who fights against improving their own area

        A tyranny of the majority is infinitely preferable to a tyranny of the minority.

        • dilithium_dame@startrek.website
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          1 year ago

          Ok, then that will have to be our fundamental disagreement. I don’t think either is a good thing. The Constitution tried to find a balance between the two. Whether it is successful or not is another good debate.

          It’s fine if the people of Kentucky want to call themselves middle of nowhere. Other areas may not view themselves in that way.

          Unfortunately for us the Democratic candidate also didn’t care about infrastructure. That actually frustrates me more than Boebert. The same candidate is running again. He sucks but it was close enough last time maybe he can give her the boot. I’m not convinced he’d be an actual improvement, more of a status quo placeholder.