Saturday, January 08, 2005

From the BIG BAD BLUE State that’s Mostly RED

Look out North Dakota, this could happen to you.



I live in ILLINOIS, Democratic Governor, Two Democratic Senators, mostly Democratic House members (the obvious difference being Dennis Hastert).



At first blush you would think we are a midland Massachusetts. Paul Green, a political analyst in our area made a startling find. There is ONE county in the whole state who voted BLUE in the last election. COOK county. Cook County represents 40% of the state’s population. There are 94 other counties in Illinois.

They virtually all voted RED in spades in the last election. If Cook County had not voted, Illinois would have been overwhelmingly for Bush.



Here’s the rub. One county, one of 95 tilted the whole state. It still does. Cook County is why we have the government we have now. Don’t get me wrong. I like our governor who’s a democrat and I think Barak Obama is going to be OK. Durbin?? I’m not so sure.



I know, dirt don’t vote. But, something must be done to stop the overwhelming influence of the City States developing in this state, or in this country. That’s why the Electoral College is essential to equal representation. I only wish we had it in Illinois. Knowing the polls, I didn’t vote for Bush. Horrors. I voted the libertarian candidate (I don’t even know his or her name). I wanted to send a message since I knew my vote in this case didn’t count. I wanted Democrats and Republicans alike to know that the status quo isn’t right.



I would like to believe that my vote, my interests as a resident of a county other than Cook count too.



I don’t want a crumb. I want a vote.



This problem isn’t just in Illinois; North Dakota my home state suffers from the dominance of city-states. Dirt don’t vote there either. 25% of all legislators in Bismarck at this time are from Cass County.



Legislators from rural counties and even those not so rural must begin to exercise control over the rules imposed on them by city state power brokers. One size does NOT fit all.

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