The Texas redistricting mess, with a Supreme Court ruling moving in the direction of Republicans, could bounce back. The SCOTUS ruled on which interim maps to use while a lawsuit from minority groups against the maps worked out by the legislature made its way through the courts. Now there are indications that Texas attorneys will settle on this issue, in a big win for the minority groups.

The Supreme Court hears a case today on Texas redistricting maps that could pose a challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which forces states with a history of discrimination to pre-clear their election laws with the Justice Department.

As an active participant in my small, local Occupy, I would like to opine on some of the trials and tribulations experienced in trying to get an actual Occupy off the ground, and, also highlight the amazing efforts being exerted by even such a small entity, both on the national level and at the local level.

Republicans just can’t resist a game where they make up the rules as they go along. Two fine examples of this are Wisconsin where they are going to redistrict before the recall elections, even though they have not drawn up the ward maps yet. And then there is Ohio, where SB 5 is going to before a vote of the people, but Republicans want to split it into 5 separate bills to confuse the voter.

I, along with much of FDL, am often painted by both the media and the Obama administration as on the outer-left-wing of political thought—a group of progressive extremists well outside the mainstream.

The reality is both far more boring and sad. Recent polling has caused me to go issue by issue to examine public support for the reforms I care most about. I found almost all of them have extremely broad popular support with the American people. In the traditional sense of the word, my brand of radical progressivism is boringly centrist.

In addition to deciding the makeup of Congress, selecting several governors, and a weighing a host of local races, voters across the country will be voting on 159 statewide ballot measures, of which about 60 are more interesting than bland bond measures. Of these propositions, there are a handful that I believe could have a national or even international impact.

After the 2010 Census is finished, will you know where your district went? That’s the question posed by Jeff Reichert in Gerrymandering, a movie which should be shown in every civics and American history class in the US.

According to the Constitution:

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Place of Chusing [sic] Senators.

These rulings by the court are not only a victory for anti-gerrymandering advocates, but also for the right of citizen lawmakers to use the ballot initiatives process to push for real political reform.

A full 83 percent of Americans say our political system needs significant improvements. The question is, what are the sources of the problem and how do we fix it?