I am a Democrat running for the Republican nomination in my Democratic district. I am running because I want to listen to rather than disparage others’ views. I am running to find new engaging approaches to bringing the public, and my disenfranchised Republican neighbors, into meaningful political discourse. Most state legislatures effectively disenfranchising their state’s …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
The Strategic Importance of Frequent District-Level Town Meetings
A key part of my campaign platform is that we will hold frequent district-wide town meetings. The scheduling and frequency of the meetings will be under our Community Development Corporation’s control, not the office of our Representative. The town meetings will be led by and provide a platform for anybody in the district (with minor …
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Reducing the incentive to gerrymander
One way to fight gerrymandering is to counteract the incentives. Any state legislature should want to gerrymander the state’s districts for either or both parties because, with non competitive districts, the state will keep re-electing the same people and as a result the state will gain influence in Congress. That’s obvious, right? The individual legislators …
Script for animation (draft)
The problem is gerrymandering Action: draw picture of MD-04 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland%27s_4th_congressional_district#/media/File:Maryland_US_Congressional_District_4_(since_2013).tif). Recommend landmarks of DC, Anapolis, 495, 50, chesapeake bay… start with the weird land bridge to emphasize the oddness of shape. Write “50,000 Republican votes” and “200,000” Democratic votes pointing to the right and left blobs respectively Soundtrack: (10s) My name is Eric Loeb. I’m …
Biography
I have always thought the internet would transform our republic, and I wanted to be part of that transformation. As a student, I helped build the first websites at all levels of government. I have been a technology lead for campaigns from mayor to President; I helped revamp the technology for the Democratic National Committee; …
The Power of Seniority in Congress
The “seniority system” allocates authority in the House and Senate by seniority — I.E the number of times the person has been re-elected. In abstract, this system is numeric and impartial, and it is seen as an improvement on the cronyism that dominated in the 19th century. However it now biases Congress away from effective …
The problem with Gerrymandering
Per article 1, section 2 of the constitution, the number of Congressional Representatives in each state is determined by the census every 10 years, and the borders of those Congressional districts are determined by the states (1). From the start, state politicians used their control of district boundaries to favor themselves. The term “gerrymandering” comes …
Campaign Announcement
To Whom it may Concern in the Republican Party in Maryland’s Fourth Congressional District Today I announce my candidacy and I ask for your vote for the Republican nomination for the 2020 race for the US House of Representatives. I am running because our elections no longer help us determine and act on our interests. …
Eric Loeb 