Laboratories of Democracy, Part IX (for real this time): Nebraska
Equality Before the Ballot
Nebraska, being perhaps the most quintessentially Middle American state, is a fairly unremarkable place. It's first and foremost an agricultural state, with endless fields of grain and cattle grazing grounds cut across by straight highways and railroad lines that can stretch off to the horizon with no natural features or settlements in sight. Its main urban center is found in Omaha, which is home to the Union Pacific Railroad and Berkshire Hathaway but otherwise fairly nondescript, with all the trappings of your average American city of slightly under a million inhabitants. The state capital of Lincoln, a little over fifty miles to the west, is a solid second in terms of population, with the rest of the state's two million inhabitants spread across its area (though the eastern half is notably more populous than the west).
Politically the state is similarly nondescript. The Republican Party is strong here, and has been strong here for as long as there's been a party with that name. Traditionally it maintained a near-monopoly on state politics, but at roughly the same time as its Minnesota counterpart, the party split. However, in Nebraska it was the urban, liberal wing of the party that walked out, forming the Liberal Party and establishing a credible opposition to GOP hegemony for the first time since Bryan's time. Meanwhile, the western evangelicals and rural interests bolted over to the Liberty Party, and thus the modern one-and-two-half-party system of the state was born. Meanwhile in North Omaha, one of the precious few majority-minority areas in the state (African American in this case), Ernie Chambers has been the state legislature's only Labor member for the past forty years, and is showing no sign of slowing down at age 79.
Nebraska has a unicameral legislature, like quite a few smaller and western states, but is unusual in that it was its upper rather than lower house that was retained when the bicameral system was abolished. So the current legislature is a 49-member body elected in single-member districts by plurality, with no proportional element whatsoever to the system. This has played a large part in keeping the GOP in its state of unassailable hegemony, and even as the opposition parties have carved out niches for themselves, the GOP remains firmly in the majority backed by its unwavering support from the Omaha and Lincoln commuter belts.
Texas
Washington
Massachussetts
New Hampshire
Georgia
Louisiana
Minnesota
South Carolina
Equality Before the Ballot
Nebraska, being perhaps the most quintessentially Middle American state, is a fairly unremarkable place. It's first and foremost an agricultural state, with endless fields of grain and cattle grazing grounds cut across by straight highways and railroad lines that can stretch off to the horizon with no natural features or settlements in sight. Its main urban center is found in Omaha, which is home to the Union Pacific Railroad and Berkshire Hathaway but otherwise fairly nondescript, with all the trappings of your average American city of slightly under a million inhabitants. The state capital of Lincoln, a little over fifty miles to the west, is a solid second in terms of population, with the rest of the state's two million inhabitants spread across its area (though the eastern half is notably more populous than the west).
Politically the state is similarly nondescript. The Republican Party is strong here, and has been strong here for as long as there's been a party with that name. Traditionally it maintained a near-monopoly on state politics, but at roughly the same time as its Minnesota counterpart, the party split. However, in Nebraska it was the urban, liberal wing of the party that walked out, forming the Liberal Party and establishing a credible opposition to GOP hegemony for the first time since Bryan's time. Meanwhile, the western evangelicals and rural interests bolted over to the Liberty Party, and thus the modern one-and-two-half-party system of the state was born. Meanwhile in North Omaha, one of the precious few majority-minority areas in the state (African American in this case), Ernie Chambers has been the state legislature's only Labor member for the past forty years, and is showing no sign of slowing down at age 79.
Nebraska has a unicameral legislature, like quite a few smaller and western states, but is unusual in that it was its upper rather than lower house that was retained when the bicameral system was abolished. So the current legislature is a 49-member body elected in single-member districts by plurality, with no proportional element whatsoever to the system. This has played a large part in keeping the GOP in its state of unassailable hegemony, and even as the opposition parties have carved out niches for themselves, the GOP remains firmly in the majority backed by its unwavering support from the Omaha and Lincoln commuter belts.
Texas
Washington
Massachussetts
New Hampshire
Georgia
Louisiana
Minnesota
South Carolina
