Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s injunction against the mid-decade Texas redistricting map. On paper, this redistricting was ordered because the current districts were drawn using racial data. The order asks the same people who drew the racially motivated map to re-draw it. In reality, public comments and social media posts have laid bare that the redistricting was ordered for political reasons: to further benefit the current government.
After the redistricting, the current government is all but guaranteed to hold 80% of Texas’ congressional seats with only 57% (as of the last election) of the votes.
The current minority argue that the redistricting is unfair and they are quite proficient of pointing out how it is unfair. One example is the 9th Congressional district, currently represented by a 21 year Congressman Al Green, a vocal opponent of the current government. This district was redistricted such that only 3% of 2021 voters remaining in that district for 2025 and Representative Green himself is not one of the 3%.
The truth, however is that the rules allow for districts to be drawn based on party lines. In other words, aside from the timing (which many consider to be illegal), redistricting to benefit a political party is perfectly legal. As a reminder, the disfunction in our government is by design.
The real threat to democracy here is not the current movement who is leveraging the rules as permitted; it’s the rules themselves. We are the enemy. If the tables were turned and the minority were drawing their lines to eliminate people and shift representation to their team, it would not be any different.
The minority government is outraged and promises to return the districts to a more reasonable arrangement. Don’t fall for it. What needs to be stopped is politically motivated rule bending.
Redistricting has to happen because people move around and populations grow and shrink. As long as redistricting motivated by politics is legal, the disfunction in our government will only continue to mount until it finally explodes, and we all know who take the brunt of that. (Hint: its not the powerful.)
We can fix this. We just don’t want to.
Becalmed upon the sea of Thought, Still unattained the land it sought, My mind, with loosely-hanging sails, Lies waiting the auspicious gales. On either side, behind, before, The ocean stretches [...]
I am looking forward to the upcoming, much-anticipated Ken Burns television mini-series focused on the United States’ Revolutionary War. I have studied the United States’ Revolutionary War on my own [...]
When I arrived in Texas two years ago, I was having a conversation with someone who had been here for about five years at the time. I was coming from [...]
As I sat at a red light today, listening to the radio, I heard a song I didn’t recognize. In and of itself, that’s a bit of an event because [...]
