Gerrymandering not the correct path for America!
I'd like to talk a little bit about gerrymandering, and how this is just simply something we cannot allow as a country for either party to gerrymander is state. So from my perspective, I've been observing a trend since the 1990s where independent candidates have been restricted from ballot access there by removing of the free and fair elections, we participate in. This troubling trend that seems to have been initiated by neoliberals and neoconservatives attempting to remove people's freedom of choice, we’ve watched independents squeezed off the ballot under the pretense of “orderly elections” or fears of “spoiler” candidates. These talking points are fig leaves for a simple aim: eliminate competition so the math favors the entrenched parties. Shutting independents out of the process violates freedom of association and punishes anyone who refuses to swear allegiance to the Democratic or Republican brands.
the newest trend emerging, gerrymandering a state. Again they are limiting your freedom of choice and choosing which side gets to win, they are they're essentially eliminating freedom of choice. Instead of gerrymander you will no longer have the choice between a Democrat, a Republican or an independent. Regardless of where you fall in the Overton window your choice will be made for you. By designing districts to predetermine outcomes, politicians strip voters of real choice. Any leader who advocates gerrymandering in their own state or someone else’s is confessing they don’t believe in free and fair elections. They’re terrified of genuine competition because it threatens their jobs, their power and the comforts of elected office. Their rallying cry that “we must gerrymander everywhere or we won’t have fair elections” is a decades long misdirection meant to normalize this abuse.
the correct response to gerrymandering in Texas, it’s not to gerrymander California, it is not to gerrymander New York State, it is not to gerrymander Missouri. If you take a step back from their ludicrous rhetoric, you realize wrong they are. Matching gerrymandering with gerrymandering isn’t fighting back; it’s collusion to protect the status quo. If every state manipulates its maps to lock in current officeholders, expect the same faces in the House for the next 80 years. That is not democracy, it’s a political caste system. To fight gerrymandered maps, we do not imitate them. Texans should be filing class‑action lawsuits to designate themselves as a protected group and delay unfair maps through the courts. With enough pressure and enough progressive‑minded legislators elected, we can enact national redistricting standards that bar these games entirely. That might mean expanding the Supreme Court to prevent a hostile majority from blocking reforms, but the goal is clear: restore voters’ right to choose their representatives. In most cases class action lawsuits take upwards of 2 years, it could tie the redistricting up for quite a long time.
It will get us through to the midterms and possibly beyond until we can render the case moot. Gerrymandering a state should not be a bipartisan affair, leadership who is telling you to do this is co-conspirators in removing your right to choose who represents you. it is entirely and wholeheartedly unacceptable practice for any elected representative to be advocating for.
