Fighting Fire with Fire (Democrats Next Move to Counter Texas Republicans)
IT’S TIME FOR DEMOCRATS NATIONWIDE TO “GO NUCLEAR” ON TEXAS REPUBLICANS
Remember when conservatives once stood up for Constitutional principles and espoused a deep commitment to institutional traditions?
Not anymore.
Certainly not in Texas, the state of my birth and the lone star of current mass ignorance and blatant hypocrisy, as it continues to soil it’s dismal rankings near the bottom of nearly every statistical metric on quality of life
Read more here: AN OPEN LETTER TO TEXAS.
As we write and read now, Texas Republicans want to redraw the maps. It’s called “redistricting.”
Indeed, this happens regularly. Every ten years to be exact. It’s a constitutional mandate (addressed in both the United States Constitution as well as the Texas Constitution). More specifically, the Texas Constitution requires the state legislature to redistrict Texas house and senate seats during its first regular session immediately following publication of each United States decennial census (See: Section 28, Article III). Accordingly, on October 15, 2021, the 87th Legislature, 3rd Called Session, passed S.B. 4, better known as the Texas Senate redistricting plan (PLANS2168).
So far, so good.
Now, out of nowhere Texas Republicans are CHANGING the rules. Taking a flame thrower to them, actually is more like it. Rewriting the laws. Moving the goalposts. This has never happened before. Texas Republicans now seek to redraw congressional districts — not TEN YEARS since the last census as has been the norm for 180 years — but instead just four years later without any new updated added census data. This plot is driven by the Trump Regime, which will do everything to suppress opposition and retain the clutches of power. It is in clear violation of the Texas Constitution and all the legal and even political precedents that have come before, though given the near unanimous support within the Texas Republican cult, they’ll somehow manage to cook the goose and make their political hijacking “legal.”
Naturally, Republicans hope to distract American voters from their own gross failures on the economy and dismal record on in foreign policy and their grotesquely unpopular backward-thinking social policy agenda straight from the vile sediment of “Project 2025,” which they lied about and initially disavowed. Republicans everywhere desperately want to distract us from Trump’s own moral depravity and criminal behavior, and wipe the Epstein-Trump Files from the minds of voters. Good luck with that, you pedos.
The problems with *mid-decade* redistricting are numerous and they are serious. Many Texas Democrats recently left the state in protest (rightfully so), which means the needs of Texans won’t be addressed in the legislature. Moreover, Democrats in other states — including California, New York, and elsewhere — have no option other than to respond in kind. This infighting only detracts from the legitimate business of all states which should be focusing instead on serious issues like the economy, education, and public safety. Mid-decade re-districting also detours the work of Congress. We can get mad at congress-critters for gross ineptitude and corruption, but the fact remains that legislative governance is essential in a representative democracy. Texas Republicans are throwing a giant monkey wrench into all of that. Maybe that’s the whole point, to destroy government. That’s what the GOP has come to now, a vessel of destruction of everything–norms, structures, lives, and even public trust.
What? Will we have redistricting every *four* years now? Why not make it every *two* years, before every election? This oligarchy has already flip-flopped from the political system when voters used to pick their LEADERS. Now, leaders pick their VOTERS. This is sick. Needlessly changing congressional district boundaries creates mass confusion and disillusion everywhere, which again, perhaps is the whole point. Turn off voters. Make finding polling places difficult. I.E., the school we voted in last time moved into a new congressional district. Good luck finding the poll place, which in many states are being reduced in number in an attempt to diminish voting turnout.
Gerrymandering is a huge problem, of course. It’s preposterously undemocratic. Admittedly, both parties do it. Both parties have been guilty. That’s obvious. Shame on both parties in all states.
However, Texas Republicans are now ESCALATING the arms race when it comes to voting and representation. They’ll do anything (especially suppressing voting) to maintain power. They’re changing the rules in mid-season. They’re even threatening to remove elected officials from office by force, and arrest them. Seriously, the adulterous bribe-sucking Texas State Attorney General said that. Arrest the opposition.
If Texas Republicans go through with their redistricting plot and try to add five prospective Red seats to the congressional map, Democrats MUST react in kind. There is no other option. Texas Republicans obedient to the fart-whims of Trump started this unnecessary political war. So, Democrats now need to open up the silos and go full nuclear. To be clear: We didn’t want this, but will have no other option that to do the exactly same thing in every Blue state. We know the average American voter — perilously confused and disillusioned by all these distractions — are the real losers. But Texas Republicans began this madness, and Democrats must finish it or at least fight fire with more fire. That’s the ONLY thing these scumbags understand.
This is all such a giant embarrassment, of course. Painfully embarrassing. Cringeworthy. Texans should be ashamed of themselves and their so-called “leaders.” It’s hard to imagine this is the same once-great state that once produced the political lions such as LBJ, Ann Richards, John Tower, and Lloyd Benson. Today, it’s Cruz, Paxton, and Abbutt. Look at the dreck they have now become.
_________
