Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Yes on 50

Gerrymandering is the bane — well, one of the banes — of our so-called democracy. Both Democrats and Republicans have used it to their advantage, and rarely has either party prioritized reforming the practice.

But even if it had not been the case before the Donald Trump era, there is obviously nothing close to moral equivalency between the Elephant and the Donkey these days. Donald Trump’s own vice president, J.D. Vance, once mused that Trump might be “America’s Hitler,” and Herr Trump has done just about everything he can to prove Vance right. Undermining public confidence in our electoral system. Condoning the storming of the Capitol. Ordering the Justice Department to target political opponents. Attacking the free press. Putting the squeeze on free speech. Defying court orders. Breaking down the wall between Church and State. Criminalizing reproductive choice. Demonizing immigrants. Historical revisionism. Book-banning. Choking off funding for scientific research. Compromising public health by implementing policies counter to recommendations of the medical community. Supporting genocide. Rolling out the red carpet for dictators waging wars of aggression. Actively combatting efforts to minimize the climate disaster that is underway. Eroding consumer protections. Using the presidency to enrich himself and his cronies. It seems there is no line he will not cross. And today’s Republicans love it, catering to his every wicked whim.

Apropos of “Everything’s bigger in Texas,” in August the Republican-controlled Texas legislature took the almost unprecedented step (it’s happened only twice since 1970 — both times by Republicans) of re-gerrymandering the state not in response to census data, but with the sole purpose of disenfranchising minority voters so as to make a likely midterm election gain of five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

California’s Proposition 50 is a direct response to that move. If passed by voters, Proposition 50 will allow the state government to effect its own non-census-related gerrymander in an effort to nullify any ill-gotten gain by Texas Republicans.

Many of us situated on the left side of the political spectrum have been screaming at Democrats to do more to turn back the MAGA tide. Well, this is what it looks like. It ain’t pretty, but it’s taking a stand. 

I hate being put in the position where I have to make this choice. In 2008 I was an enthusiastic supporter of the VOTERS FIRST Act, which created the California Citizens Redistricting Commission. I want congressional districts drawn with no other aim than to fairly represent the communities they serve.

But Proposition 50 is called “the Election Rigging Response Act” because that’s exactly what it is: a response to the Republican Party’s attempt to rig the 2026 midterm elections, nullifying their non-census-year gerrymander in the only way we can. And unlike the change in Texas, ours would not be permanent, reverting back to our current model in 2030 — i.e., after the next census, when hopefully Trump will be dead and if we’re lucky cooler, braver, and less totalitarian heads will prevail on the right.

I don’t know whether all politics is local (a sentiment commonly attributed to former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill), but the recent Texas gerrymander certainly fits the bill, because from ICE raids and National Guard incursions to overturning our environmental regulations and implementing tariffs that have already cost California over $11 billion, what the Republicans are doing with their control of Congress is obviously having deleterious effects here at home..

Proposition 50 is a desperate move, but these are desperate times. Our republic has always been terribly flawed, but right now almost all of the good is being eaten away from the inside, while the bad is becoming that much worse and new evils are birthed seemingly every day. We have waded into fascist, authoritarian waters. If the MAGA movement continues on its present course, we will quickly be in over our head. 

You are free to do nothing, to offer no resistance, to make excuses for your apathy and idly watch what happens; or you can fight. Proposition 50 is a way of fighting, a weapon to defend yourself, your children and loved ones, your neighbors and the most vulnerable in your community. It is hateful to be attacked and to have to choose between passive victimhood and self-defense. But that is the choice that has been forced upon us. I say we fight, by any means necessary. Yes on 50.

If you want to do even more, a quick web search yields numerous options. Here are a few direct links to sign up for phone-banking (which you can generally do from the comfort of your own home):

• • • The official “Yes on 50” campaign website

• • • SwingLeft.org, which offers numerous days/times

• • • Democrats Abroad, which is working to get out the vote among expat Californians

• • • The California Labor Federation, which is coordinating three phone banks specifically targeting labor union members