THE RIGHT TO VOTE

"We would not care to wake up to the nightmare That's becomin' real life, mmm But when misled, who knows a person's mind" - Stevie Wonder, You Haven't Done Nothin'

When Donald J. Trump was elected President in 2024 his party, the Republican Party, gained a majority in the House and in the Senate, giving him a trifecta, of sorts, controlling all three branches of the government. All three branches of government all working toward the same agenda. Full speed ahead and damn the torpedos. Or so it seemed. The House seemed incapable of staying around long enough to get anything passed. Except the Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was Trump’s grand illusion. As time passed it seemed that the House was unable to do anything unless Trump told them to do it and he was more than happy to just sign executive orders and get a nod of the head from his boy in the House, Mike Johnson.

Now that things have gone so poorly, thanks to the stalled war in the Middle East, the rising cost of gasoline, the continuing inflation everywhere due to tariff shenanigans, the vast array of illegal activities that the administration chooses to overlook, and the cruelty and brutality of I.C.E. thuggery as they try to meet the requirements of Trump and Miller’s vow to deport every alien living in the U.S., Trump’s approval rating is almost non-existent and it looks very much like the Democrats will retake the House and the Senate in November.

Trump has said out loud on several occasions that the Republicans must not lose the November elections because if they do he will certainly be impeached. He was impeached twice in his first go around and there are even more good reasons to impeach him this time. If anyone is keeping track, and I am sure many people are, I imagine he has broken more than enough laws to justify impeaching him and most of his cohorts in the Cabinet ten times over. Even though it is rumored that Donald J. Trump does not read he must have seen the writing on the wall because back in July he called the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, and told him to find five more Republican seats in the Congress. Abbott is a yes man extraordinaire and he went about redrawing the congressional districts in Texas so that five seats that have been Democratic would become Republican. Gavin Newsom, the Governor of California, countered by asking for a referendum wherein the State of California could redraw their maps giving California five more seats in Congress. And so they did. And so the pissing contest was begun. In the meantime Missouri, North Carolina, and Florida all redrew their maps favoring the Republicans, with Ohio, Alabama, and Tennessee piling on more recently.

A week ago the Supreme Court decided Louisiana vs Callais essentially throwing out Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act recognized that black people were not being fairly represented in southern states and, knowing that it was going to continue to be an uphill battle for people of color to have a say in how they were governed, it set forth to change that. And it worked. Until the Supreme Court decided otherwise. The current court’s view is that the voting districts were drawn to favor black people - indeed they were - and that that posed a hardship for white people. The Governor of Louisiana immediately suspended the voting that had already begun in some primary elections so that the districts could be redrawn. The indications are that the two black people currently representing the 30% black population in Louisiana will lose their seats to white, Trump endorsed, candidates.

The population of Virginia voted overwhelmingly to redraw their district maps which, given the Democratic legislature and governor of that state, would have meant the Democrats would have gained more seats. Late last week the Virginia Supreme Court struck down that decision. It is quite a blow to Democrats and those who recognize the ever more potent threat to democracy posed by MAGA followers.

The great shame of this redistricting war is that it, in and of itself, runs counter to any pure thoughts about voting and democracy. But the gauntlet had been thrown down by Donald J. Trump, who has repeatedly given indications that he will do anything to remain in power, and the Democrats had to pick that gauntlet up and fight back or watch any chance to restore order go up in smoke. It is estimated by some that the redistricting has given Republicans 14 more seats in the House of Representative. That is a number that the Democrats may well be able to beat, but not by much. The worst thing is that it sets a precedent that, if it becomes the way things are done, will almost erase the need for elections at all. If legislatures and/or governors can decide who votes for whom, or, as I wrote earlier this week, if candidates can choose their voters, the basic idea of democracy, that we the people choose who represents us, is out the window. The governor of each state and the legislature can read the data and shape districts in whatever strange shapes they want in order to have the people elected that they want.

The recourse is that the many, many people who have already realized that Trump is unsuitable to be President must become so outraged by the open corruption of the right to vote, this usurpation of the power of the ballot box, that they not only turn out in greater numbers than ever before but that they also vote in such a way that negates the twisted, cheating way that districts have been redrawn. Some have said from the beginning that this will backfire in Texas and that in fact Democrats may gain a seat or two.

This war between those who would have us return to an authoritarian monarchy and those who want to continue the experiment with democracy is, at least, being played out peacefully and through the systems set up when the Constitution was written. The lawlessness of Trump and his gang, with the Congress perfectly willing to look the other way, and the Supreme Court fully in the sway of totalitarianism and unwilling to say no to their lord and master may be strong enough and bent on evil enough to push we the people under the bus of their greed and lust for power. Our unity, our ability to resist falling into a passive depression, and our continued belief in the power of our numbers and that we are right is what will save us. And we are not just saving ourselves but all of those throughout the world who believe in the story of American democracy. Under Trump the country has fallen far from the place of respect that we once held so we must all fight for the country that we love and take back the mantle of patriotism that has been stolen by the blustering imbecile that knows not what he thinks.