Cover Photo by Phil Roeder Licensed Under Creative Commons 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
14 Aug

“This is the game now. There are no refs; no fouls are going to be called. There’s no consequence or penalty for Trump redrawing the maps in Texas mid-decade. Stop pretending like there is.”
–Beto O’Rourke, Texas Monthly interview

Fifty one Texas House Democrats have left the state to break a quorum, denying Republicans the opportunity to easily push through newly drawn redistricting maps that would theoretically give them an additional five seats beyond their current 25-12 advantage (with one vacancy).

Add it to the list of examples of how the Republican party has shown complete disdain and disregard for what this country has always aspired to be.

For a little more than six months, we have watched in disbelief as each morning greeted us with the news that another thread has been pulled from the fabric of our constitutional democratic republic.

The carefully crafted government structure – designed and adjusted over the last 250 years – has drawn the ire of the Republican party at every turn as conservatives have found its restrictions inconvenient and limiting to the point that they have made it their mission to dismantle it.

Tearing down social programs, gutting government agencies, stripping away personal rights and protections, and criminalizing immigrants has drawn many of the headlines, but now it’s all about consolidating power.

The current push to redraw congressional districts in the state is simply the latest effort to destroy what we know. But like we did when mass government lay offs began, and when immigrants began being snatched off the street, when Donald Trump said publicly he wanted Texas to find him five new U.S. House seats, we generally did one of two things.

We either said “Something needs to be done,” as though someone better act, or we said “What do we do?” and the lack of a clear path forward led most of us to simply flounder in our stress and anger.

When the redistricting battle reached a fevered pitch, one of our Texas Democratic leaders put it best when he reminded us there is no consequence for bad actors today unless we create consequences.

“Quit fu**ing around and waiting,” Beto O’Rourke said to Democrats across the country. It’s not the first time he has called for real action, and reminded us that our opportunities to fight back are dwindling.

There is no Congress that will save us. There are no courts, there is no common sense or sense of decency. There is no respect for one another. Our Constitution today is at risk of becoming nothing more than past aspirations in a great experiment.

People say we have become dramatic, or are exaggerating the damage to our world, but every day brings a new threat and carries us one step closer to that line where there is no longer an opportunity for action without risking our lives.

But What Can I Do?

We don’t even know where the line is, so the day that we cross it, it will be too late. Today, we can do all those things we know and do them with renewed and rededicated fervor. We have the time and opportunity to protest and speak. We have the ability to talk to neighbors and rally those who agree with us. We can stir involvement, register voters and work to get them to the polls.

This redistricting fight is a stark reminder that Republicans fear all of those things and are willing to do things we’ve always agreed were wrong in the light of day because they have no other way to win.

There is no cavalry on its way. We can’t wait for the right thing to happen because we believe it should. Our system is at its most impressive when people demand freedom, liberty, equality, justice, empathy and fairness. It shines brightest when we show we will sacrifice to maintain it and make it better. We can sacrifice a little today, or everything in the not-to-distant future.

Ways to Get Involved

Cover Photo by Phil Roeder
Licensed Under Creative Commons 2.0