Californians Can Help Rescue Democracy

Californians have the opportunity to be heroes. Not just heroes to our own community and our own state, but to all the people living in our country.

That opportunity is Prop 50.

Donald Trump doesn’t intend to play fair in next year’s midterms. He has reason for concern: polls show that he is poised to lose control of Congress in 2026 as Democrats are expected to take the majority in the House. District-by-District polling indicates he will fall five seats shy of his needed majority.

Given that knowledge, he should be stumping in those Districts. He should be campaigning hard. Or he should shift to policies and behavior that would prove to be more acceptable to voters.

Instead, he decided to take a different approach. He decided to try to fix the results ahead of time in his favor. And that is precisely what Prop 50 which we will be voting on is all about. It is an attempt to head him off at the pass, to counter his moving his Bishop by us blocking the move with our Queen.

Reminiscent of 2020 when election night projections showed Trump lost the electoral college, prompting Trump to call the Trump-supporting Georgia official in charge of that state’s balloting to request he somehow "find me 11,780 votes" which would then turn the outcome in Georgia inside out, give Trump Georgia's electoral votes and help him be re-elected. Fortunately, this Republican official realized that what Trump was asking him to do was illegal, prudently taped the conversation, and refused to cooperate.

This time Trump called on a more reliable supporter, Texas Governor Greg Abbott. He instructed Abbott to gerrymander Texas' districts in a manner that would cost five currently elected Democrats their seats and turn those seats into safe Republican seats. Abbott agreed.

We can sit back, do nothing and allow this dishonest fixing of the midterms to take place, or we can counter it. Governor Newsom chose to attempt to counter it. He warned Texas that should they proceed with their plan, he will counter by doing the same in California to maintain the rightful balance. Texas proceeded. Newsom responded with Prop 50.

Unlike Texas, here voters will decide if we should change the districts, not the politicians. The legislature drew up the proposed districts, but it is up to us voters to approve them. California voters, then, are ultimately the decision makers, not the politicians. The bipartisan Redistricting Committee is not terminated. Prop 50 decrees this to be a temporary redistricting. In five years, the Redistricting Committee will again address our shift in population and demographics to objectively draw up our districts.

Gerrymandering districts is something all who believe in ethics and democracy wish to avoid. Trump attempting to steer the course away from defeat in an underhanded way such as this is no less undemocratic than when his campaign attempted to send fake electors into seven State Houses after he had lost the popular vote in those seven states. Just as those 84 fake electors were blocked from entering their respective State Houses to preserve the democratic integrity of the people’s will, we in California now have an opportunity to block Trump’s latest illicit maneuver. And if the only possible tools available to us is to literally fight fire with fire – to fight gerrymandering with gerrymandering – we have to rely on that option barring no others.

If you have been concerned, frustrated and upset with the direction politics and authority has taken in America; if you have wanted to contribute to finding a means to curb the undermining of our democratic processes, you have that opportunity November 4^th by casting a Yes vote on Prop 50.

If This is Charlie Kirk Remembrance Day, Then Remember Charlie Kirk Correctly

 

October 14 has been declared by Donald Trump as Charlie Kirk Remembrance Day.

That being so, let us remember Mr. Kirk accurately. Charlie Kirk was the Pied Piper of MAGA. Dedicated to Trump and the MAGA agenda, he recruited youth into MAGA through the open doors of Turning Point. Dedicated to Trump, he sent 350 of his youths to participate at Trump’s January 6^th showdown with democracy.

A man's own words reveal the man. Here, then, is Charlie Kirk:

When asked if it is acceptable that people are killed in shootings, Kirk responded: “I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so we can have the 2^nd Amendment…” – 4/5/23

We can assume he doesn’t feel any need to have empathy for the shooting victims. “I can’t stand the word empathy… I think it does a lot of damage.” – 9/10/25

Referring to Michelle Obama, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Joy Reid, but with the topic of Black women in general, Kirk said “You do not have brain processing power to be taken seriously. You have to go steal a white person’s slot.” – 7/13/23

“We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the mid-1960s… The Civil Rights Act created a beast, and that beast, has turned into an anti-white weapon.” – 4/24

“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.” – 1/18/24

Of the man Trump and Republicans continue to compare Kirk to, he once said “Martin Luther King was awful. OK? He’s not a good person.” – 12/23

He preached anti-Semitism. “Jewish donors have been the No. 1 funding mechanism of radical open-border, neoliberal, quasi-Marxist policies…This is a beast created by secular Jews and now they’re coming for Jews.” – 10/26/23

Does that anti-Semitic blame for a country’s potential problems sound familiar to students of history?

According to Kirk, gays are committing sin, and we owe it to them to wake them up to this fact and not allow events like Gay Pride. “You love (gays) by telling them the truth, not confirming or affirming their sin.”

What is the truth according to Kirk? “In Leviticus 18, is that thou shall lay with another man shall be stoned to death. So, Ms. Rachel (Rachel Accurso, who was championing Gay Pride), you quote Leviticus 19, love your neighbor as yourself. (But) the chapter before affirms God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.” – 6/8/24

“Gay couples are not just happy with marriage; they now want to corrupt your children.” – 4/22

“One issue I think that is so against our senses, so against the natural law and dare I say a throbbing middle finger to God, is the transgender thing happening in America right now.” He followed that up by comparing surgeons who perform transgender surgery to Nazis.  – 9/11/23

He’s tough on politicians who disagree with him. “Joe Biden is a corrupt tyrant who should honestly be put in prison and/or given the death penalty for his crimes against America.” – 7/4/23

Not so tough on those who attack those who disagree with him. When Paul Pelosi was beaten with a hammer by a Right-Wing fanatic in what the culprit confessed was a failed attempt to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, Kirk weighed in on the plight of the attacker. “Why has he not been bailed out? By the way, if some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a hero, someone should go and bail this guy out.” – 10/31/22

And regarding capital punishment, Kirk thinks all executions should be televised. “You could have it brought to you by Coca-Cola, and no, I am not kidding.” – 2/15/24

Not to mention young people should be encouraged to watch. “I think at a certain age it’s an initiation” was his response to two others discussing the possibility of televised executions being age appropriate for children as young as 12. – 2/15/24

It is tragic that Kirk was murdered for his beliefs, for exercising his Freedom of Speech. But those beliefs he championed are racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and cruel. He supported violence as a political solution. These are not American values. And, if we are to honor and celebrate people for their deeds in this country, it should be those who do represent and speak out for American values.